Studies about fatigue and human performance for air operators

From: Transport Canada

The scientific studies listed here look at fatigue and human performance in aviation and other industries. Air operators may find them of use to support fatigue risk management system (FRMS) processes and safety cases.

The studies are sorted by key topics.

Duty periods

Arendt JT, Owens J, Crouch M, et al, “Neurobehavioral performance of residents after heavy night call vs. after alcohol ingestion.” Journal of the American Medical Association, 7 September 2005, Vol. 294, No. 9 1025-1033.
Battelle Memorial Institute (for the Federal Aviation Administration), An overview of the scientific literature concerning fatigue, sleep, and circadian cycle, 13 March 1998, p.13.
Bourgeois-Bougrine S, Cabon P, Gounelle C, Mollard R, Coblentz A, “Perceived fatigue for short- and long-haul flights: a survey of 739 airline pilots.” Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine, October 2003, Vol. 74, No. 10, 1072-1077.
Caruso C, Hitchcock E, Dick R, Russo J, Schmit J, Overtime and extended work shifts: recent findings on illnesses, injuries, and health behaviors. U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, April 2004.
Clark S, “Sleep deprivation: implications for obstetric practice in the United States.” American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, 2009; 201:136.e1-4.
Dawson D, McCulloch K, “Managing fatigue – it’s about sleep.” Sleep Medicine Reviews, Vol. 9, pages 365-380, 2005.
Dawson D, Reid K, “Fatigue, alcohol and performance impairment.” Nature, 17 July 1997, Vol. 388, 235-237.
Dembe A, Erickson J, Delbos R, Banks S, “The impact of overtime and long work hours on occupational injuries and illnesses: new evidence from the United States.” Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 08 March 2005, Vol. 62, 588-597.
Dinges D, Graeber C, Rosekind M, Samel A, Wegmann H, “Principles and guidelines for duty and rest scheduling in commercial aviation.” NASA Technical Memorandum 110404, May 1996, p.6.
EASA / Moebus Aviation, Final Report “Scientific and Medical Evaluation of Flight Time Limitations”, 30 September 2008, page 15.
Folkard S, “Black times: temporal determinants of transport safety.” Accident Analysis and Prevention, 1997, Vol. 29, No. 4, 417-430.
Folkard S, Tucker P, “Shift work, safety and productivity.” Occupational Medicine, 01 February 2003, Vol. 53, No. 2, 95-101.
Goode J, “Are pilots at risk of accidents due to fatigue?” Journal of Safety Research, 27 March 2003.
Powell D, Spencer M, Holland D, Broadbent E, Petrie K, “Fatigue in two-pilot operations: Implications for flight and duty time limitations.” Aviation Space, and Environmental Medicine, November 2008, Vol. 79, No. 11, 1047-1050.
Powell D, Spencer M, Holland D, Broadbent E, Petrie K, “Pilot fatigue in short-haul operations: effects of number of sectors, duty length, and time of day.” Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine, July 2007, Vol. 78, No. 7, 698–701.
REGDOC-2.2.4: Fitness for duty: managing worker fatigue, Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, 2017.
Rosa R, Extended workshifts and excessive fatigue. Journal for Sleep Research, December 1995, Vol. 4, s2, 51-56.
Samel A, Wegmann H, Vejvoda M, “Air crew fatigue in long-haul operations.” Accident Analysis and Prevention, 1997, Vol. 29, No. 4, p.451.
Spencer M, Robertson K, “Aircrew alertness during short-haul operations including the impact of early starts.” QinetiQ, February 2002.
Williamson AM, Feyer AM, “Moderate sleep deprivation produces impairment in cognitive and motor performance equivalent to legally prescribed levels of alcohol intoxication.” Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 15 June 2000, Vol. 57, 649-655.

Night duty

Barger LK, Lockley SW, Rajaratnam SMW, Landrigan CP, “Neurobehavioural health and safety consequences associated with shift work in safety-sensitive professions.” Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports, 2009, 9, 155-164.
Liang Y, Horrey WJ, Howard ME, Lee ML, Anderson C, Shreeve MS, O’Brien CS, Czeisler CA, “Prediction of drowsiness events in night shift workers during morning driving.” Accident Analysis & Prevention, in press 7 November 2017.
Samel A, Wegmann H, Vejvoda M, Drescher J, Grundel A, Manzev D, Wenzel J, “Two-crew operations: stress and fatigue during long-haul night flights.” Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine, August 1997, Vol. 68, 679-687.
Sargent C, Roberts P, Dawson D, Ferguson S, Meuleners L, Brook L, Roach GD, “The relationships between human fatigue and public health: a brief commentary on selected papers from the 9th international conference on managing fatigue in transportation, resources and health.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2016, Vol. 13, Issue 9, 842.
Spencer M, Robertson K, The Haj operation: alertness of aircrew on return flights between Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. Defence Evaluation and Research Agency, June 1999.
Williamson A, Lombardi DA, Folkard S, Stutts J, Courtney T, Connor J, “The link between fatigue and safety.” Accident Analysis & Prevention, 2011, 43(2), 498-515.

Maximum hours of work and cumulative duty limitations

Caruso C, Hitchcock E, Dick R, Russo J, Schmit J, Overtime and extended work shifts: recent findings on illnesses, injuries, and health behaviors. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, April 2004.
Dembe A, Erickson J, Delbos R, Banks S, “The impact of overtime and long work hours on occupational injuries and illnesses: new evidence from the United States.” Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 08 March 2005, Vol. 62, 588-597.
EASA / Moebus Aviation, Final Report “Scientific and Medical Evaluation of Flight Time Limitations”, 30 September 2008, p.14.
Landrigan C, et al, “Effect of reducing interns’ work hours on serious medical errors in intensive care units.” The New England Journal of Medicine, 28 October 2004, Vol. 351, 1838-1848.

Rest periods

Belenky G, Wesensten N, Thorne D, Thomas M, Sing H, Redmond D, Russo M, Balkin T, “Patterns of performance degradation and restoration during sleep restriction and subsequent recovery: a sleep dose-response study.” Journal of Sleep Research, 11 December 2003, Vol. 12, 1-12.
EASA / Moebus Aviation, Final Report “Scientific and Medical Evaluation of Flight Time Limitations”, 30 September 2008, p.21.
REGDOC-2.2.4: Fitness for duty: managing worker fatigue, Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, 2017.
Van Dongen H, Maislin G, Mullington J, Dinges D, “The cumulative cost of additional wakefulness: dose-response effects on neurobehavioral functions and sleep physiology from chronic sleep restriction and total sleep deprivation. Sleep, Vol. 26, No. 2, January 2003, 117-126.
Wright KP, Hughes RJ, Hull JT, Czeisler CA, “Cumulative neurobehavioral performance deficits on a 24-hr day with 8-hr of scheduled sleep.” Journal of Sleep and Sleep Disorders, Research Vol. 23, 15 April 2000, Abstract Supplement 2, p.36.

Time free from duty

Belenky G, Wesensten N, Thorne D, Thomas M, Sing H, Redmond D, Russo M, Balkin T, “Patterns of performance degradation and restoration during sleep restriction and subsequent recovery: a sleep dose-response study.” Journal of Sleep Research, 11 December 2003, Vol. 12, p.1,12.
Dinges D, Graeber C, Rosekind M, Samel A, Wegmann H, “Principles and guidelines for duty and rest scheduling in commercial aviation.” NASA Technical Memorandum 110404, May 1996, p.15.
EASA / Moebus Aviation, Final Report “Scientific and Medical Evaluation of Flight Time Limitations”, 30 September 2008, 26-27.
Office of Rail Regulation, Managing Rail Staff Fatigue, UK, 2012.
REGDOC-2.2.4: Fitness for duty: managing worker fatigue, Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, 2017.

Additional rest due to disruptive schedules

Dinges D, Graeber C, Rosekind M, Samel A, Wegmann H, “Principles and guidelines for duty and rest scheduling in commercial aviation.” NASA Technical Memorandum 110404, May 1996, p.3.

Additional rest due to time zone changes

Dinges D, Graeber C, Rosekind M, Samel A, Wegmann H, “Principles and guidelines for duty and rest scheduling in commercial aviation.” NASA Technical Memorandum 110404, May 1996, p.8.
Samel A, Wegmann H, Vejvoda M, “Air crew fatigue in long-haul operations.” Accident Analysis and Prevention, 1997, Vol. 29, No. 4, p.449.

Consecutive duties infringing on the window of circadian low

Air Transport Association of America, “Comments of the Air Transport Association of America Inc.,” ATA FDT final comments, November 15, 2010, p.119.
Folkard S, Tucker P, “Shift work, safety and productivity.” Occupational Medicine, 01 February 2003, Vol. 53, No. 2, 95-101.

Split duty

Harma M, Sallinen M, Ranta R, Mutanen P, Muller K, “The effect of an irregular shift system on sleepiness at work in train drivers and railway traffic controllers.” Journal of Sleep Research, 2002, 11:141–151.
Hilditch CJ, Short M, Van Dongen HP, Centofanti SA, Dorrian J, Kohler M, Banks S, “Sleep inertia during a simulated 6-h on/6-h off fixed split duty schedule.” Chronobiology International, 2016, 33(6):685-96.
Lovato N, Lack L, “The effects of napping on cognitive functioning.” Progress in Brain Research, 2010, 185:155-66.
Mollicone DJ, Van Dongen HP, Rogers NL, Dinges DF, “Response surface mapping of neurobehavioural performance: testing the feasibility of split sleep schedules for space operations.” Acta Astronautica, 2008, 63(7-10):833-840.
Pilcher JJ, Popkin SM, Adkins K, Roether L, “Self-report naps in irregular work schedules.” Industrial Health, 2005, 43(1):123-8.
Short MA, Centofanti S, Hilditch C, Banks S, Lushington K, Dorrian J, “The effect of split sleep schedules (6h-on/6h-off) on neurobehavioural performance, sleep and sleepiness.” Applied Ergonomics, 2016, 54:72-82.

References

These studies were sourced from:

report of the Canadian Aviation Regulation Advisory Council’s working group on Flight Crew Fatigue Management
fatigue science review by Transport Canada Rail Safety

Contact us

Email: TC.FCFM-GFEC.TC@tc.gc.ca

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