Friendly Fatigue Alert Mobile Apps to Help Aviation Workers Prevent, Identify and Manage Alertness and Fatigue
Fatigue is currently one of the hottest topic in transport safety research, since it has been recognized as one of the key factors in several industrial incidents/accidents. The aeronautical industry is currently working in developing standards and regula
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ords Fatigue Alertness management systems
Aviation Mobile applications Fatigue risk
1 Fatigue Management in Aviation In the aviation industry, 24-h operations are a must and shift work is a necessary component of operations. Irregular work schedules, night and sometimes extended shifts, operations through multiple time zones and high cognitive workload are integral part of the business. Flight crews, aircraft mechanics, air traffic controllers, handling operators and workers in the aviation chain assembly are prone to fatigue due to the nature of their professions.
R.M. Arnaldo (&) F.G. Comendador L.P. Sanz A.R. Sanz Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain e-mail: [email protected] © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 P. Arezes (ed.), Advances in Safety Management and Human Factors, Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing 491, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-41929-9_39
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ICAO, the International Civil Aviation Organization, defines Fatigue as “a physiological state of reduced mental or physical performance capability resulting from sleep loss or extended wakefulness, circadian phase, or workload (mental and/or physical activity) that can impair a crew member’s alertness and ability to safely operate an aircraft or perform safety related duties” [1]. Fatigue is a snowballing process that continues to construct through the day, and from day to day, if not lightened by sufficient rest, sleep, and nutrition. Fatigue is both a warning sign of poor sleep and health management, and also an activator of other safety risk. Fatigue affects negatively a person’s ability to stay awake, alert, and attentive to the demands of safety critical works. Moreover, fatigue damages our capacity to judge just how fatigued we really are. Fatigue goes along with an increasing bodily discomfort [2] and a decline in cognitive performance [3]. Fatigue impairs the executive functions of the brain including motivation, initiative, reasoning, short-term memory, communication, decision-making, and perceptual tasks requiring interpretation and response [4]. It also diminishes mood while increasing indifference [5]. The turn down in brain functions and performance becomes in an increase in errors and accidents [6–10]. It is therefore a serious issue affecting the safety of the travelling public in all modes of transportation, and specifically aviation. Not in vane “Fatigue has been on of the NTBS ‘Most Wanted List’ of transportation safety improvements every year since the list’s inception in 1990.” The NTSB Most Wanted List highlights safety issues identified from the NTSB’s accident investigations to increase awareness about the issues and promote recommended safety solutions [11]. Despite research carried out on systems, methods and tools for preventing, detecting and predicting human fatigue, the challenge is that fatigue cannot be entirely be eradicated from 24/7 aviation operation, so aviation companies need to apply proactive and adaptive approaches to manage and mitigate fati
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