Over the past few months, the CANSO Safety Steering Committee and Human Performance Workgroup have received a surge of inquiries from Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) around the world, all seeking guidance on how best to establish or enhance their Fatigue Risk Management Systems (FRMS). This wave of interest is both timely and encouraging as it signals a growing awareness that fatigue is not just an individual challenge, but a critical operational and systemic safety issue.
In air traffic management, human performance is our most valuable, and vulnerable asset. Fatigue isn’t simply about feeling tired. It is a measurable reduction in alertness, cognitive processing, decision-making, and reaction time. These effects can arise gradually or unexpectedly, and their variability across individuals means fatigue cannot be effectively managed through duty time limits alone. Instead, it demands a structured, evidence-based, system-wide approach.
FRMS moves beyond basic compliance with duty hour regulations, FRMS enables organisations to:
- anticipate fatigue risks based on operational data,
- monitor performance impacts and identify trends,
- empower staff through reporting and support mechanisms,
- audit and improve fatigue management practices over time, and
- embed fatigue risk into overall safety and wellbeing strategies.
In short, FRMS allows fatigue to be managed like any other operational hazard, systematically and proactively.
