Sleep Deprivation hurts safety

CD · Post by CD » Thu May 24, 2007 1:55 pm

Sleep Deprivation hurts safety

Sleep deprivation and overwork long have been complaints from the nation’s air traffic controllers.

Critics said the union for the traffic controllers - the men and women largely responsible for safe navigation of our airports and air space - were exaggerating problems in order to secure a more favorable contract.

Recently, however, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended that the Federal Aviation Administration improve its practices to reduce fatigue and improve alertness.

The recommendations were made as part of the NTSB’s investigation of the deadly Comair crash last year in Kentucky. Although the board did not cite sleep deprivation as the cause of the crash, it noted that the controller who cleared the flight for takeoff on the wrong runway had taken only a two-hour nap during his nine hours off before coming back on duty.

FAA regulations allow traffic controllers to work four 10-hour shifts over three days, even though their work contract calls for five eight-hour shifts over five days. Negotiations on a new contract broke down last year, so the FAA imposed its own regulations.

When traffic controllers do work eight-hour shifts over five days, many are assigned an unusual schedule rotation - typically 3 p.m. the first day, then 2 p.m., 7 a.m., 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. The rotation spreads out the workload by assuring that everyone has to work a midnight shift, but prevents controllers from getting regular, restful sleep.

The FAA said that the tight schedules were often set at the request of traffic controllers themselves.

Sleep experts say that swing shifts are especially difficult. The body has no time to accommodate and adjust to a new sleep pattern. Insufficient sleep then impairs cognitive processes such as the data tracking and quick, accurate decision-making that air traffic controllers are called on to perform.

Lack of sleep is also a problem in the trucking industry, where new rules allow drivers to drive more hours in a shorter time frame - or, for that matter, in any industry where safety is an issue.

In a sort of Catch-22, most people who are sleep-deprived are too impaired to even accurately judge their state of alertness - rather like people who are too impaired to know when they’ve had too much to drink. Researchers say that sleep-deprived people think they have adjusted to a lack of sleep, when in fact objective testing shows that their thinking abilities and reaction times have deteriorated, leading to more errors.

Sleep deprivation also is linked to depression, obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure.

The FAA knows about this research. It has even conducted its own reviews.

The NTSB criticized the agency for not acting on its own report, conducted in 2001, which recommended re-evaluating work schedules with an eye toward offering longer rest periods.

The board might have stopped short of blaming the Comair crash on controller fatigue, but it has identified numerous near-misses in recent years that were the result of fatigue.

Sleepiness may seem like a mundane and therefore negligible issue. It isn’t.

Not when lives are at stake.

XJET · Post by **XJET** » Thu May 24, 2007 2:27 pm

So the controllers and the safety board are stating that they should work less because the kentucky accident wouldn't have happened if he had more sleep even though the first statement issued by them was "its not our problem or our job to make sure you take off on the right runway?"

Seagull · Post by **Seagull** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 8:40 pm

XJET...let me guess...never worked shift-work where your hours change EVERY day...in a 24 hour operation...back-to-back midnights...making absolutely every word & thought correct every time? Oh yes...you're correct...fatigue never plays a factor.

And yes...I'm a pilot as well. So I know what it's like on the other side of the mic.

thatdaveguy · Post by **thatdaveguy** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 11:42 pm

Seagull wrote:XJET...let me guess...never worked shift-work where your hours change EVERY day...in a 24 hour operation...back-to-back midnights...making absolutely every word & thought correct every time? Oh yes...you're correct...fatigue never plays a factor.

And yes...I'm a pilot as well. So I know what it's like on the other side of the mic.

Yep.

Sleep deprivation is a massive factor for some people.

For me, I can tell when I'm operating on too little sleep as I have a stuttering problem. Unfortunately for me, I require 10 hours of sleep a night...and given most ATC units have short changes involving 5 hours of sleep at best, it means fatigue is often an unpreventable factor.

And XJET...even if it wasn't his fault, it doesn't mean he couldn't have played a role in preventing it. Just because you did not successfully prevent an incident does not make it your fault.

invertedattitude · Post by **invertedattitude** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 11:09 am

In Canada its mandatory 10 hours between shifts, at least for IFR controllers. It can be reduced to a minimum of 8 hours between shifts but only at the request of the controller, and it can only be done once per work round.

Many of our shifts give us more than 10 hours in between, once/twice per round we get the minimum 10, considering it's a 15 minute drive to/from work for me getting the sleep is normally my own problem.

bigfssguy · Post by **bigfssguy** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 8:23 pm

We only have 8 hours between those shifts!

NJ · Post by NJ » Wed Jun 13, 2007 9:43 pm

We have a 9 hour short shift change in the summers here. But we only have one per 10 day period. I guess if we had more staff we'd have swing shifts in there and it would be a 11 hour break minimum between shifts.

On a related note, be sure to put down YZF on your seniority bid requests. I want to leave some time this decade!

thatdaveguy · Post by **thatdaveguy** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 9:54 pm

We have 7.5 hour short changes...

But I'm flight service.

tesox · Post by **tesox** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 2:22 am

Our day midnight is an 8 hour short change...

FamilyGuy · Post by **FamilyGuy** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 7:33 pm

Careful what you ask for...you just might get it!

Long changes aren't much better - especially starting on the midnight shift.
Blocks of mids are another solution - bye bye life!

Short changes are difficult - but ultimately the responsibility rests with the individual to be "fit for duty".

tesox · Post by **tesox** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 7:36 pm

I personally love short changes, maximizes my time off!

bigfssguy · Post by **bigfssguy** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 8:49 am

tesox wrote:I personally love short changes, maximizes my time off!

Thats wh we do it here. If we had long changes we would only have roughly 2 1/2 days off.This way we have 3 1/2 days off. Our Schedule is a semi arctic work week consisting of 3 evenings short change three days then short change 3 nights then three days off. Rotating sched of 8-4, 4-12, 12-8.

I'm not a big fan of the short changes becasue they kick the crap out of me but i do them because like tesox said it maximizes my time of giving me almost 4 days off as opposed to 21/2.

Jerricho · Post by **Jerricho** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 7:19 pm

Sleep Deprivation hurts safety

Perhaps the biggest "No shit, Sherlock" statement of the year...............

... · Post by **...** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 10:01 am

hmmm...I'm curious now. Do tell more aout your sked @ NAv Canada.

Are you under the same rules as most non 705 companies where a pilot can legally be forced to work 14 hours a day up to 17 hours with a minimum of 3 days off in 30?

If not, where do I send my application @ Nav Canada? AND do I get a parking spot with my name on it...or does that require some sort of merit "gold star" accumilation program?

I'm not sure whats more dangerous. Working 17 hours straight operating an aircraft OR flying into bilingual airspace?

killer84 · Post by **killer84** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 10:44 am

controllers work 34 days in a 56 day period. Some variant of '6 on 5 off, 6-4,5-3; 6-4,6-4,5-3; 6-3,6-3,5-5' repeated twice (to make 56 days). Or six 5-3's, then a 4-4.

All regularly scheduled shifts are 8.5 hours long. They can be extended due to short staff, but no longer than 12 hours. You can work 9 days in a row, then you must have a day off. There's also a limit on the amount of overtime in a 56 day period, I think it's 90 hours.

bigfssguy · Post by **bigfssguy** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 9:23 am

The bulk of FSS work some variety of 6 on 3 off sched. Rotating since most are 24 hours. MOst places work 8 hour shifts but some vary, like Kenora works part of there sched 12 hour shifts which in the end gives you mroe time off.

A work week via the contract is 37.5 hours. Anything more than that becomes overtime. If that OT falls on your first day of rest it becomes time and a half. Any other OT on a scheduled day off become double time. There are all kinds of variables and rules that govern schedules and every station is different. Though the base line is 37.5 for all stations and some northern stations work as much as 55 hours which means big $.

I work 45 hours per week which equates into 15 hours of overtime per pay. Nice dough but you gotta live in the middle of nowhere and after 21/2 years in Churchill i wouldn;t mind going south but the paychecks make it much more bearable. Not to mention hockey 3 times a week too!!

thatdaveguy · Post by **thatdaveguy** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 6:06 pm

We work 6-2, 4-3 at my FSS site.

wish we got double time OT...

bigfssguy · Post by **bigfssguy** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 7:58 pm

thatdaveguy wrote:We work 6-2, 4-3 at my FSS site.

wish we got double time OT...

The joys of a semi arctic work week. I work 9 on 3 off here in Churchill, the last day is scheduled overtime. If i come in on my days off it is automatically double time due to our sched!