Countermeasures to Mitigate Effects of Fatigue Among Flight Attendants: To Improve Transportation Safety and Productivity

As airlines restructure and cut corners to make ends meet, flight attendants are experiencing a new industry trend that must be put to rest. At many carriers, flight attendants are forced to work to the point of exhaustion because of poorly scheduled duty time, lengthened duty days, or flagrant company violations of schedules. Research efforts on human factors: including the effects of fatigue, sleepiness, sleep disorders and circadian rhythms—on transportation safety has become a top priority. Research has identified key findings concerning fatigue in the flight attendant occupation, where sleep deprivation and disruption of circadian rhythms are known to occur (Testimony of Patricia A. Friend, 2007). With models, new technology, and convenient logical interface tools, we can anticipate worker fatigue and improve safety. Decreasing fatigue and its associated errors, we would enable operational improvements to further meet business requirements of today’s airlines, especially in these lean times