Establishment of the Global International Fatigue Risk Management Forum

For many years, fatigue-related risk has been recognized as a significant issue for aircraft operators. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) states that a basic building block underlying the process of managing safety is “sharing safety lessons learned and best practices through the active exchange of safety information.” An example of this organized active exchange is the global fatigue Risk Management System (FRMS) Forum which was launched in 2009 and includes 65 organizations (2011) (regulators, airline operators, and academic institutions). The Forum is apolitical and facilitates better communication between these bodies. New information from the ICAO and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) cites the fact that operators can no longer interpret binary compliance with prescriptive flight time limitations as ensuring “legality” or safety. This paper describes how the FRMS Forum can help