A classroom course in fatigue countermeasures gave a short-lived boost to aviation maintenance employees’ commitment to fatigue management, so stronger on-the-job support from the maintenance organization is needed to achieve long-term benefits, according to a study by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).1
The course effectively increased participants’ general knowledge of fatigue and had an immediate positive effect on their awareness of the importance of managing fatigue and their commitment to that goal, the researchers said in their report on the study.
Six weeks later, a follow-up questionnaire showed that participants had grown more consistent in using “a few good sleep routine habits and avoidance of the majority of sleep routine and health and fitness bad habits, but there was no real impact on good work-life habits,” the report said (see “Do This, Not That”).
“Additionally, the occurrence of good work-life habits declined,” the re…
