Fatigue in aviation: A systematic review of the literature

2020 
Abstract Factors that cause human fatigue, like sleep deprivation, circadian rhythm abnormalities, health-related tiredness and task-induced influences, may have adverse effects on human performance. These adverse effects may include significant degradation in decision-making skills, memory sharpness, judgment proficiency, reaction time and situational awareness in aviation operations and, thus, can lead to accidents. This study, taking both academia and industry perspectives, aims to examine causes, consequences, measurement and mitigation of fatigue and the associated risk in airline operations through a systematic literature review. Articles published in peer-reviewed journals and publications from various aviation industry stakeholders that addressed fatigue in aviation were searched, collated and assessed. It was found that risk associated with fatigue in the aviation industry is of a diverse and sometimes ambiguous nature. Overall, it was observed that this risk increases substantially when the workday duration is longer than 16 h, when the pre-duty sleep duration is shorter than 6 h, and when the workday coincides with the crew's usual sleep hours. It was also found that not all aspects related to this risk have been thoroughly investigated. Recommendations for future research to investigate ways to minimise this risk further are given at the end.
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