review and analysis of the publication “The handbook of aviation human factors
Media Critique 1
Jason K. Puckett
Daniel Webster College
02/05/2014
Abstract
I will provide a review and analysis of the publication “The handbook of aviation human factors”, specifically chapter 11 Fatigue and Biological rhythms.
BM555 Media Critique of Human Aviation Factors
The main consensus of Chapter 11, Fatigue and Biological Rhythms, is that fatigue, whether caused by lack of sleep or by the disruption of the circadian rhythms are a significant human factor that severely affects performance and safety within the aviation industry. The question that came to my mind when analyzing this article, was what time of day has research shown to be most susceptible to human error?
The audience of this study would be those indirectly involved in aviation, pilots, mechanics, crew schedulers etc… Those in management positions, aviation insurance underwriters, and safety inspectors, all would greatly benefit from this study’s findings.
The macro-analysis of some well-controlled studies concerning accidents in road transport, maritime operations, and industrial situations showed a common trend of accident risk, which appears to parallel the mean trend in sleep propensity (Lavie, 1991) over the 24 h day: it is highest in the early hours of the day (02.00–04.00), showing a second minor peak in the early afternoon (14.00–16.00) corresponding to the post-lunch dip, and lowest in the late morning (10.00–12.00) and late afternoon(18.00–20.00) (Folkard, 1997).
Besides time of day, two other temporal factors can have a significant effect on fatigue and accident risk: (a) hours on duty: in the twelfth hour, the risk is more than double than that during the first 8 hand (b) number of successive night shift s: for example, in the fourth night, the risk is 36% higher when compared with the first one (Folkard & Akerstedt, 2004; Folkard & Tucker, 2003; Hänecke, Tiedemann.
The assumptions that were made in this study were that fatigue caused by lack of sleep
Jason K. Puckett
Daniel Webster College
02/05/2014
Abstract
I will provide a review and analysis of the publication “The handbook of aviation human factors”, specifically chapter 11 Fatigue and Biological rhythms.
BM555 Media Critique of Human Aviation Factors
The main consensus of Chapter 11, Fatigue and Biological Rhythms, is that fatigue, whether caused by lack of sleep or by the disruption of the circadian rhythms are a significant human factor that severely affects performance and safety within the aviation industry. The question that came to my mind when analyzing this article, was what time of day has research shown to be most susceptible to human error?
The audience of this study would be those indirectly involved in aviation, pilots, mechanics, crew schedulers etc… Those in management positions, aviation insurance underwriters, and safety inspectors, all would greatly benefit from this study’s findings.
The macro-analysis of some well-controlled studies concerning accidents in road transport, maritime operations, and industrial situations showed a common trend of accident risk, which appears to parallel the mean trend in sleep propensity (Lavie, 1991) over the 24 h day: it is highest in the early hours of the day (02.00–04.00), showing a second minor peak in the early afternoon (14.00–16.00) corresponding to the post-lunch dip, and lowest in the late morning (10.00–12.00) and late afternoon(18.00–20.00) (Folkard, 1997).
Besides time of day, two other temporal factors can have a significant effect on fatigue and accident risk: (a) hours on duty: in the twelfth hour, the risk is more than double than that during the first 8 hand (b) number of successive night shift s: for example, in the fourth night, the risk is 36% higher when compared with the first one (Folkard & Akerstedt, 2004; Folkard & Tucker, 2003; Hänecke, Tiedemann.
The assumptions that were made in this study were that fatigue caused by lack of sleep
References: Babkoff , H., French, J., Whitmore, J., & Sutherlin, R. (2002). Single-dose bright light and/or caffeine effect on nocturnal performance. Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine, 73, 341–350. Folkard, S. (1997). Black times: Temporal determinants of transport safety. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 29/4, 417–430. Folkard, S., & Akerstedt, T. (2004). Trends in the risk of accidents and injuries and their implications for models of fatigue and performance. Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine, 75, A161–A167. Folkard, S., Arendt, J., & Clark, M. (1993). Can Melatonin improve shift workers’ tolerance of the night shift ? Some preliminary findings. Chronobiology International, 10, 315–320. Lavie, P. (1991). Th e 24-hour sleep propensity function (SFP): Practical and theoretica implications. In T. H. Monk (Ed.), Sleep, sleepiness and performance (pp. 65–93). Chichester: Wiley.