The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) emphasized its commitment to eliminating human fatigue in the transportation industry during National Sleep Awareness Week (March 1-7, 2009).
"Fatigue in transportation presents unnecessary risks to the traveling public," said board member Deborah Hersman in the NTSB announcement. "Fatigue can impair a person behind the wheel or at the helm much like alcohol or other drugs. We must ensure that as much as possible is being done to protect our transportation system from the insidious effect of human fatigue."
The NTSB continues to advocate setting work hour limits based on fatigue research, circadian rhythms, and sleep rest requirements that will reduce unnecessary risk to the traveling public.
In 2008 the NTSB recommended that the Federal Aviation Administration develop guidance based on empirical and scientific evidence, for operators to establish fatigue management systems. The Board also made a recommendation to develop and use a methodology that will continually assess the effectiveness of fatigue management systems implemented by operators, including their ability to improve sleep and alertness, mitigate performance errors, and prevent incidents and accidents.
Human fatigue in the aviation, marine, and pipeline industries remain on the federal “Most Wanted List” of safety improvements that the Board believes will have the greatest impact on transportation safety. The Board removed fatigue in the railroad industry from the Most Wanted List last year after the passage of the Railroad Safety Improvement Act of 2008, which addressed railroad hours-of-service limits and established fatigue management requirements.
