PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO 

INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS 

AND RECOMMENDED PRACTICES 

OPERATION OF AIRCRAFT 

ANNEX 6 

TO THE CONVENTION ON INTERNATIONAL AVIATION 

PART I 

INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL AIR TRANSPORT — AEROPLANES

. . . 

CHAPTER 1. DEFINITIONS 

. . . 

Fatigue Risk Management System (FRMS). A data-driven means of continuously monitoring and 

managing fatigue-related safety risks, based upon scientific principles and knowledge as well as 

operational experience that aims to ensure relevant personnel are performing at adequate levels of 

alertness. 

Fatigue. A physiological state of reduced mental or physical performance capability resulting from sleep 

loss or extended wakefulness, circadian phase, or workload (mental and/or physical activity) that can 

impair a crew member’s alertness and ability to safely operate an aircraft or perform safety-related 

duties.. 

. . . 

4.10 Fatigue Management 

4.10.1 The State of the Operator shall establish regulations for the purpose of managing fatigue. 

These regulations shall be based upon scientific principles and knowledge, with the aim of ensuring that 

flight and cabin crew members are performing at an adequate level of alertness. Accordingly, the State of 

the Operator shall establish: 

a) regulations for flight time, flight duty period, duty period and rest period limitations; and 

b) where authorizing an operator to use a Fatigue Risk Management System (FRMS) to manage 

fatigue, FRMS regulations. 

Note.— Guidance for the development of prescriptive regulations to manage fatigue is given in 

Attachment A and detailed requirements for an FRMS are in Appendix 8 . 

4.10.2 The State of the Operator shall require that the operator, in compliance with 4.10.1 and for

the purposes of managing its fatigue-related safety risks, establish either: 

a) flight time, flight duty period, duty period and rest period limitation that are within the 

prescriptive fatigue management regulations established by the State of the Operator; or 

b) a Fatigue Risk Management System (FRMS) in compliance with 4.10.6 for all operations; or 
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c) an FRMS in compliance with 4.10.6 for part of its operations and the requirements of 4.10.2 a) 

for the remainder of its operations. 

Note.— Guidance for the implementation and oversight of an FRMS is given in the Fatigue Risk 

Management Systems Manual (Doc xxxx). 

4.10.3 Where the operator adopts prescriptive fatigue management regulations for part or all of its

operations, the State of the Operator may approve, in exceptional circumstances, variations to these 

regulations on the basis of a risk assessment provided by the operator. Approved variations shall provide 

a level of safety equivalent to, or better than, that achieved through the prescriptive fatigue management 

regulations. 

4.10.4 The State of the Operator shall approve an operator’s FRMS before it may take the place of 

any or all of the prescriptive fatigue management regulations. An approved FRMS shall provide a level of 

safety equivalent to, or better than, the prescriptive fatigue management regulations. 

4.10.5 States that approve an operator’s FRMS shall establish a process to ensure that an FRMS 

provides a level of safety equivalent to, or better than, the prescriptive fatigue management regulations. 

As part of this process, the State of the Operator shall: 

a) require that the operator establish maximum values for flight times and/or flight duty periods(s) 

and duty period(s), and minimum values for rest periods. These values shall be based upon 

scientific principles and knowledge, subject to safety assurance processes, and acceptable to the 

State of the Operator; 

b) mandate a decrease in maximum values and an increase in minimum values in the event that the 

operator’s data indicates these values are too high or too low, respectively; and 

 

c) approve any increase in maximum values or decrease in minimum values only after evaluating 

the operator’s justification for such changes, based on accumulated FRMS experience and 

fatigue-related data. 

Note.— Safety assurance processes are described in Appendix 8.

4.10.6 Where an operator implements an FRMS to manage fatigue-related safety risks, the operator 

shall, as a minimum: 

a) incorporate scientific principles and knowledge within the FRMS; 

b) identify fatigue-related safety hazards and the resulting risks on an ongoing basis; 

c) ensure that remedial actions, necessary to effectively mitigate the risks associated with the 

hazards, are implemented promptly; 

d) provide for continuous monitoring and regular assessment of the mitigation of fatigue risks 

achieved by such actions; and 

e) provide for continuous improvement to the overall performance of the FRMS. 

Note.— Detailed requirements for an FRMS are in Appendix 8. 
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4.10.7 Recommendation.— States should require that, where an operator has an FRMS, it is 

integrated with the operator’s SMS.

Note.— The integration of FRMS and SMS is described in the FRMS Manual (Doc xxxx). 

4.10.8 An operator shall maintain records for all its flight and cabin crew members of flight time,

flight duty periods, duty periods, and rest periods for a period of time specified by the State of the

Operator. 

. . . 

APPENDIX 8. FATIGUE RISK MANAGEMENT SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS 

Note 1.— Guidance on the development, implementation, approval and monitoring of an FRMS is 

contained in the FRMS Manual (Doc xxxx).

A Fatigue Risk Management System (FRMS) established in accordance with Chapter 4, 4.10.6, shall 

contain, at a minimum: 

1. FRMS policy and documentation 

1.1 FRMS policy 

1.1.1 The operator shall define its FRMS policy, with all elements of the FRMS clearly identified. 

1.1.2 The policy shall require that the scope of FRMS operations be clearly defined in the 

Operations Manual. 

1.1.3 The policy shall: 

a) reflect the shared responsibility of management, flight and cabin crews, and other involved 

personnel; 

b) clearly state the safety objectives of the FRMS; 

c) be signed by the accountable executive of the organization; 

d) be communicated, with visible endorsement, to all the relevant areas and levels of the 

organization; 

e) declare management commitment to effective safety reporting; 

f) declare management commitment to the provision of adequate resources for the FRMS; 

g) declare management commitment to continuous improvement of the FRMS; 

h) require that clear lines of accountability for management, flight and cabin crews, and all other 

involved personnel are identified; and 
B-4 

i) require periodic reviews to ensure it remains relevant and appropriate. 

Note.— Effective safety reporting is described in Doc 9859, Safety Management Manual (SMM). 

1.2 FRMS documentation 

An operator shall develop and keep current FRMS documentation that describes and records: 

a) FRMS policy and objectives; 

b) FRMS processes and procedures; 

c) accountabilities, responsibilities and authorities for these processes and procedures; 

d) mechanisms for ongoing involvement of management, flight and cabin crew members, and all 

other involved personnel; 

e) FRMS training programmes, training requirements and attendance records; 

f) scheduled and actual flight times, duty periods and rest periods with significant deviations and 

reasons for deviations noted; and 

g) FRMS outputs including findings from collected data, recommendations, and actions taken. 

2. Fatigue risk management processes 

2.1 Identification of hazards 

An operator shall develop and maintain three fundamental and documented processes for fatigue hazard 

identification: 

2.1.1 Predictive 

The predictive process shall identify fatigue hazards by examining crew scheduling and taking into 

account factors known to affect sleep and fatigue and their effects on performance. Methods of 

examination may include but are not limited to: 

a) operator or industry operational experience and data collected on similar types of operations; 

b) evidence-based scheduling practices; and 

c) bio-mathematical models. 

2.1.2 Proactive 

The proactive process shall identify fatigue hazards within current flight operations. Methods of 

examination may include but are not limited to: 

a) self-reporting of fatigue risks; 
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b) crew fatigue surveys; 

c) relevant flight and cabin crew performance data; 

d) available safety databases and scientific studies; and 

e) analysis of planned versus actual time worked. 

2.1.3 Reactive 

 

The reactive process shall identify the contribution of fatigue hazards to reports and events associated 

with potential negative safety consequences in order to determine how the impact of fatigue could have

been minimized. At a minimum, the process may be triggered by any of the following: 

a) fatigue reports; 

b) confidential reports; 

c) audit reports; 

d) incidents; and 

e) flight data analysis events. 

2.2 Risk assessment 

An operator shall develop and implement risk assessment procedures that determine the probability and 

potential severity of fatigue-related events and identify when the associated risks require mitigation. 

2.2.1 The risk assessment procedures shall review identified hazards and link them to: 

a) operational processes; 

b) their probability; 

c) possible consequences; and 

d) the effectiveness of existing safety barriers and controls. 

2.3 Risk mitigation 

2.3.1 An operator shall develop and implement risk mitigation procedures that: 

a) select the appropriate mitigation strategies; 

b) implement the mitigation strategies; and 

c) monitor the strategies’ implementation and effectiveness. 
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3. FRMS safety assurance processes 

3.1 The operator shall develop and maintain FRMS safety assurance processes to: 

a) provide for continuous FRMS performance monitoring, analysis of trends, and measurement to 

validate the effectiveness of the fatigue safety risk controls. The sources of data may include, but 

are not limited to: 

1) hazard reporting and investigations; 

2) audits and surveys; and 

3) reviews and fatigue studies; 

b) provide a formal process for the management of change which shall include but is not limited to: 

1) identification of changes in the operational environment that may affect FRMS; 

2) identification of changes within the organization that may affect FRMS; and 

3) consideration of available tools which could be used to maintain or improve FRMS 

performance prior to implementing changes; and 

c) provide for the continuous improvement of the FRMS. This shall include but is not limited to: 

1) the elimination and/or modification of risk controls have had unintended consequences or that 

are no longer needed due to changes in the operational or organizational environment; 

2) routine evaluations of facilities, equipment, documentation and procedures; and 

3) the determination of the need to introduce new processes and procedures to mitigate 

emerging fatigue-related risks. 

4. FRMS promotion processes 

4.1 FRMS promotion processes support the ongoing development of the FRMS, the continuous 

improvement of its overall performance, and attainment of optimum safety levels. The following shall be 

established and implemented by the operator as part of its FRMS: 

a) training programmes to ensure competency commensurate with the roles and responsibilities of 

management, flight and cabin crew, and all other involved personnel under the planned FRMS; 

and 

b) an effective FRMS communication plan that: 

1) explains FRMS policies, procedures and responsibilities to all relevant stakeholders; and 

2) describes communication channels used to gather and disseminate FRMS-related 

information. 

. . .