Getting fatigued

The Directive 01/2015 states: Every proposed regulation must be assessed against the contribution it will make to aviation safety and if a regulation can be justified on safety-risk grounds, it must be made in a form that provides for the most efficient allocation of industry and CASA resources.

The proposed CAO 48. 1 is the most restrictive aviation work and rest rule regime in the world, being stricter than EASA, FAA and CAA NZ regulations and with no evidence-based safety justification for it. The proposal means that Australia will again be out of step with both Australian Government policy (and CASA’s own published aim) of international regulatory harmonisation and reducing unnecessary red tape. It will effectively and needlessly add cost to current operations and restrict growth in the Australian aviation industry, at the same time as other countries foster theirs.

Directive 01/2015 states: The aviation safety regulations should be consistent with international best practice, as reflected in the standards and practices of other leading aviation countries.

Directive 01/2015 says, where a person who is or will be affected by CASA’s exercise of discretionary powers under the regulations convincingly demonstrates, on evidence, that:

»the same safety outcome contemplated by the applicable regulatory requirement can be achieved on another, more cost-effective and/or otherwise less onerous basis;
»»the person is able and willing to adopt and give meaningful effect to that alternative approach to compliance;
»»the alternative approach proposed can be implemented fully and effectively in a timely fashion, having regard to the interests of safety;
»»the adoption and implementation of such an alternative approach by CASA would not involve unreasonable additional oversight or administrative responsibilities on CASA’s part; and
»»CASA will entertain a reasonable proposal for the adoption of another approach and, in the absence of good reason not to do so, CASA will adopt such an alternative approach.

This is where Safety Management Systems (SMSs) come to the fore and fully address the five points above. Operators engaged in RPT or charter operations are required to have effective Safety Management Systems that identify a range of hazards, including fatigue. An SMS also requires any hazard to be analysed and mitigated against and are audited by CASA.

CASA has yet to produce any evidence that any identified fatigue issues have not been dealt with by the SMS regime appropriately and to the satisfaction of CASA. There already exists documented evidence of successful systems of managing fatigue.

CASA published guidance material in October 2014 to assist operators draft their Fatigue Risk Management System. Over recent months CASA has been pressuring operators to submit their system. However, on August 3 CASA suddenly moved the goal posts by releasing a new version of its guidance material. The document is now 95 pages long and 76 pages have been amended with a total of 237 separate changes. And yet operators have been given only until August 17 to consider the impact of these amendments! There has been no response to formal requests for a review, no published safety case, no ATSB data to support the assertion that there is an issue with fatigue in the regional Australian RPT sector and no evidence to even suggest that fatigue is not already being managed through operators’ Safety Management Systems.

CASA’s continual refusal to review the CAO 48. 1 in the context of Directive 01/2015 flies in the face of CASA’s new mantra of being a “fair, firm consistent’ regulator.

What is it about these three word slogans?

What is it about these three word slogans?