FRMSc has developed a 5 step model to implement Fatigue Risk Management Systems. Each level is built on the previous level to secure and develop both the culture and competencies to manage the risks to an organisation from staff who are likely to make costly mistakes when tired.

The model builds up a Just and Fair culture within an organisation and attention is given to due capture of process and experience in the relevant documentation that develops as the organisation progresses.

This model is coherent with the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s Guidelines on FRMS Implementation.

The levels are as follows:

Level 1: Personal Heroics

At level 1 the client organisation will have no formal approach to managing fatigue. Any mitigation strategies used will be developed on an individual basis as hero employees find their own ways to balance the performance requirements of their job with degradation in alertness throughout their duty. All organisations that have no formal approach to managing fatigue will be at level 1.

Level 2: Evaluation

To achieve competence at Level 2, organisations realise that fatigue issues are affecting staff detrimentally and wish to safeguard their employees and the performance of their business by exploring their options. Embarking on the initial exploratory foray FRMSc will help to assess the impact of current levels of fatigue on operations and creating a plan to address them that is relevant to their operation and size.

Level 3: Repeatable

At the end of this stage, the organisation will have put in place a set of processes, people and tools that will have identified the fatigue hazards and mitigation strategies that are evident in their current operations. With this experience, any further emerging issues can be addressed by the employees who will have understood and experienced the processes and tools to be used in such a situation

Level 4: Managed

To achieve level 4 accreditation, the organisation must demonstrate they are proactive in managing fatigue issues.

Level 5: Optimising Safety Assurance

In varying degrees, process optimisation is inherent at all levels of process maturity. However, at Level 5, as the FRMS is integrated into the organisation’s Safety Management System, there is a paradigm shift as the organisation moves away from focusing only on events and metrics that have a direct impact on fatigue issues. The Optimisation level data is used to tune the process itself and to look wider into the rest of the organisational, operational and business horizons to pro-actively search for better ways to balance safety, well-being and business improvement with the investment required from the organisation. At this stage, the organisation is independently and pro-actively managing the fatigue risk to it’s enterprise.