AFA Horizon

Fatigue Risk Management Plan (FRMP)

Fatigue Risk Management Plan (FRMP)

Hello Fellow Flight Attendants,

The Fatigue Risk Management Plan (FRMP) is a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) mandated document that every airline is required to adopt. This plan documents each airline’s plan to educate, mitigate and prevent fatigue for crew members. Management filed the first FRMP in early 2019 without any input from our Master Executive Council (MEC).

Over the last six months, your MEC Fatigue and ASHS Chairs have had in-depth conversations with Inflight Management to negotiate a more detailed FRMP that puts safety first.  The MEC’s stance is that a FRMP is a document that requires our Safety Department [GB1] be included in communications regarding fatigue. Safety is the number one priority. We are pleased to say that Inflight Management was receptive to our input and agreed to implement some positive changes that provide us with improved fatigue call out protections.

Here are some wins for QX Flight Attendants[EEH2] :

  • QX Safety Department involvement (Managing Director, Safety and Manager, Cabin Safety).
  • AFA is assisting Inflight Management with our CBT development related to improvement with fatigue education.    
  • Fatigue mitigation strategies.
  • Implementation of preventative measures.
  • Operational procedures to follow when fatigue is identified.
  • Fatigue countermeasures and prevention.
  • Fatigue training to any employee that provides direct management oversight to flight attendants concerning fatigue (dispatch, schedulers, individuals directly involved in operations).
  • Accountability to make necessary changes when problematic schedules facilitate flight attendant fatigue.
  • Fatigue Review Board (FRB) will now include the QX Safety Department as a standing member.
  • Better Data to facilitate change when change is needed.

We are disappointed that Management has adamantly refused to adopt our recommendations in the following areas:

Ability to call out fatigue without discipline

  • Ability to call out fatigued without loss of pay

Your ASHS and Fatigue Chairs fought to remove this verbiage from the FRMP. Management claimed that it is a contract (CBA) issue. Since the FRMP is a mandated FAA document, we do not agree with disciplinary action and loss of pay when calling out fatigued. We do not believe a fatigue call should be subject to bargaining and as such, AFA strongly opposes this decision by Inflight Management.  AFA feels by not removing the potential for disciplinary action from the FRMP, it prohibits accurate reporting and it is not in keeping with the FAA checklist of items to be included in a FRMP.  We will be filing our opposition in the matter to the FAA for documentation of our concerns and we will fight to overturn this verbiage.

Please refer to our CBA when filing fatigued. CBA verbiage is in Article 26, Page 167 in the Health, Safety and Security section. For electronic format, use the Report It App to file. If at any time you fly fatigued, submit an ASAP report along with your Fatigue Report and be specific of any scheduling extensions.

In Solidarity, Your MEC ASHS Chair, Bryan Grosvold and Jennifer Levcun, Fatigue Chair and LEC 16 ASHS Committee Representative

 [GB1]Corporate Safety department or AFA Committee?

 [EEH2]Joelle, this table will need some work.  The current format needs to be fixed.