Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Solutions for the Exemption and Safety Case Process for FRMS

Author:  FMN Contributing Author

If your industry has not yet been told it has to follow a set of regulations or rules that impose limits and requirements to the hours of work, it soon will.   Most safety conscious industries have recognized that fatigue risk needs to be addressed through limits and requirements for the hours of work that are based on the contemporary science of sleep and fatigue.  Fortunately, most of these industries have also realized that a singular prescriptive approach does not work in all situations and they allow organizations to apply for exemptions to some of the provisions in work hours rules and regulations.  Obtaining an exemption normally requires building a safety case using science and data to show that what will be done instead of following a prescriptive practice is just as safe as following the practice.  The approach sounds simple, but building the safety case can be a daunting project.  One option is to hire a safety consulting firm to do it all for you.  This takes all the pain and stress away but it can cost a lot of money and you don’t really learn anything about the science of sleep and fatigue or how to collect useable data.  This means that you will have to hire the firm again and again when you need another exemption or you want to modify a current one.  Why not consider a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) option that saves the bottom line and provides learning opportunities.  Check out this Helicopter Association of Canada's tutorial discussing 2 DIY solutions.

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