title: Monitoring and Managing Cabin Crew Sleep and Fatigue During an Ultra-Long Range Trip.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aims of this study were to monitor cabin crew fatigue, sleep, and performance on an ultra-long range (ULR) trip and to evaluate the appropriateness of applying data collection methods developed for flight crew to cabin crew operations under a fatigue risk management system (FRMS).
  
  
  METHODS
  Prior to, throughout, and following the ULR trip (outbound flight ULR; mean layover duration=52.6 h; inbound flight long range), 55 cabin crew (29 women; mean age 36.5 yr; 25 men; mean age 36.6 yr; one missing data) completed a sleep/duty diary and wore an actigraph. Across each flight, crewmembers rated their fatigue (Samn-Perelli Crew Status Check) and sleepiness (Karolinska Sleepiness Scale) and completed a 5-min Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT) at key times.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of crewmembers approached, 73% (N=134) agreed to participate and 41% (N=55) provided data of suitable quality for analysis. In the 24 h before departure, sleep averaged 7.0 h and 40% took a preflight nap. All crewmembers slept in flight (mean total sleep time=3.6 h outbound, 2.9 h inbound). Sleepiness and fatigue were lower, and performance better, on the longer outbound flight than on the inbound flight. Post-trip, crewmembers slept more on day 1 (mean=7.9 h) compared to baseline days, but there was no difference from day 2 onwards.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study demonstrates that cabin crew fatigue can be managed effectively on a ULR flight and that FRMS data collection is feasible for cabin crew, but operational differences between cabin crew and flight crew need to be considered.
authors.affiliation: Sleep/Wake Research Centre, Massey University, Wellington, NZ.
authors.forename: Margo J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: van den Berg
authors.forename: T Leigh
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Signal
authors.forename: Hannah M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Mulrine
authors.forename: Alexander A T
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Philippa H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Gander
authors.forename: Wynand
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Serfontein
mesh_terms: D056044:Actigraphy; D000328:Adult; D000337:Aerospace Medicine; D000401:Aircraft; D005221:Fatigue / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D012890:Sleep; D012892:Sleep Deprivation / Q000517:prevention & control; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013997:Time Factors; D014851:Wakefulness; D014940:Work Schedule Tolerance; D055815:Young Adult