Change Fatigue in Aviation Maintenance through a Human Factors Lens

Aviation is a demanding and fast-paced industry and it is not uncommon for aviation professionals, including maintainers, to experience rapid disruption and organizational change. Fatigue in aviation professionals is a known risk. Fatigue risk management systems (FRMS) seek to mitigate this risk by focusing on tiredness resulting from long work hours and lack of quality sleep. Recently, change fatigue has also risen to the forefront of business and employee studies. In many of today’s industries, change is constant as firms implement changes either to address disruptions, business growth or to follow trends in the industry. Frequent changes in an organization often result in employee change fatigue as organizational change places an unintended strain on employees.

The aviation industry has faced major crises and disruptive shocks over the past decades with the recent pandemic having grave implications. The effects of the pandemic are more profound than prior disruptions as the airline sector is facing a multitude of changes to operations and work design. The fundamental shifts in the aviation industry that have arisen from the pandemic will and are leading to a multitude of changes. This research focuses on the application of change fatigue on aviation maintenance personnel. The issues of change fatigue and the resulting increased workload need to be addressed for aviation maintenance personnel, especially considering the impact on safety. Through the guidance of human factors engineering, this study seeks to apply the knowledge of change fatigue through a human factors lens to aviation maintenance personnel.