From fatigue policy to daily practice

A policy becomes useful when people know how to apply it. Make the requirements, responsibilities and response to roster changes clear to planners, supervisors and staff.

Rostering software supports the defined checks and records within that wider fatigue-management process.

Make responsibilities clear

Identify the people responsible for policy, operational decisions, roster configuration and staff communication. Review the applicable requirements with the relevant specialists and employee representatives.

Translate the scheduling elements into rules that can be checked: duty length, consecutive duties, breaks, rest, night work and time off. Keep a record of the approved values and the scope in which they apply.

Put policy into the workflow

Define how the organisation handles planned rosters, changes after publication and unscheduled duties. A change to one shift can affect rest before or after it, so the review should cover the relevant sequence of duties.

Establish a clear fatigue-reporting process and the actions available to supervisors. A roster that passes numerical checks does not establish that an individual is fit for duty.

Review what happens in practice

Compare planned and worked hours, overtime, changes and relevant staff feedback. Review the information through the organisation’s safety-management process rather than treating a single roster metric as a diagnosis of fatigue.

Changes in staffing, demand or operating hours may require the policy and configuration to be reassessed. Assign responsibility for that review and for communicating approved changes.

Use the checks available

SkyRoster allows organisations to configure supported rules and examine violations in a proposed roster. Reporting can help managers review attendance, overtime and changes over time.

The software helps apply defined scheduling requirements consistently. Fatigue-risk assessment, medical advice and regulatory review remain separate responsibilities.

For the EU framework, review the eight rostering elements in ATS.OR.320. The rule catalogue explains the scheduling checks available in SkyRoster.

Updated September 2026: unsupported medical and causal claims have been removed, and the scope of software support has been clarified.