As an engineer with 25 years experience in aircraft maintenance am I the only one who is getting more concerned over the increasing presures on maintenance staff to work under stress and while fatigued.
I realise that there have always been pressures on maintenance to get the aircraft out, but in the last few years it seems that it is getting worse. The latest event that has concerned me, is the idea by the management that it is OK for an engineer to work 7 continuous 8 hour shifts and spend 5 hours a day travelling to/from work. Although I personally do not do this shift yet, if I did I don't think that I would have any confidence in my ability to do the job safely with that amount of fatigue. I am not convinced that I would like to fly on any aircraft that is maintained by staff who are that stressed.
It seems that the latest crop of senior management are graduates from universities with no actual experience of aircraft maintenance and are unaware of the difference between working on aircraft and flying a desk all day.
I know that the CAA and CHIRP are looking into the accidents caused by stressed/fatigued staff but if the companies don't take the reccomendations on board then they are wasting their time.
Anyone got any comments?
