The concern related to fatigue being experienced by the flight crew due to the rostering system in place.
The reporter expressed a safety concern related to the fatigue being experienced by the pilots flying for the [operator] division.
The reporter advised that pilots are rostered on a very tiring roster. While this roster may be legal, the pilots are experiencing high levels of fatigue. The reporter advised that the pilots are worried that their jobs may be in jeopardy if they make incident reports through the internal reporting system.
The reporter also advised that pilots are unwilling to make any reports through the internal reporting system as there is a culture of ridicule and bullying within the organisation.
Reporter comment: If a check is made of the [operator’s] reporting system, it will be noted that there are no internal safety reports from pilots.
Thank you for the provision of this REPCON for our response. We have contacted our local CASA office and discussed the report with the CASA Team Leader. We do not believe that these comments have any substance. The comments about pilot’s worrying about their jobs or that they are subject to a culture of ridicule and bullying simply do not correspond to any evidence that we can see or imagine when we review company actions and documents. We would be pleased to assist the ATSB or CASA to review our onsite data and procedures with respect to these allegations.
The operator also included a report from a fatigue contracting organisation who analysed 12 months of actual Pilot Flight and Duty Data from the internal reporting system which was sent to CASA for analysis.
CASA has reviewed the REPCON and the information contained in the report is insufficient to indicate any breach of aviation legislation or threat to the safe operation of the organisation. Surveillance activity conducted on the [operators] flight and duty fatigue practices found them to be compliant with the conditions of Civil Aviation Order 48 Standard Industry Concession Part 7. Additionally, there were no indications of the organisation’s unwillingness to reinforce the internal reporting culture or a lack of understanding of the risks associated with pilot fatigue.
The [operator] is currently developing their Fatigue Risk Management System and CASA is monitoring the activity.