49 CFR § 271.603 - Purpose and scope of a Fatigue Risk Management Program (FRMP).

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t49/s271.603"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "49 CFR § 271.603 - Purpose and scope of a Fatigue Risk Management Program (FRMP)."
title_number: 49
title_name: "Transportation"
section_number: "271.603"
section_name: "Purpose and scope of a Fatigue Risk Management Program (FRMP)."
chapter_name: "FEDERAL RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION"
part_number: "271"
part_name: "RISK REDUCTION PROGRAM"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-03-24"
last_updated: "2026-03-24"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "49 U.S.C. 20103, 20106-20107, 20118-20119, 20156, 21301, 21304, 21311; 28 U.S.C. 2461 note; and 49 CFR 1.89."
regulatory_source: "85 FR 9314, Feb. 18, 2020, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "271"
---


# 271.603 Purpose and scope of a Fatigue Risk Management Program (FRMP).

(a) *Purpose.* The purpose of an FRMP is to improve railroad safety through structured, proactive processes and procedures a railroad subject to this part develops and implements. A railroad's FRMP shall systematically identify and evaluate the fatigue-related railroad safety hazards on its system, determine the degree of risk associated with each hazard, and manage those risks to reduce the fatigue that its safety-related railroad employees experience and to reduce the risk of railroad accidents, incidents, injuries, and fatalities where the fatigue of any of these employees is a contributing factor.

(b) *Scope.* A railroad shall:

(1) Design its FRMP to reduce the fatigue its safety-related railroad employees experience and to reduce the risk of railroad accidents, incidents, injuries, and fatalities where the fatigue of any of these employees is a contributing factor;

(2) Develop its FRMP by conducting a system-wide fatigue-risk analysis that accounts for the varying circumstances of its operations on different parts of its system; and

(3) Employ in its FRMP the fatigue risk mitigation strategies the railroad identifies as appropriate to address those varying circumstances.