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Fatigue in the Workplace
Fatigue is ultimately a result of insufficient sleep over a period of time. The effects and repercussions of fatigue in the workplace are compounded by working conditions and requirements of specific industries and job descriptions. The employer has a legal obligation to provide a workplace free of harm and injury to its workers with regards to fatigue. This includes fatigue caused by conditions outside of the workplace. Furthermore, once fatigued, an individual is unable to self-assess their continual risk level in the workplace.
STAYING AWAKE FOR 17 HOURS HAS THE SAME EFFECT ON PERFORMANCE AS HAVING A BLOOD ALCOHOL CONTENT OF 0.05% AND AFTER 21 HOURS AWAKE YOU DEMONSTRATE THE SAME DETERIORATION AS HAVING BAC OF .1%
THE FATIGUE CALCULATOR PROVIDES THE WORKPLACE WITH A TOOL THAT ADDRESSES THE EMPLOYERS RESPONSIBILITY REGARDING NONWORK FATIGUE BY PROVIDING THEIR STAFF WITH A PROVEN, CONSISTENT MEANS OF SELF ASSESSMENT.
FURTHERMORE, IT IS AN EFFECTIVE MEANS OF IDENTIFYING AND MONITORING FATIGUE IN ENVIRONMENTS WHERE THE EXISTENCE OF EVEN THE SLIGHTEST LEVEL OF FATIGUE IS INCREASING HAZARDOUS.
Work Related Fatigue
The symptoms and side effects of fatigue, become prevalent in the workplace when the work is repetitive, tedious, requires sustained vigilance, has low levels of physical activity, or at the extreme end, where very demanding manual handling is required.
People working in a fatigued state may place themselves and others at risk, most particularly:
- When operating machinery (including driving vehicles)
- When performing critical tasks that require a high level of concentration
- Where consequence of error is serious
The risk levels associated with fatigue in the workplace become of critical importance from a Fatigue Management perspective when:
- Work error is dangerous to society;
- Work error is dangerous to the worker or workers themselves’
- A failure to respond is dangerous to society; and
- Failure to respond is dangerous to the worker or workers themselves.
Regardless of what industry your Corporation conducts their business, every employer is legally responsible for ensuring workers are free of risk and death whilst at work. Situations where fitness for work is critical should be identified to highlight where workers need to perform at their optimum and where fatigue and other impairments may play an important role.
Through an effective Fatigue Management Plan, Corporations are able to minimise the levels of risk associated with worker fatigue through a number of various options. Some of which include:
- Ensuring appropriate rest opportunities for sleep and social activities between breaks
- How rosters are structured
- Appropriate working environment
- Appropriate rests/breaks whilst on shift
- Job design allowing for job rotation, physical activity
Non-work Fatigue
Fatigue accrued as a result of working conditions are obviously best handle at the employer level, whilst non-work fatigue is best handled at the individual level as it is often a result of conditions outside of the employers’ control. However, the employers’ legal obligation to address these issues does not diminish.
Fatigue accrued as a result of working conditions are obviously best handle at the employer level, whilst non-work fatigue is best handled at the individual level as it is often a result of conditions outside of the employers’ control. However, the employers’ legal obligation to address these issues does not diminish.
Causes of non-work-related fatigue can be attributed to sleep disruption or a limited amount of time available for sleep and social activities between shifts. Sleep disruption can be due to a number of reasons including ill family members, stress associated with financial difficulties, domestic responsibilities or moonlighting a 2nd job. Extended working hours, long periods of driving to and from work or sleeping during the day due to night shift, changes in workforce dynamics and social uses of time; all adversely affect the amount of time available for sleep.
Many of the current approaches to fatigue management have focussed on hours-of-service. However, these approaches may be of limited value in the systematic management of fatigue-related risk.
The Fatigue Calculator addresses this problem by providing the employer with a means to allow their employees to self assess and identify their levels of risk in the workplace as a result of fatigue.
Self-assessing Fatigue
Most organisational Fatigue Management Programs rely on the individual to self-assess and monitor their own fatigue levels and gauge their own continual risk level in the workplace. However, scientific studies have surmised that people who are fatigued are unable to identify their own level of impairment.
A person who is experiencing heavy eyelids and head bobbing is already past the point of impairment by drowsiness and is putting themselves and others at risk. As a result, fatigued people are unaware that they are not functioning as well or as safely as they would be if they were not fatigued.
Relying on an individual to self-assess their risk level in the workplace due to fatigue does not provide for adequate management of fatigue. The Fatigue Calculator provides a reliable and non-judgemental method for an employee to self assess their fatigue levels, before drowsiness leads to catastrophic outcomes.
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