Fatigue at work is a significant contributor to occupational injuries and illnesses. It’s also the point of special emphasis in the third week of the National Safety Council’s National Safety Month 2019 (#NSM).
As a result, we’re going to take a special look at issues related to fatigue on the job in this article in the hopes of providing some information that may help avoid some injuries and illnesses (and maybe even a fatality).
If you’ve been keeping track, you also know we’ve already written about hazard recognition and slips, trips, and falls for national safety month. You might also want to check out what our friends at RedVector have been writing on for National Safety Month. Next week we’ll both be addressing impairment issues.
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Let’s learn a little more about fatigue at work.
According to OSHA, worker fatigue (which OSHA associates with long work hours and extended or irregular work shifts, is a significant contributor to safety and health issues at work. Compared to day shifts, accident and injury rates are 18% higher during evening shifts and 30% higher during night shifts. In addition, working 12 hours a day is associated with a 37% increase in the risk of injury. And a study of medical residents found that every extended shift scheduled in a month was associated with a 16.2% increase in the risk of a motor vehicle crash during the commute home from work.
Fatigue can be caused by many factors.
An obvious factor causing fatigue is too little sleep, poor quality sleep, or interrupted sleep.
Other causes include long work hours, extended work shifts, and irregular work shifts, all of which can interfere with the body’s natural circadian rhythm.
In one sense, any worker is at risk of suffering from fatigue at work and therefore the negative effects of fatigue.
However, workers who work irregular and extended shifts are at an elevated risk. These include healthcare workers, transportation workers, first responders, firefighters, police officers, military personnel, construction workers, oil field workers, service and hospitality workers, and many more.
Irregular and extended shifts are common among healthcare providers, transportation workers, first responders, firefighters, police officers, military personnel, construction workers, oil field workers, service and hospitality workers and many others.
Fatigue is associated with the following health problems:
Fatigue can also make existing chronic health conditions worse, including illnesses like epilepsy and diabetes.
One of the most important things workers can do is get the healthy sleep they need on a regular basis.
This includes:
Employers can reduce the risk of worker fatigue in the workplace by:
As we’ve mentioned, fatigue creates risks at work. A fatigue risk management plan is just like any risk management effort–it’s designed to identify, assess, and treat risk. Please see our Risk Management Basics: Foundations of Risk Management article for more on risk management and download our free Risk-Based Techniques for Safety Management guide at the bottom of this article.
Try some of the resources below to use as models and resources while creating your own fatigue risk management program:
For more on fatigue, check out our partner RedVector’s NSM contribution on Fighting Fatigue.
Please download our free Risk Management for Safety Management Guide below to help get started on creating your own fatigue risk management program.
Download this free guide to using risk management for your occupational safety and health management program.
Jeff Dalto, Senior Learning & Performance Improvement Manager
Jeff is a learning designer and performance improvement specialist with more than 20 years in learning and development, 15+ of which have been spent working in manufacturing, industrial, and architecture, engineering & construction training. Jeff has worked side-by-side with more than 50 companies as they implemented online training. Jeff is an advocate for using evidence-based training practices and is currently completing a Masters degree in Organizational Performance and Workplace Learning from Boise State University. He writes the Vector Solutions | Convergence Training blog and invites you to connect with him on LinkedIn.
