Fatigue can affect the health and safety of workers both directly and indirectly. It can lead to short-term and long-term health issues for workers, including:
- anxiety
- mood changes, such as depression
- obesity
- heart disease
- high blood pressure
- gastrointestinal disorders
Fatigue can indirectly affect the health and safety of both the fatigued worker and others in the workplace by exposing them to risk caused by the fatigued worker’s:
- impaired judgement
- reduced physical capacity
- slower reaction times and
- reduced capability to make good decisions.
When Is Fatigue a High Risk?
In some workplaces, fatigue may only lead to small-scale risks of limited effect, but in high-risk workplaces it can lead to significant injuries, including fatalities and damage to structures and equipment.
High-risk workplaces include those where:
- hazardous machinery is operated
- complex or hazardous processes are undertaken, e.g. operating a forklift
- workers are exposed to hazardous substances
- working at heights
In high-risk workplaces, workers are required to maintain a high level of alertness, meaning that fatigued workers pose a much greater risk to both themselves and others in the workplace.
Your Obligation to Reduce the Risks of Fatigue
Under health and safety legislation, you have an obligation to take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure the safety of your workers, therefore, causing or permitting workers to perform work in a fatigued state could expose you to liability for breaching health and safety legislation.
Workers also have a responsibility to avoid putting themselves or others at risk from their work activities, including not performing work while fatigued. Ensure that workers understand they must inform you if they ever feel too fatigued to work, particularly if they undertake high-risk work.
How can you tell if someone is fatigued?
Train your managers and supervisors to recognise the signs of fatigued workers, including:
- excessive yawning or falling asleep at work
- short term memory problems and an inability to concentrate
- noticeably reduced capacity to engage in effective interpersonal communication
- impaired decision-making and judgment
- reduced hand-eye coordination or slow reflexes
- other changes in behaviour e.g. repeatedly arriving late for work
- increased rates of unplanned absence
If you notice any of these signs in one of your workers, discuss the issue with them and allow them to take personal or annual leave if required. Train managers and/or supervisors on the signs of fatigue.
Factors that may contribute to and increase the risk of fatigue
Fatigue is generally the result of insufficient energy or rest. Workers can become fatigued for various reasons, including having:
- excessive working hours
- significant demands outside of work
- shift work
- environmental conditions
- non-work related factors
How to Determine Whether Workers are Fit for Work
As part of your obligation to provide a safe place of work, you must carry out fitness for work assessments. A fitness for work assessment involves an employer observing and communicating with its workers to ensure that they are fit and able to carry out the inherent requirements of their roles.
Although there are no set requirements for conducting fitness for work assessments, you should consider conducting one whenever you think a worker may be suffering from fatigue. This is particularly imperative in high-risk industries.
Your obligation to conduct fitness for work assessments continues throughout a worker’s employment with you. You have the right to direct a worker to attend a medical examination (at your expense) to determine their fitness to perform the inherent requirements of their role. If a worker is repeatedly or chronically fatigued, there may be an underlying medical condition, which should be assessed by a medical practitioner.
Discussing Fatigue Risks with Workers
If you have identified any fatigued workers in your workplace, discuss the issue of fatigue with them as soon as practicable. You may also choose to discuss the issue with other workers who could be at risk of fatigue. Ensure that you keep an accurate and up-to-date record of your observations and discussions with the affected worker. In certain circumstances, e.g. in relation to workers involved in the transport industry, this may be required by law. Notes of observations and conversations with affected workers may be used in court as evidence that you took steps to reduce the risk of fatigue.
How to Minimise the Risks of Fatigue
To minimise the risks of your workers suffering fatigue, consider taking one or more of the following steps in relation to a fatigued worker.
Allow a shift worker to:
- Plan an appropriate and varied workload.
- Offer a choice of permanent roster or rotating shifts.
- Limit shifts to 12 h including overtime, or to 8 h if they are night shifts and/or the work is demanding, monotonous, dangerous and/or safety critical.
- Restrict number of successive night shifts (no more than 3 to 4 if possible).
- Allow for at least 2 full night’s sleep after the last night shift.
- Avoid keeping workers on permanent night shifts.
- Avoid early morning starts and move early shift starts before 6am forward (e.g. 7am not 6am start).
- Limit the number of successive early starts (to 4 maximum if possible)
- Shifts involving an early start should be shorter in length to counter the impact of fatigue later in the shift.
- If 12-hour shifts worked then no overtime worked in addition.
- Avoid long working hours (more than 50 hours per week).
- Limit consecutive work days to a maximum of 5 – 7 days.
- Allow minimum of 12 hours between shifts and avoid ‘quick return’ of 8 hours if possible. (Rest period between shifts should permit enough time for commuting, meals and sleep.)
- Build regular free weekends into the shift schedule, advisably at least every 3 weeks.
- Use a rapid rotation of shifts (a select number of days) or a slow rotation of shifts (a select number of weeks).
- Arrange start/finish times of the shift to be convenient for public transport, social and domestic activities.
- Account for travelling time of workforce.
Encourage workers to:
- stay fit and healthy
- have a balanced diet
- have adequate sleep
- avoid alcohol and drugs and
- avoid stimulants, such as coffee, just before going to bed.
