Industries & Occupations
What is fatigue?
Fatigue is a general term used to describe the feeling of being tired, drained or exhausted.
Fatigue is accompanied by poor judgment, impaired senses, slower reactions to events, and decreased skills, such as in vehicle control.
Where fatigue may adversely affect a person’s ability to work safely it must be identified, assessed and controlled like other hazards in the workplace.
Importantly, fatigue impairs a driver’s judgment of his or her own state of fatigue. This means the effective management of fatigue cannot be achieved by the driver alone. Both employers and employees have a role to play in making sure any risks associated with fatigue are minimised.
Fatigue can result from long or arduous work; high levels of stress; little or poor sleep and certain medical conditions. Factors such as the time of day when the work is performed, and a person’s emotional state significantly effect the impact that fatigue has on safety. When these factors combine, they interact to make the situation worse. Fatigue can accumulate over a period of time.
In order to manage fatigue as a workplace hazard the following factors need to be considered:
- Scheduling trips. For example, fewer long trips without breaks; less night work; enough rest breaks and adequate duration time needs to be allocated to driving times, work time, and rest time.
- Rostering drivers. For example, make sure drivers are given enough notice to prepare for a trip, and the schedule includes appropriate rest periods or the availability of a relief driver.
- Determining a driver's level of fitness for work: A driver should be medically fit to drive a commercial vehicle. Poor health and lack of fitness contribute to fatigue.
- Training drivers, supervisors and managers to identify and manage fatigue symptoms. Managers, supervisors and drivers should be trained to make them competent to identify and respond to the hazard fatigue, including lack of sleep, alcohol consumption, prescription and recreational drugs.
- Establishing and maintaining workplace conditions: All 'near misses' and hazardous incidents need to be reported and recorded to assist in prevention.
- Providing drivers with back up in case of accidents, blowouts or other delays. Tired drivers need to be relieved and the fatigue management plan needs to foresee and deal with all eventualities.
- Obey the Traffic Act Driving Hours Regulations (see link below for more details on keeping driving hour records)
