Managing fatigue in the workplace

Managing fatigue in the workplace is a must for all employers. Although fatigue is common amongst shift workers due to long shifts and inadequate breaks, high levels of fatigue can affect any worker in any job. Fatigue is common and most adults experience it at some point in their lives.  It is very important not to underestimate the risks of fatigue. Fatigue-related safety issues occur every day in the workplace and can have serious consequences, leading to accidents, injury, and ill-health. Fatigue has cost the UK £115-£240 million per year in terms of workplace accidents alone (Source www.HSE.gov.uk).

What is fatigue?

Fatigue is more than just feeling a bit tired. Fatigue is a state of physical and/or mental exhaustion, burnout, or complete lack of energy, from loss of sleep and/or disruption of their internal body clock (working when your body clock expects to be asleep). This can impair your judgement which reduces a person’s ability to perform their work both safely and effectively.

Fatigue may be caused by work factors, non-work-related factors, or a combination of both, or can indicate an underlying medical condition. A person’s age, health, and lifestyle choices (exercise, diet, and drugs/alcohol) can all influence fatigue, along with grief or stress.

Workers at higher risk of fatigue include, shift workers, night workers, seasonal workers, on-call workers, emergency services, medical and health workers.

Symptoms of fatigue

Fatigue can show in physical, mental, or emotional symptoms.

These can include any/all the below:

• Chronic tiredness, falling asleep at work
• Slowed reflexes and responses
• Dizziness
• Headaches
• Sore/aching muscles
• Lacking energy
• Muscle weakness
• Impaired decision making and poor judgement
• Moodiness
• Loss of appetite
• Blurred vision
• Low motivation
• Lack of attention
• Hallucinations
• Memory lapses
• Reduced co-ordination
• Decreased awareness

Contributing factors of fatigue in the workplace

Work-related factors that can contribute to fatigue include:

• Long working hours (particularly with double shifts/overtime)
• Shift work (with only short breaks to recover)
• Night workers (due to body clock being out of sync)
• Increased workloads and taking work home to complete
• Working environment (excessive noise, extreme temperatures e.g. heat in the workplace, excessive cold and vibration can all impair performance)
• Working alone
• Physically or mentally demanding tasks for long periods of time
• Repetitive routines/machine-paced
• Conflicts with bosses, colleagues, bullying, job dissatisfaction (workplace stress)
• Increased travel to and from work

Other psychological factors include:

Stress, struggling to cope, financial pressures, family responsibilities, anxiety, depression, grief, length, and quality of sleep

Why you should manage fatigue in the workplace

Obviously, the main reason for managing fatigue in the workplace is to reduce the likelihood of a fatigue related accident or near miss, especially when it involves people, machinery, vehicles, working at height, medical procedures, working with flammable/explosive substances, hazardous work e.g. electrical/gas maintenance as this is particularly high risk.

However, there are several additional benefits to managing fatigue in the workplace including.

• Increased productivity
• Employee motivation
• Better decision making
• Healthier working environment
• Meeting H & S compliance requirements

How to manage fatigue in the workplace

Productivity demands and labour shortages are key triggers for fatigue, as workloads are increased which results in extended working hours to meet business needs. Also, the additional financial pressures now, has increased the number of those working two jobs.

Fatigue is the responsibility of the employer and needs to be managed the same as any other health and safety risk. Everyone needs to be reminded that they are accountable for their own health and safety in the workplace though.

Fatigue risks are different in each industry and individual business depending on their type of work, environmental factors etc. The first step would be to identify those employees most at risk of fatigue. This could be a quick and simply process with staff in a small business or quite a complex project with an industry that has hundreds of workers, working 24/7.

You should take into consideration:

Type of work

Work load, work activity (who carries out physically demanding work for long periods or who carries out mentally demanding work for long periods), diversity of workload.

Work pattern

Shift timing, duration, number, and length of breaks between shifts, does anyone work more than 12 hours or regularly working more than their rostered hours. Do they have at least one full day off per week?

Working environment

Is anyone working with hazardous chemicals or machinery. Do they have a lot of vibration or loud noises, hot/cold environments to work in.

Fatigue management strategies

Use strategies to prevent and manage fatigue in the workplace such as:

• Develop a working hours policy.
• Have a fatigue reporting procedure.
• Set a limit on working hours (including over-time) and make sure supervisors are due diligent of shift swopping between colleagues. (monitor time sheets/work records).
• Create shift patterns and rotas that allow for enough rest breaks and time for travel, subsistence etc.
• Ensure all workers are taking allocated rest breaks.
• Have additional staff on call-out during peak times if possible.
• Replacing leavers as soon as possible to avoid skill shortages.
• Reduce travel time for meetings etc where possible, by using technology.
• Avoid high safety risk tasks between 2am – 6am and 2pm -4pm (where possible).
• Ensure all workers take their full annual leave allowance.
• Make sure all equipment is fully maintained
• Provide ergonomic furniture, lifting equipment and anti-fatigue matting for repetitive work.
• Provide information and training on fatigue so workers know the signs of fatigue for themselves and colleagues, risks to health and safety, effective control measures, and importance of reporting fatigue straight away.
• Educate workers on the importance of work/life balance, healthy lifestyle choices, diet, exercise, sleep etc.
• Cross train employees where possible, so job rotation can be implemented.
• Provide adequate welfare facilities where employees can get refreshments, sleep, etc.
• Make sure the workplace environment is as comfortable as possible, e.g. not too hot, cold etc
• Ensure worker co-operation with policies and procedures in relation to fatigue in the workplace.
• Monitor and review any risk strategies implemented, particularly after an accident or near miss occurs as the result of fatigue, so further improvements can be made.

For more information on managing fatigue in the workplace and strategies for your individual company, please email info@sentinelsafety.co.uk or call us on 01527 833834.