Human factors: Fatigue
Why is fatigue important?
Fatigue refers to the issues that arise from excessive working time or poorly designed shift patterns. Fatigue is a perceived state of ‘weariness’ caused by prolonged or intensive exertion. It results in slower reactions, reduced ability to process information, memory lapses, absent-minded slips, ‘losing the picture’, lack of attention etc. Fatigue can lead to errors and accidents, ill-health and injury, and reduced productivity. It is often a root cause of major accidents.
Key principles in fatigue
- Fatigue needs to be managed, like any other hazard.
- The legal duty is on employers to manage risks from fatigue, irrespective of any individual’s willingness to work extra hours or preference for certain shift patterns for social reasons.
- Changes to working hours need to be risk assessed. One way of doing this is to use HSE’s ‘fatigue index calculator’.
- Note that staff may prefer badly designed shift patterns for social reasons.
- Have a policy that specifically addresses working hours, overtime and guards against fatigue.
- Set limits for working hours and shift patterns - monitor and enforce these.
- Develop a robust system of recording working hours, overtime, on-call working.
- Good practice on shift roster design takes account of shift types, shift length, rest periods, rotation and social factors.
