• Make a Safe Workplace Overview
• Manage health and Safety
  • Safety of Contractors and Visitors
  • Visitors to Farms
  • Children in the Workplace
  • First Aid Kits
• Make a H&S plan
  • Implementing Your Plan
  • Employee Participation
• Manage Hazards
  • Monitor Employee Health
  • More on health monitoring
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Getting staff to wear safety gear
  • Fatigue, Drugs and Alcohol
  • Sample Drug and Alcohol Policy
  • Workplace Fatigue
• Manage Staff Safely
  • Employee Responsibilities
  • Employee Capability Levels
  • Seven Steps for Training
  • Sample Health and Safety Policy
• Investigate Incidents

Workplace Fatigue

Common causes of fatigue

• Shift work is a common cause of disturbed sleep patterns. Shift work can lead to fatigue when it stops an employee getting enough sleep or when shift work requires an employee to work in the early hours of the morning, when people are normally at their sleepiest. Enough recovery time should be allowed between shifts. 
• Shifts that last longer than eight hours are considered to be extended shifts. Frequent extended shifts can lead to employees getting less sleep than they need. Continuing sleep restriction can affect cardiovascular health, mental health, safety and productivity. 
• Working at night has a greater impact than working the same number of hours in the daytime. On average, shift workers lose 1-1.5 hours of sleep for each 24 hour period. This builds up a sleep debt of six hours after four nights. So working more than three or four night shifts in a row is likely to cause a significant sleep debt. At least two consecutive full nights sleep with a normal day in between is recommended in each week. 
• Employees require regular rest and meal breaks to reduce fatigue. Dehydration can cause headaches, loss of sleep, loss of concentration and fatigue. A nutritious snack during rest breaks can restore energy levels. Physically or mentally demanding work is especially tiring and requires frequent rest breaks. 
• Personal factors such as the employee’s age, general health, sleeping patterns, lifestyle and experience on the job affect their susceptibility to fatigue. An employee who is new to a task may need to use greater concentration when performing the job than an experienced employee. Ensure employees have relevant training and support. 

Managing fatigue

There are three steps that you can take to help manage fatigue at work.

Step one: Consultation

Talk to your staff about what works best for them in reducing or combating tiredness on the job. Point out your responsibilities as an employer to ensure the health and safety of the employee, and the employee’s responsibilities to ensure his or her own safety, plus the safety of others who might be affected, for example by poor judgement made as a result of fatigue. The employee’s responsibility also extends to personal health care. For example, an employee in charge of dangerous machinery who arrives at work with a hangover could endanger others.

Step two: Evaluation

Shift-working arrangements are a compromise between your need for work to continue at a time when people are normally asleep, and your employees' need to take breaks and get enough sleep between shifts. Work out how you can balance these needs.

Do you need to provide more breaks on certain shifts? See Break Entitlements for more guidance.

Step three: Training and education

Learning how to manage shifts to reduce fatigue can help both you and your employees. You need to work with employees on your joint responsibilities to prevent fatigue.

Employers should

• Limit shifts to a safe number of hours
• Make sure staff take regular rest breaks during shifts
• Make food available to staff where appropriate to maintain alertness
• Provide good supervision of shifts
• Be aware of the times when people are most likely to be affected by fatigue
• Aim to manage shift work and overtime so that employees have regular opportunities for adequate recovery through high-quality sleep
• If possible allow employees longer periods off if they must sleep during the day to work a night shift
• Be alert for the contribution of fatigue when you investigate accidents
• Support staff as far as possible and ask staff about the best way to do this

Employees should know about

• What to eat and when
• The impact of caffeine and alcohol on sleep
• The impact of prescribed medications, such as antihistamines, on their alertness
• How to make the most of their breaks
• How to use their recovery and rest time appropriately
• How to adjust their sleeping area to promote good sleep
• How to recognise fatigue
• Getting to and from work safely
• The impact of exercise on fatigue
• Working together is the best way to create a safe and healthy working environment.