Workplace Fatigue Guidelines Released
A new guide to managing risk factors arising from fatigue in the PS workplace and others has been prepared and released by Safe Work Australia for review and comment.
The draft Managing the risk of fatigue at work publication provides practical guidance for managing fatigue and ensuring it does not contribute to health and safety risks in the workplace.The consultation process in the Commonwealth arena is being managed by Comcare. The draft guide was developed as part of a process to harmonise work health and safety laws and provide a consistent approach across Australia.
It says the information in it can be applied generally to all types of work and all workplaces covered by the Work Health and Safety Act 2011. “It is not designed to provide information on how to manage fatigue in specific industries and does not replace requirement related to fatigue under other laws,” the guide says, “for example heavy vehicle driver fatigue laws or rail safety requirements under the Rail Safety National Law. “The steps that need to be taken to manage the risk of fatigue will vary from one workplace to the next, depending on the nature of the work, environmental conditions and individual factors.“The first step in the risk management process is to identify all reasonably foreseeable factors that could contribute to the risk of fatigue.”
It said there may not be obvious signs of fatigue at the workplace but that did not mean it was not occurring or factors that increased the risk of fatigue were not present.
More info on Fatigue Management Training
Source:http://www.psnews.com.au/Page_psn3561.html
Tasmania’s Ambo Workers Face Fatigue Issues
Tasmania’s ambulance workers are reportedly at risk of being “worked into the ground” because of a dramatic increase in overtime.
Tasmania Liberal party health spokesman Jeremy Rockliff cited leaked statistics that showed ambulance workers were on the job a total of 3469 hours overtime in the first two months of 2013 in southern Tasmania. He states that the data also shows that at least 30 crew shortages occurred and sometimes service was cancelled completely.
“This is clearly an ambulance service in crisis,” he said.
Rockliff emphasized that staff were under stress which could potentially result in a workplace accident.
“As one paramedic put it in a recent survey: ‘It’s only a matter of time before a staff member crashes a vehicle or suffers major ill health due to exceeding their stress-fatigue limit’,” Mr Rockliff said.
The Government stated an additional $48 million had been spent on ambulance services over four years, but demand for services was on the rise.
To cope with the demand, an additional 18 paramedics have been employed since December and 12 more are expected to be employed in April.
More info on Fatigue Management
Source: http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2013/03/24/375349_tasmania-news.html
Ways to Help Manage Fatigue in the Workplace
Defining Workplace Fatigue
Fatigue is a perpetual state of tiredness that progresses into mental or physical exhaustion and inhibits workers from effectively functioning within practical boundaries. Fatigue is far beyond a simple feeling tiredness and drowsiness, it is a physical condition often occurs when a person meets their physical or mental limits
Fatigue can result from a variety of work or lifestyle related factors or a combination. Some of the work related factors include:
- insufficient breaks
- extensive time of being awake
- inadequate recovery time between shifts
- payment incentives that inadvertently encourage working longer shifts
- environmental conditions (for example, climate, light, noise, workstation design)
- type of work being undertaken; whether physical or mentally exhausting work.
Lifestyle-factors can include:
- lack of quality sleep due as a result of sleeping disorders
- busy social life
- personal responsibilities
- additional employment
- travel (sometimes work time)
- nutrition and diet, exercise, pain, illness
Safe Work Australia’s signs of worker fatigue
- Headaches and/or dizziness
- Wandering thoughts, daydreaming, lack of concentration
- Blurred vision or difficulty keeping eyes open
- Constant yawning, a drowsy relaxed feeling or falling asleep at work
- Moodiness such as irritability
- Short term memory problems
- Low motivation
- Hallucinations
- Impaired decision-making and judgment
- Slow reflexes and responses
- Reduced immune system function
- Increased errors
- Extended sleep during days off work
- Falling asleep for a few seconds without realising
- Drifting in and out of traffic lanes
Sleep is the only effective long term strategy to prevent and manage fatigue. While tired muscles can recover with rest, the brain can only recover with sleep. The most beneficial sleep is a good night’s sleep taken in a single continuous period.
One sleepless night can be be equated to someone who has been drinking alcohol, for example:
- being awake for 17 hours is the equivalent of having a blood alcohol level of 0.05
- being awake for 20 hours is the equivalent of having a blood alcohol level of 0.1
Shift workers (including night work) and fatigue
The body has a natural rhythm that repeats every 24 hours – known as a ‘body clock’. Our body clock regulates our sleeping patterns, body temperature, hormone levels and digestion.
When the human body clock is interrupted, our alertness suffers which results in feelings of fatigue. This contributes to the risks of making errors and subsequently resulting in accidents and injuries, either in the workplace or travelling to work.
Shift workers are one of the most affected groups of fatigue. Body clock rhythms have a difficulty in adjusting to shiftwork. In many workplaces shift work, and particularly night work cannot be avoided which increases the need for proactively managed fatigue.
Source: Safe Work Australia draft code of practice on workplace fatigue
