With Safe Work Australia developing a new Code of Practice to provide guidance for PCBUs on fatigue risks at work, Bramwell Partners has created a quick update and some tips for helping to identify exhaustion and provide fatigue management in the workplace.

Bramwell Partners are experts in human resource consulting and provide superior WHS consulting services to businesses throughout Brisbane. For more information, call (07) 3630 5695 or fill in our contact form today.

Why is Fatigue Management Important?

There are several reasons why it is important to employers as it directly affects safety, productivity, legal compliance and Economic costs.

What Are the Impacts of a Fatigued Workforce?

Fatigue management should be taken seriously as it has serious effects on workers mental and physical health. Fatigue can reduce worker’s reaction times, alertness, strength, coordination, communication, patience and decision making. In positions that rely on workers performance, having fatigued workers can lead to safety incidents and harm.

How Can I Identify Fatigue

Fatigue can often be difficult to spot in the early stages but there are some signs that can be observed such as:

  • Reduced alertness
  • Forgetfulness
  • Physical appearance – such as droopy eyes, yawning and a general lack of energy.

However, the best way to identify fatigue is to have the workers themselves be able to report it. Monitoring tools can be used to let workers know that they could be experiencing fatigue, such as self-reporting or alertness tests.

What Contributes to Fatigue Hazards?

There are quite a number of factors that can be used to determine fatigue hazards throughout the workplace. A few of them can be found below but is by no means a comprehensive list of everything that can contribute to fatigue.

Long hours

People working long hours over the course of a week can be one of the biggest factors in fatigue, as it does not give the worker in question enough time to rest and re-cooperate after a shift. In addition, doing high stress or complex work without sufficient breaks can be equally as draining to the average person.

Irregular hours

Another cause of workplace fatigue can be constantly changing or irregular hours, such as 2-day, 2-night shift work. Even though the worker may get an extended break between shift blocks, they may still become fatigued at work due the impact on their body’s natural circadian rhythm.

Emotional involvement

Getting emotionally involved in work can be extremely impactful on a person. Not only can it be incredibly draining on someone, but it can also disrupt their work life balance, meaning that workers may find it difficult to switch off after leaving work for the day. The inability to have a positive work life balance is proven to negatively impact worker performance and capability.

Managing Risks of Fatigue

While there are no one size fits all solution to fatigue management and safety there are some guidelines to work off to try and reduce its impact as much as possible. Some ways of doing so can be seen below. Not every option will be available to all places, we encourage you to consider if these options may apply to your workplace.

Minimise Long Hours

One of the easiest ways to reduce the possibility of having fatigue-based risks in the workplace is to ensure that workers are not exceeding the recommended shift times and minimum times between shifts. This will give your workers the ability to completely rest and recover between shifts.

Minimise Circadian Interruptions

A person’s circadian rhythm or internal body clock is a critical part in managing and preventing fatigue. Where possible workers should try to avoid working before 6am and after 10pm as a person’s body is naturally more susceptible to fatigue after 10pm and especially between 2am to 6am. Therefore, having working hours be between 6am to 10pm is ideal for trying to reduce workplace fatigue.

Provide Sufficient Breaks

The risk of fatigue can be minimised by providing workers with sufficient and effective breaks during their shifts. At a minimum workers should have a 30-minute break every 5 hours, if there are other fatigue related hazards breaks should be taken more frequently. Employers should avoid disruptions during employee breaks, for example having employees be ‘on call’ during their breaks.

Simplify Or Adjust Tasks Where Possible

Complicated tasks or tasks that require a significant amount of work and or concentration can lead to fatigue hazards. This can be minimised by identifying places where workers can adjust their duties to better suit how they work and supporting them to make those changes. One such example would be to do more complicated tasks earlier in the day so that energy levels are higher, and workers are more awake.

Reduce Repetitive Tasks

Reducing repetitive or tedious tasks is an excellent way to avoid workers becoming complacent and losing concentration. While repetitive and tedious tasks will always be present, there are ways you can reduce the associated hazards. For example, rotating workers through different positions so that any one person is not doing the same job time and again.

Rostering – Workforce / Resource Planning

It is important to manage rostering arrangements so that employees do not get overworked and burnt out. Ensuring that there is enough staff to perform all required duties without employees having to do additional hours to keep up. Employees having access to any resources to complete tasks to improve workloads is also important to reducing the impact of workplace fatigue.

Fatigue Management Plans

One of the most important things is that you develop, use and maintain a fatigue management plan. This allows you to have a written documents of what steps and actions have been or will be taken to reduce the impact of workplace fatigue. Employees can then see steps they can take to improve overall awareness and understanding of fatigue and ways to manage and overcome it.

Journey Management Plans

A journey management plan (JMP) is a process used to manage and mitigate the risks associated with travel. The goal of a JMP is to ensure that workers remain safe, alert and well-rested during journeys, thereby reducing fatigue-based risks associated with long hours driving or travelling. Some of the points included in a JMP are to consider the safest routes that can be taken, a risk assessment of the vehicle or mode of transport the worker will be taking and training conducted with workers to help them identify potential fatigue indicators.

Seeking Guidance on Implementing Fatigue Management Strategies in Your Workplace?

The Bramwell Partners WHSE Consultants have a diverse background in various industries and the implementation of different strategies to efficiently manage fatigue risks.

To learn more about how our HR consulting can best support your team and provide guidance, call us on  (07) 3630 5695 or email success@bramwellpartners.com.au  for a free consultation.