Focus on Fatigue

If you drive for a living or you drive to or from work you are exposed to the problems of drowsy driving. This is commonly thought of as nodding off at the wheel, however the dangers of driver fatigue occur well before the driver nods.

There are interesting statistics - A recent study by The Sleep/Wake Centre, Massey University (Wellington, New Zealand), suggests that driver fatigue is a factor in one in six truck crashes.

In another study by Massey University, a survey of nearly 1,400 junior doctors, found some were working more than 70 hours a week. Nearly half reported they had fallen asleep at the wheel while driving home from work. Interestingly, four out of 10 said they had made a fatigue-related medical error over a six-month period. (Our comment: If you are too tired to drive, you are too tired to work effectively.)

Driver fatigue can be particularly dangerous because the symptoms include a decreased ability to judge one's level of tiredness. Other symptoms commonly experienced are poor concentration, impaired situational awareness and slower reactions. A moment's lack of attention and you could easily drive into the path of oncoming traffic. Those most at risk are shiftworkers and professional drivers.

It is important to note that driver fatigue is not just a matter of time spent driving, or time spent working, but relates to many factors, including hours since the last sleep, the quality of that sleep, the time of day or night and the prevalence of sleeping disorders.

FAID^® is an effective diagnostic tool that will help in the determination of fatigue risk (download an evaluation version).

If you have questions, topics of interest, your own lessons, details of a fatigue risk management success story, or any other comments about the management of fatigue risk, then we would love to hear from you.

Work safely,

Fiona Johnston
Shiftwork Services

Feature Article - Fatigue and the Law

By Chris Jones and Professor Drew Dawson (Center for Sleep Research, University of South Australia).

In recent years changes in the workplace have lead to an increase of fatigue and fatigue related accidents. The legal response to this has been fragmented.

The increasing recognition of the prevalence of fatigue has been accompanied by an increase in scientific understanding. Research has focused not only on the causes of fatigue, but also the performance impairment, and subsequent increased accident risk that fatigue produces. Consequently, the law has begun to include fatigue into its calculations of liability and actionable fact patterns.

Download the full article

Research Corner - Screening Mechanisms for Sleep Apnoea (Apnea)

Occupational Screening for Obstructive Sleep Apnoea in Commercial drivers.

Sourced by Dr Adam Fletcher - Scientific Advisor to Faid^®Safe.

Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) with day-time sleepiness affects up to 4% of the population. Untreated it can lead to decreased cognitive function, psychomotor impairment and deterioration in driving skills including increased off-road deviations in driving simulators and increased risk of road accidents.

Excluding the presence of obstructive sleep apnoea in commercial drivers is valuable, as the syndrome may increase their risk of sleepiness-related accidents.

Download research papers

For information about screening mechanisms for sleep apnoea or assistance with sleeping disorders please contact one of the Faid^®Safe Alliance partners listed in the side panel.

Case History - Reducing Fatigue Risk Makes a Difference

Dr Paul Jackson, Faid^®Safe Alliance Partner and Clockwork Consultant gives us a practical example of how his work has made a real difference.

"We undertake fatigue-related risk assessments of our clients' sites which can be very revealing. One of these identified six drivers - 10 per cent of the drivers based at this location - were responsible for 60 per cent of the accidents. On closer analysis it became apparent that these drivers were on shifts that were not best suited to their natural disposition: some who would naturally prefer an early start were on permanent late shifts while others who were on morning shifts were more suited to later starts. With a bit of negotiation and reorganisation we were able to swap these drivers' shifts around. In another case a client reported a year-on-year reduction in accidents of 38 per cent as a result of putting in place our recommendations."

To assess fatigue risk in your organisation please contact one of the Faid^®Safe Alliance partners listed in the side bar.

Questions and Answers

Q. If I have an accident when driving home from work after night shift, who is responsible?

Fatigue risk management is a shared responsibility. Employers have a duty-of-care to provide safe work schedules that permit an adequate amount of time for an employee to sleep, rest and recover from a shift. FAID^® fatigue assessment software will assess the number of hours available for sleep. Employees have a responsibility to use the time away from work to enable them to present themselves as "fit for duty".

Q. Our organisation employs a fleet of truck drivers. How many hours is it safe for our drivers to work?

Historically most regulators have tried to manage fatigue by prescribing the number of hours that an individual works. In our view good fatigue management is about measuring and managing the opportunity to sleep.

In our experience a review of the historical data will reveal the impact of call outs, seasonality, shift swaps overtime and other factors on opportunity to sleep and consequent fatigue risk levels.

We recommend that the first 2 modules of Faid^®Safe be used to answer this question.

More information

Q. What is meant by fatigue related risk analysis?

The severity and likelihood of an event and its associated consequences are assessed. This gives you a fatigue risk profile. From this it is possible to prioritise risk improvement strategies.

To analyze risk, Faid^®Safe uses a risk engineering frame developed by Zurich Risk Engineers. This exceeds the minimum requirements for risk assessment detailed by Australia / New Zealand standard 4368.

More information

Working Globally

Faid^®Safe alliance partners are based in Australia, Europe, New Zealand and North America. Between us we are taking Faid^®Safe to the global market. We want to make this service available to every organisation that is exposed to fatigue risks. No matter where you are, we would like to hear from you. We want to add value to your business.

About the Custodian of the Brand

InterDynamics have been in the scheduling and risk business since 1992. InterDynamics has been privileged to work with leading operational practitioners, scientists and risk engineers to develop and deliver world class fatigue risk programs and products. Faid^®Safe is offered as a global benchmark for the fatigue risk management market.

For more information on InterDynamics, visit the InterDynamics website.

FAID^® received a WorkCover SA SAfeWork 2001 Award


	Focus on Fatigue For Managers, Supervisors and Employees Involved in Managing Fatigue Risk
Issue 2 - August 2007	The Faid^®Safe Alliance - professionals focused on fatigue risk protection
In This Issue Feature Article - Fatigue and the Law Research Corner - How to assess sleep apnoea? Case History - Dr Paul Jackson reports on the benefits his clients have experienced by reducing driver fatigue. Questions and Answers Working Globally About Us Products and Services Forums Downloads Resources Evaluation Software Download Fatigue Audit Software Special Offer Sleep and shiftwork books Contact Us InterDynamics Pty Ltd +61 2 9975 6925 www.faidsafe.com Alliance Partners Zurich Risk Engineering Shiftwork Services Integrated Safety Support InterDynamics Humantra Clockwork Research Centre for Sleep Research Avinet	Welcome to Focus on Fatigue, the official Faid^®Safe newsletter This issue of Focus on Fatigue is dedicated to helping you and your colleagues reduce the risk associated with driver fatigue. If you drive for a living or you drive to or from work you are exposed to the problems of drowsy driving. This is commonly thought of as nodding off at the wheel, however the dangers of driver fatigue occur well before the driver nods. There are interesting statistics - A recent study by The Sleep/Wake Centre, Massey University (Wellington, New Zealand), suggests that driver fatigue is a factor in one in six truck crashes. In another study by Massey University, a survey of nearly 1,400 junior doctors, found some were working more than 70 hours a week. Nearly half reported they had fallen asleep at the wheel while driving home from work. Interestingly, four out of 10 said they had made a fatigue-related medical error over a six-month period. (Our comment: If you are too tired to drive, you are too tired to work effectively.) Driver fatigue can be particularly dangerous because the symptoms include a decreased ability to judge one's level of tiredness. Other symptoms commonly experienced are poor concentration, impaired situational awareness and slower reactions. A moment's lack of attention and you could easily drive into the path of oncoming traffic. Those most at risk are shiftworkers and professional drivers. It is important to note that driver fatigue is not just a matter of time spent driving, or time spent working, but relates to many factors, including hours since the last sleep, the quality of that sleep, the time of day or night and the prevalence of sleeping disorders. FAID^® is an effective diagnostic tool that will help in the determination of fatigue risk (download an evaluation version). If you have questions, topics of interest, your own lessons, details of a fatigue risk management success story, or any other comments about the management of fatigue risk, then we would love to hear from you. Work safely, Fiona Johnston Shiftwork Services Feature Article - Fatigue and the Law By Chris Jones and Professor Drew Dawson (Center for Sleep Research, University of South Australia). In recent years changes in the workplace have lead to an increase of fatigue and fatigue related accidents. The legal response to this has been fragmented. The increasing recognition of the prevalence of fatigue has been accompanied by an increase in scientific understanding. Research has focused not only on the causes of fatigue, but also the performance impairment, and subsequent increased accident risk that fatigue produces. Consequently, the law has begun to include fatigue into its calculations of liability and actionable fact patterns. Download the full article Research Corner - Screening Mechanisms for Sleep Apnoea (Apnea) Occupational Screening for Obstructive Sleep Apnoea in Commercial drivers. Sourced by Dr Adam Fletcher - Scientific Advisor to Faid^®Safe. Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) with day-time sleepiness affects up to 4% of the population. Untreated it can lead to decreased cognitive function, psychomotor impairment and deterioration in driving skills including increased off-road deviations in driving simulators and increased risk of road accidents. Excluding the presence of obstructive sleep apnoea in commercial drivers is valuable, as the syndrome may increase their risk of sleepiness-related accidents. Download research papers For information about screening mechanisms for sleep apnoea or assistance with sleeping disorders please contact one of the Faid^®Safe Alliance partners listed in the side panel. Case History - Reducing Fatigue Risk Makes a Difference Dr Paul Jackson, Faid^®Safe Alliance Partner and Clockwork Consultant gives us a practical example of how his work has made a real difference. "We undertake fatigue-related risk assessments of our clients' sites which can be very revealing. One of these identified six drivers - 10 per cent of the drivers based at this location - were responsible for 60 per cent of the accidents. On closer analysis it became apparent that these drivers were on shifts that were not best suited to their natural disposition: some who would naturally prefer an early start were on permanent late shifts while others who were on morning shifts were more suited to later starts. With a bit of negotiation and reorganisation we were able to swap these drivers' shifts around. In another case a client reported a year-on-year reduction in accidents of 38 per cent as a result of putting in place our recommendations." To assess fatigue risk in your organisation please contact one of the Faid^®Safe Alliance partners listed in the side bar. Questions and Answers Q. If I have an accident when driving home from work after night shift, who is responsible? Fatigue risk management is a shared responsibility. Employers have a duty-of-care to provide safe work schedules that permit an adequate amount of time for an employee to sleep, rest and recover from a shift. FAID^® fatigue assessment software will assess the number of hours available for sleep. Employees have a responsibility to use the time away from work to enable them to present themselves as "fit for duty". Q. Our organisation employs a fleet of truck drivers. How many hours is it safe for our drivers to work? Historically most regulators have tried to manage fatigue by prescribing the number of hours that an individual works. In our view good fatigue management is about measuring and managing the opportunity to sleep. In our experience a review of the historical data will reveal the impact of call outs, seasonality, shift swaps overtime and other factors on opportunity to sleep and consequent fatigue risk levels. We recommend that the first 2 modules of Faid^®Safe be used to answer this question. More information Q. What is meant by fatigue related risk analysis? The severity and likelihood of an event and its associated consequences are assessed. This gives you a fatigue risk profile. From this it is possible to prioritise risk improvement strategies. To analyze risk, Faid^®Safe uses a risk engineering frame developed by Zurich Risk Engineers. This exceeds the minimum requirements for risk assessment detailed by Australia / New Zealand standard 4368. More information Working Globally Faid^®Safe alliance partners are based in Australia, Europe, New Zealand and North America. Between us we are taking Faid^®Safe to the global market. We want to make this service available to every organisation that is exposed to fatigue risks. No matter where you are, we would like to hear from you. We want to add value to your business. About the Custodian of the Brand InterDynamics have been in the scheduling and risk business since 1992. InterDynamics has been privileged to work with leading operational practitioners, scientists and risk engineers to develop and deliver world class fatigue risk programs and products. Faid^®Safe is offered as a global benchmark for the fatigue risk management market. For more information on InterDynamics, visit the InterDynamics website. FAID^® received a WorkCover SA SAfeWork 2001 Award