Workplace Fatigue
Anyone can be affected by fatigue. Some types of work have higher risks of fatigue, particularly if you are working long hours or working out of ordinary work hours or even shift work.
Fatigue is more than feeling tired. Fatigue is mental and physical exhaustion that reduces your ability to perform your work safely.
Signs of Fatigue include:
- Tiredness even after sleep
- Reduced hand-eye coordination or slow reflexes
- Short term memory problems and an inability to concentrate
- Blurred vision or impaired visual perception
- A need for extended sleep during days off work
Causes of fatigue can be work related, personal or a combination of both. They can also be short term or can build up over time.
Work causes of fatigue might include:
- Prolonged or intense mental or physical activity
- Sleep loss and/or disruption of your internal body clock
- Long travel and changes in time zones
- Exceptionally hot or cold working environments
- Work scheduling and excessively long shifts
- Not enough time to recover between shifts
- Strenuous jobs
Some workers are at a high risk of fatigue because their work typically involves some or all of these factors, for example:
- Shift and night workers
- Fly-in, fly-out workers
- Drive in, drive out workers
- Seasonal workers
- Workers on-call
Fatigue in the workplace doesn’t only impact a worker’s mental and physical health, it can also impact on the health and safety of those around them.
Fatigue can result in a lack of alertness, slower reactions to signals or situations, and affect a worker’s ability to make good decisions. This can increase the risk of incidents and injury in a workplace, particularly when:
- Operating high risk plant and equipment
- Driving a road vehicle
- Working at heights
- Working with flammable or explosive substances
- Hazardous work, for example electrical work.
Everyone in the workplace has a work health and safety duty and can help to ensure fatigue doesn’t create a risk to health and safety at work.
Always check with your supervisor or OH&S rep before doing any work you are not familiar with.
Workplace Fatigue Information Links
Australia
New South Wales
Northern Territory
Queensland
South Australia
Tasmania
Victoria
Western Australia