Managing Fatigue as a Workplace Health and Operational Risk

Fatigue affects performance

Fatigue can reduce attention, memory, reaction time and decision quality. Long shifts, demanding workloads, heat, disrupted sleep and repeated night work may increase the risk. Because people do not always recognise their own decline, fatigue should be managed as an organisational risk as well as a personal health concern.

Plan the work, not just the hours

Effective controls consider when demanding tasks occur, how much recovery time is available and whether workload or environmental conditions have changed.

• Schedule safety-critical work when teams are most alert where practicable.
• Build in suitable breaks and access to drinking water.
• Rotate highly repetitive or physically demanding tasks.
• Encourage early reporting of reduced alertness without stigma.
• Use extra verification for critical decisions during extended operations.

A supportive reporting culture

A worker who raises a fatigue concern is providing useful risk information. The right response is to reassess the task and controls, not to dismiss the concern. Leaders can reinforce this by discussing fatigue during planning and by modelling responsible decisions when conditions are not suitable.