Fatigue management strategies

How can organisations manage fatigue?

You follow the same process to manage fatigue in your workplace as you would any other workplace safety hazard.

1. Identify and assess work health and safety issues that may cause fatigue

All organisations have legal duties to eliminate or minimise work-related hazards and risks as far as reasonably practicable, including risks related to fatigue. Work-related causes of fatigue and poor sleep include:

• work schedules e.g. shift work, night work, extended work hours, breaks
• rosters that involve call outs and/or working away from home
• working across time zones
• job demands e.g. concentrating for long periods, performing repetitive work
• environmental conditions e.g. working in uncomfortable conditions.

An employer may contravene their work health and safety obligations and/or the Fair Work Act 2009 (see s 62) if they require a worker to work unreasonable additional hours.

Remember, non-work factors can affect fatigue and sleep (e.g. family responsibilities, health). 

You can identify factors that contribute to fatigue by:

• consulting with workers, managers, supervisors and health and safety representatives about workloads and schedules
• examining work practices e.g. control over the pace of work and breaks, an accepted practice of working long hours
• conducting walk-through inspections
• examining worker records e.g. sign in–out sheets, billing sheets, rosters
• reviewing workplace incident data and considering if fatigue could have contributed
• reviewing human resource data e.g. absenteeism, staff turnover, workers compensation claims 
• obtaining advice and information on fatigue from experts.

When assessing the risks associated with fatigue, consider:

• where, which and how many workers are at risk
• how often fatigue is likely to occur
• the harm that may result from fatigue
• whether existing control measures are working
• how urgently action should occur. 

Employers and workers both have legal obligations to manage workplace risks that can lead to fatigue. You follow the same process to manage risks related to fatigue as you would to manage any other workplace hazard.

2. Consult with people on solutions

Organisations have legal duties to consult with workers and their representatives about health and safety. Workers know their jobs, and often already have informal strategies to manage fatigue. Recognising and formalising those strategies may be an effective solution. 

3. Look at safe design and systems of work

The best way to control the health and safety risks of fatigue and poor sleep is to eliminate or minimise the factors causing fatigue as far as reasonably practicable. What is reasonably practicable depends on your industry, your organisation and the person carrying out the work. 

Remember, more than one factor can contribute to fatigue, so you may need several control measures. 

Actions to combat fatigue and fatigue related errors may include:

• engaging experts in fatigue to assist with fatigue risk management
• redesigning work hours or rosters that allow for good sleep and enough recovery time
• monitoring the effectiveness of fatigue management strategies to see if they are working
• encouraging workers to report concerns about work-related fatigue
• providing adequate training to deal with different demands
• increasing people’s awareness of fatigue and promoting wellbeing
• providing support services
• developing and implementing a working hours policy e.g. daily work hours, maximum average weekly hours, on-call work, work-related travel
• avoiding work arrangements that incentivise excessive work hours
• rotating people to less demanding tasks or enabling opportunities for regular breaks
• enabling managed strategic napping in a suitable napping area
• using a buddy system or checklists for safety critical work to reduce the risk of error
• providing alternative or safe transport options
• developing journey management plans for workers who drive long distances 
• conducting welfare checks with people.

4. Monitor and report

It is important to develop systems to enable and encourage people to self-report fatigue and provide effective and supportive responses.

5. Measure impact

Organisations also need to understand if their actions to manage fatigue are effective. You could measure this impact by looking at whether people are self-reporting and the contribution of fatigue to workplace errors (e.g. the need for rework or the number of incidents).

How can employees manage fatigue?

Workers have a duty to take reasonable care for their own safety and health, including making sure they are well-rested and getting good sleep. They must also comply with any reasonable instruction and cooperate with any reasonable policy relating to workplace fatigue. 

To reduce the risk of workplace fatigue, workers should:

• comply with policies and procedures relating to fatigue
• understand their own sleep, rest and recovering needs
• seek medical advice if concerned about a health condition that affects sleep or causes fatigue
• assess their fitness for work before starting 
• monitor their alertness and concentration at work
• look out for signs of fatigue in people they work with
• in consultation with their supervisor, take steps to manage fatigue
• assess fatigue levels after work and take suitable commuting and accommodation options.