According to the National Safety Council (“NSC”), almost half (43%) of the workers in this country are sleep-deprived and working in an over-tired, over-worked physical and mental condition. Those most likely to be fatigued at the workplace are workers who are working irregular shifts or long shifts, or who are working at night.
Infamous Worker Tragedies with Worker Fatigue as a Contributing Cause
Some of the most infamous worksite fatality incidents in the world have been investigated and found to have overly tired and fatigued workers on the job as a contributing factor in the deadly disaster. These include:
- 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear power plant meltdown;
- 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion;
- 2005 BP Texas City oil refinery explosion;
- 2009 Colgan Air Crash;
- 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill and explosion; and the
- 2013 New York Metro-North Spuyten Duyvil train derailment.
Why Fatigue on the Job Can Be Deadly
Fatigue has been defined as “…the body’s signal that a rest period is needed.” The human body naturally sleeps during the night hours in what has been described as a sleep cycle based on a circadian rhythm.
Workers faced with stressful work schedules may have work demands that conflict with their internal body clock, or sleep cycle. As a result, they can suffer from sleep deprivation that results in fatigue.
OSHA warns that certain workers are at higher risk of fatigue than others, including healthcare providers, transportation workers, first responders, firefighters, police officers, military personnel, construction workers, oil field workers, and service and hospitality workers.
Fatigue increases the likelihood of accidents and injuries on the work site. OSHA reports accident and injury rates are 18% greater during evening shifts and 30% greater during night shifts when compared to day shifts. Shift workers who are on the job for 12 hours per day face a 37% increased risk of injury.
Impact of Fatigue on Driving
Of particular concern is the potentially deadly impact of fatigue on those who are driving the roadways of Indiana and Illinois as a part of their job. The leading cause of worker fatalities on the job in the United States are bodily injuries sustained in motor vehicle accidents.
It cannot be underestimated how dangerous it is for an overly tired worker to get behind the wheel. The NSC warns fatigued drivers are 300% more likely to be in a motor vehicle accident.
Why is being overly tired so dangerous for drivers? Fatigue impairs the body’s ability to function in much the same way as imbibing alcohol:
- Research has shown that a driver who has been awake for more than 20 hours straight has the same lack of capacity for operating a motor vehicle as someone who is driving drunk.
- A driver who is behind the wheel with only two hours of lost sleep will operate a car, truck, or rig as if consuming three beers.
Employer Duty to Protect Workers from On-the-Job Fatigue
Employers have a duty to make sure that workers are not on the job working without sufficient rest and accordingly, are overly tired and fatigued. Experts warn that under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, managing worker fatigue is within the employer’s legal duty of care and safety for employees. Read, “Waking Up to the Risks of Workplace Fatigue,” written by Susan Vargas and published by Safety and Health Magazine on August 25, 2019.
Employer’s Job to Monitor Worker Fatigue
Having supervisors and managers responsive to the levels of fatigue among their crews is a traditional method of insuring that workers are not fatigued on the job site. Making sure that employees are taking breaks, have enough down time, and are provided adequate places to rest during shifts is important.
This includes, of course, compliance with Hours-of-Service (HOS) regulations for commercial truck drivers. For more on HOS Rules, read:
- Coronavirus and Truck Drivers: Danger of Fatal Truck Crash with Changes to Hours of Service (HOS) Rules
- Exhausted Truck Drivers: Who Can Discover ELD and HOS Fraud to Enforce Federal Safety Laws?
- Commercial Truck Safety and Truck Driver Fatigue: Fatal Truck Crashes, ELDs, and HOS Rules.
However, in today’s environment, things like Fatigue Monitoring Systems should be in place on the work site. Personal fatigue monitoring wearables are an advancing technological option that can be provided to workers as part of their safety equipment.
For some work sites, fatigue monitoring safety equipment is vital to worker safety, including employees in the mining, transportation, logging, and construction industries. The NSC recognizes that implementation of FMS mitigates known worker hazards in sites that include:
- Logging equipment operations
- Machinery operations
- Work at height
- Heavy equipment operations
- Excavations.
For more on the employer’s duty to address worker fatigue risks on the job, read “New Fatigue Report Awakens Employers to Injury Risks,” published by the National Law Review on February 21, 2019.
Fatal Work Injuries Caused by Worker Fatigue in Indiana and Illinois
Workers employed in Indiana and Illinois should be able to depend upon employers not only to be aware and compassionate about the realities of worker fatigue, but additionally to expect those employers to take proactive steps to help combat fatigue and its potentially deadly hazards on the job. There are legal responsibilities defined under both state and federal law that place upon employers in our part of the country a legal duty of care and safety for those who are in their employment.
If someone is seriously injured or killed on the job due to worker fatigue – either their own fatigue or that of a co-worker’s – then the incident should be investigated to determine the legal liability of those responsible for overseeing the worker’s safety and care.
For more on fatigued worker risks on the job and legal duties of care, read:
- Fatal Motor Vehicle Accidents on the Job: Four Types of Workers Facing Highest Risk of Deadly Work Crash
- Truck Driver Fatigue: Battle Continues Over Tracking Truckers with Electronic Log Devices (ELDs)
- Ridesharing and Traffic Fatalities: Driver Fatigue and Drowsy Driving as a Public Safety Risk
- Truck Parking and Fatal Semi Truck Crashes.
Fatigue can be serious, even deadly, for workers on the job. This is particularly true for those driving big rigs and semi-trucks on the roads of Indiana and Illinois. Please be careful out there!
