Worker Fatigue: More Than Feeling Tired

After an incident, it’s common to hear, What were they thinking? But the real question is… what influenced the way they were thinking? And when it comes to “thinking,” fatigue is always a possible influence. We tend to think of fatigue as feeling tired, but fatigue changes how we think, perceive risk, make decisions, and respond to unexpected events.

And we know from experience that fatigue slows reaction time, impairs judgment, and makes it more difficult to recover from mistakes. Tasks suddenly demand much more concentration than they required before. As fatigue increases, we are also more likely to rely on habits and routines rather than carefully evaluate changing conditions.

This is why investigators should avoid stopping at “what were they thinking” and instead ask fatigue-related questions, like:

• How many consecutive days had the person been working?
• Was the work performed during normal waking hours?
• Has the workload recently increased?
• Were adequate breaks taken?
• Were workers showing signs of mental or physical fatigue before the event?

These questions shift the focus from blaming the worker to understanding if fatigue influenced performance. If fatigue is established, then we have an opportunity to reduce fatigue-related risk going forward. Some of these improvements may include:

• encouraging regular breaks.
• reviewing shift scheduling and hours assigned workers.
• rotating demanding tasks.
• providing healthy food and hydration.
• creating an environment where employees feel comfortable speaking up when fatigued.

Fatigue is a human limitation, and understanding it often leads to better investigations and better solutions. When investigators understand the role fatigue may have played, they are more likely to identify improvements that strengthen the system instead of scolding workers for making bad decisions.

Fatigue is only one of many human performance factors that influence workplace incidents. In the TapRooT® 5-Day Team Leader Training, you’ll learn how to identify fatigue, understand why people made the decisions they did, and uncover work system improvements that lead to stronger, more effective corrective actions. Join us for training!