According to the US Centres for Disease Control sleep deprivation is becoming a “public health epidemic.” This is reinforced by recent research from Warwick University which has revealed that at any one time 20% of the developed world and 17% of the developing  world population are suffering from sleep problems.

It is common in safety-critical industries for staff to work shifts. Working shifts, especially rotating shifts, compounds the problems of sleeplessness as staff struggle to reset their body clocks on a regular basis. There are numerous companies which will offer to help optimise your shift schedule but aside from forward rotating shifts there is very little consensus on ideal shift patterns.

Research by NASA has shown that 75% of shift workers report sleepiness on the job with 20% indicating that they have fallen asleep in the previous 12 months. Perhaps more worryingly 20% of shift workers report frequently or occasionally making errors due to sleepiness. 20% report that sleepiness interferes with daily work activities and 68% report sleep problems a few nights a week.

Sleepiness is akin to drunkenness. Seventeen hours of continual wakefulness or a week of sleeping 4 to 5 hours a night is equivalent to an illegal blood alcohol level in many countries across the world. There is no doubt a worker in a safety-critical role deemed to be under the influence of alcohol would not be allowed to work and would likely suffer severe sanctions. But how many companies give real consideration to the alertness of their staff due to sleep deprivation? I can tell you – very few.

Do you expect staff to perform the same tasks every night of a period of night shift work? Most likely! One night of sleep deprivation can affect our alertness and performance but the negative effects are compounded by longer periods of sleeplessness.

So what is the effect of poor sleep on performance?

Take a moment to think about the roles your staff perform. Perhaps they operate heavy machinery, are asked to make major safety decisions in an instant, drive or monitor equipment for signs of malfunction. Then ask yourself if it is acceptable for these people to be doing these roles with:

• Reduced co-ordination and motor skills – From driving an HGV on the road to forklift in a busy warehouse or operating heavy machinery on a construction site. It is easy to see how motor skills are an important aspect of workplace safety.

• Impaired judgement and decision making – Studies on gamblers and soldiers have shown we take riskier decision when tired. Imagine the worker who’s been up since 4am and worked a demanding day. It’s 6pm on Friday night, they have 2 hour drive but they have a social event they’d really like to attend. Almost every day my alerts reveal the tragic consequences where people think they’ll be ‘fine’ to drive.

• Impaired communication skills – Assuming the worker spots the problem they then have to elevate it quickly. But when they’re tired they can’t find the words to clearly communicate the problem. Chaos and confusions abound. The window of opportunity to deal with the problem starts to close, heaping even greater pressure on (potentially tired) senior personnel.

What happens when tiredness and safety collide?

Below we highlight just a few examples of where tiredness and fatigue collide.

• The Exxon Valdez – In March 1989 having been piloted through the Valdez narrows the captain handed over to the third mate with precise instruction to turn back into the shipping lanes at a certain point. The third mate didn’t make the turn. The NTSB found that he could have had as little as 5 or 6 hours sleep in the previous 24 hours and that fatigue was a major factor in the accident. 258,000 barrels of oil spilt in to the sea with direct costs to Exxon of c. $4.5bn.

• The Colgan Air Crash – In February 2010 Colgan Air flight 3407 crashed on its approach to Buffalo. The NTSB found that pilot fatigue was a significant contributory factor. Long hours and low pay in regional airline pilots frequently lead to tiredness and stress. It was common for pilots to sleep in the staff room as they were not able to afford a hotel room.

• Chinese sleeper bus – In August 2011 a double-decker sleeper bus in China hit the back of a methanol tanker. The driver was driving whilst tired and failed to brake in time. A methanol leak caused electrical equipment in the bus to short circuit and both vehicles caught alight. 36 people died.

• Montreal Fire Fighter: In 2010 a volunteer Fire Fighter was heading home after a night shift in his pickup truck near Montreal. Apparently on cruise control, the truck ploughed through a line of six members of a triathlon club who were out cycling that morning killing three and injuring three others.

These are just some of many examples. Don’t let it be your company making the headlines!

To tackle the problems of tiredness and fatigue where do you begin?

The first step is to acknowledge that tiredness and fatigue is a real problem in safety-critical industries. From there you need to explore what the costs would be to your organisation. For minor accidents these might include: lost working time, staff cover, equipment costs, healthcare costs, increased insurance premiums, third party compensation, counselling, service disruption, legal expenses and other related costs. For major incidents you also need to factor in major civil claims and the effect on company value.

Once you acknowledge the potential problem and understand the true potential costs of an incident then you are ready to begin tackling the problem. The first step on that journey is to run a workforce assessment. This way you will understand the true extent, impact and causes of the problem. With the facts to hand you can design a programme to combat the problems identified. At the very least a programme will include education of senior and junior personnel as well as a review of policies and procedures.

This post is an extract form a comprehensive presentation entitled “Examining the need for programmes to tackle tiredness and fatigue in safety-critical industries." To download a free copy of the full presentation please click here.

Tiredness and fatigue is costly, unproductive, unhealthy and unsafe. Third Pillar of Health helps companies worldwide improve key business metrics through staff assessment and education on tiredness and fatigue.