Date PostedJanuary 16, 2013

How to Prevent Fatigue In the Heavy Road Transport Industry

DriverfatigueRoad safety is compromised for every road user when heavy vehicle drivers are fatigued. The consequences can be devastating for everyone when fatalities are the results of road accidents when fatigue is the cause.

It has been proven that prevention of fatigue in the first place is much more effective than allowing it to happen in the first place and then having to deal with it.

In the New Zealand Governments “Preventing fatigue in the commercial road transport industry: A good practice guide” at http://www.nzta.govt.nz/ fatigue in relation to heavy or commercial vehicle drivers is discussed at great length with recommendations for prevention:

It is difficult to calculate or quantify driver fatigue. People often think that driver fatigue means falling asleep at the wheel.  When a driver falls asleep at the wheel, this is a sign of extreme fatigue. Long before they reach the stage of ‘nodding off’ at the wheel, fatigue will impair a driver’s performance.  

Symptoms of fatigue

Fatigue symptoms vary between drivers, but a fatigued driver may display:

  • Yawning
  • Tired or sore eyes, heavy eyelids
  • Being fixated, (eyes and mind)
  • Restlessness
  • Drowsiness
  • Irritability
  • Nodding off
  • Loss of attentiveness including:
    • Forgetfulness
    • Poor concentration
    • Reduced vigilance
    • Slow reaction times
    • Boredom
    • Making fewer and larger steering corrections
    • Missing road signs
    • Having difficulty staying in their lane
    • Poor judgment.

Prevention of fatigue is more beneficial than trying to manage fatigue once it has set in.

Working at night: the risks

Working at night (between midnight and 6am) combines two elements of risk:

  1. 1.       Low alertness when the body and brain are set to be asleep.
  2. 2.       Poorer fatigue recovery-sleep taken during the day because we are designed to be awake at this time.

 

Shift changeovers that do not allow drivers sufficient time to recover from earlier sleep loss also pose an increased risk. For example, a short turn around between an early morning shift and a night shift would pose an increased risk.

Time spent working

The amount of time spent working, including driving, either in a continuous period or over a day affects physical and mental fatigue. This will be compounded by insufficient sleep the night or in the days before, the amount of time since the last sleep and the level of job monotony. 

Daylight saving

The change to daylight saving, when the clocks are moved forward one hour, reduces the period for sleep and a person must adjust to this. A person who is required to work immediately after this adjustment may well find they are still sleepy when they commence work or become fatigued more quickly.

Lack of rest

Lack of rest while working or driving and sustained mental or physical effort, eg difficult driving conditions, are all fatigue risk factors.

Rest and rest opportunities

The best rest is unbroken sleep taken at night. The average amount of sleep needed for an adult is about 7–8 hours in each 24-hour period. However, sleep opportunities need to be longer than 8 hours to take into account time to relax, take meals, family and social time as well as any interruptions of sleep.

The number of hours since the last sleep and inadequate or poor quality sleep before work become risk factors.  Short rest breaks allow for short-term recovery from fatigue, and break the monotony of some trips, but are never a substitute for plenty of quality sleep.

Rest breaks must be taken in places, which are conducive to rest, free from excessive noise and interruptions.

Health issues

Health issues including sleep disorders, sleep apnoea, medical condition, diabetes, poor nutrition and feeling off-color can all impact on a person’s ability to manage or control fatigue. The impact can be amplified if more than one issue is present at the same time.

Environmental stresses

Environmental stresses such as heat, noise and vibration and lack of nutritious food and drink add to fatigue risks. Tight timeframes and stress caused by traffic congestion or prolonged waiting times at loading or unloading sites also contribute to driver fatigue.

Source: http://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/alternative-fatigue-management-scheme/docs/afms-good-practice.pdf

Fatigue is a complex issue and oftentimes the person that is suffering fatigue is not aware of the symptoms and the fact they are operating while fatigued.

There is generally not one cause of fatigue; it is usually a combination of risk factors that can build up over a lengthy period of time.

To access the full good practice guide see the link above.

Peter Cutforth is a Director at Urban E-Learning, a global elearning and web strategy firm based in George St Brisbane. Peter's interests extend to training, safety and compliance, online marketing, and Mobile Apps.

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