Mental fatigue in safety critical work: research published

Citation

(2001), "Mental fatigue in safety critical work: research published", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 10 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2001.07310aab.007

Mental fatigue in safety critical work: research published

Mental fatigue in safety critical work: research published

The UK Health and Safety Executive has published a report focusing on the assessment of the risks arising from mental fatigue in safety critical work. There is growing evidence that certain features of work organisation related to working time are linked to an increased incidence of errors, accidents and possibly to ill-health. The work was carried out by the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency on behalf of HSE.

Those researches have led to the development of a Fatigue Index: a method for determining the likelihood of tiredness arising from certain key factors which may be present in the workplace. These factors include: time of day, time on shift, rest periods, breaks, and cumulative fatigue.

The Fatigue Index provides a straightforward way of comparing the features of two working patterns in terms of their relative contributions to fatigue. The index can be used with care to inform employers' decisions about proposed changes to working patterns.

While the Index in its present form is useful, there are particular areas where HSE is planning some further work.

Mrs Sandra Caldwell, Head of HSE's Health Directorate commented on the new research:

"This report signifies an important new development in trying to address some of the more intangible, but nevertheless important human factors, which are increasingly recognised as contributors to health and safety."

The report entitled "Validation and development of a method for assessing risk arising from mental fatigue," ISBN 0 7176 1728 9, £10:00 can be ordered from HSE Books, PO Box 1999, Sudbury, Suffolk, CO10 2WA, UK.