November 13, 2023
A major issue in the workplace, fatigue often arises when employees become overworked and overstressed. It can also be the result of working schedules that disrupt normal sleeping patterns, such as extended hours (beyond 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) or night shift work.
Fatigue is a common issue in nearly every industry, as 30 percent of U.S. workers have work hours that fall outside of a daytime shift1 and 25% of them put in more than forty hours a week.1
It can also be caused by stress, working in high temperatures and completing physically or mentally demanding work tasks.
Working nonstandard shifts may give your workforce less access to healthy food choices and time to properly exercise. Those working these shifts are more likely to smoke, drink and engage in less physical activity.2
Long-term nonstandard shift work and the fatigue that results from it has been associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, gastrointestinal disorders, depression and more.2
Beyond exhaustion, fatigue causes more immediate symptoms that may pose a danger to other co-workers. It can:
- Slow reaction times
- Lower attention span and concentration
- Reduce short-term memory
- Impaired judgment
The goal of this article is to help you recognize the signs of fatigue in your workforce and learn what you can do to help your employees.
The Signs of Fatigue
No matter how much some of us think we can exist without sleep, the simple fact is that if you deprive your body and brain of the sleep that it needs, it will go to sleep no matter what situation it is in.
As the brain moves from an awake to an asleep state – much like flicking on a light switch – this can lead to dangerous situations, particularly if your employee is driving, working on a shop floor or using large equipment.
In fact, being awake for a long amount of time can impact our brains just like alcohol. Going without sleep for 17 hours is similar to having a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.05%, which is the legal limit for most states. Being awake for 24 hours or more is like being at nearly double that level.3
Look for these signs and take the appropriate action to protect your employees and others around them:
- Issues focusing
- Frequent blinking and eye-rubbing
- Inadvertently falling asleep
- Issues with memory or concentration
- Daydreaming
- Repeated yawning
- Difficulty keeping head up
- Restlessness and irritability
- More withdrawn than usual
- Poor communication skills
How can you protect someone dealing with this level of fatigue? Here are a few suggestions:
- Stop them from doing any tasks which are dangerous to themselves or others.
- Allow them to take a coffee break.
- If possible, permit them the opportunity to take a short nap.
MedExpress Pro Tip: For more information on how you can help your employees get the right amount of sleep and avoid the risk of shift changes, check out this blog on helping your workforce to avoid sleep disorders.
It’s important to note that these signs of fatigue are often seen as a lack of motivation or professionalism. In truth, many of those suffering from fatigue may not even realize that their performance is being impacted.
Ways to Help Your Team and Reduce Fatigue
How can you adjust your operations to reduce fatigue? We’ve put together several steps that you can undertake, but you’ll have to experiment and determine what works best for you and your employees.
- Adjust shift hours: While longer hours may get more work done in less days, it can also increase the risk for accidents and errors. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a ten-hour shift increases the accident and error risk by 13 percent while a twelve-hour shift can add 28 percent more chance for an accident or error.3
- Know the key fatigue factors: There are three major factors which impact fatigue: time of day, time spent awake/amount of sleep and time of task. If two or three of these factors occur at the same time, the risk level for fatigue is high.4
- Time of day: Based on our circadian rhythm, we are most tired between the hours of midnight to 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.4
- Time spent awake and amount of sleep: The longer someone has been awake, the greater the fatigue.
- Time on task: The longer a task takes – especially if it’s a repetitive job – the more likely that fatigue will set in. This can be helped by taking a rest break or changing the task, if possible.
- Engage in safe work practices: Working extended shifts may prolong exposure to workplace hazards such as noise, heat and chemicals. Be aware that these exposures may violate permissible exposure limits (PELs) or violate other health standards. If your workforce is currently in the middle of extended shift work, you must monitor and limit their exposure to health and physical hazards in the workplace, as required by the Occupational Safety and Health Act.4
- Consider these scheduling guidelines:4
- Regular rest: Your employees should be given at least ten consecutive hours per day of time off-duty so that they can get the seven to eight hours of sleep they need.
- Rest breaks: Frequent 15-minute rest breaks every one to two hours during demanding work are more effective in preventing on-the-job injuries and errors than longer ones every four to six hours. However, you should still allow for longer meal breaks.
- Workload: Continuously re-examine workload and be ready to have additional staff to prevent burnout. Fatigue is a bigger issue when teams are working longer shifts or more intense work in high temperatures or in extreme environments.
- Rest Days: When planning work schedules, consider two full days of rest to follow five consecutive eight-hour shifts, four consecutive ten-hour shifts or three consecutive twelve-hour shifts. At minimum, each team member should get one full day of rest. If that’s not possible, consider a “no alarm day,” which means a day that workers can sleep until they naturally wake up without an alarm and then come to work.
- Use the buddy system: You can’t be watching every employee all of the time. If your business is working overtime, assign each employee a buddy to monitor one another and keep each other alert and safe.
- Establish a fatigue system: First, identify areas and processes where mistakes due to fatigue would cause significant problems. Then, create a system and solutions to defend those areas and processes.
MedExpress Pro Tip: Getting overheated increases fatigue and increases the risk for heat stroke, exhaustion and cramps. This article can help your workforce understand the impact of heat-related issues.
- Your workplace should be alert: There are several ways that you can increase alertness within your business.5
- Alertness can be increased by adjusting light, temperature, humidity, noise and ergonomics.
- Schedule any critical tasks away from moments of decreased alertness, which include early morning and afternoon hours, as well as end of shift.
- While bright lighting for night shift work may help alertness, it can also lead to melatonin suppression and other negative effects, such as resetting the circadian clock that governs sleep cycles.
When your employees are well-rested and alert, your operations have a better chance to be safe and productive. While we all experience some level of fatigue from time to time, excessive fatigue – especially in the workplace – can negatively affect the health, safety and productivity of your employees. If your company has night turn or extended shifts, you owe it to your workforce to address any potential fatigue issues.
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References:
1 CDC. Work and Fatigue. Last updated March 2, 2023. Accessed August 9, 2023.
2 American Journal of Industrial Medicine. Special issue on working hours and fatigue. Last updated May 22, 2022. Accessed August 9, 2023.
3 CDC. NIOSH Training for Nurses on Shift Work and Long Work Hours: Injuries/Errors. Last updated March 31, 2020. Accessed August 9, 2023.
4 CDC. NIOSH Training for Nurses on Shift Work and Long Work Hours: Be Alert for Key Factors that Promote Fatigue. Last updated March 31, 2020. Accessed August 9, 2023.
5 American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Fatigue Risk Management in the Workplace. Accessed August 10, 2023.