Nov 26th, 2020
4 mins
Since the outset of Covid-19, some 9 months have passed and our industry has been relentless in keeping the nations supermarket shelves and freezers stocked, these are key industry workers.
We have started to see a common theme coming through with reports and concerns over extreme tiredness in the workplace, this gives potential for incident/accident. In some cases, mental or physical exertion has been compounded by other staff being furloughed, employees opting out of the working time directive, altered shift patterns and the increased wearing of personal protective equipment (PPE) or face coverings. History is littered with incidents were fatigue has played a massive part, fatigue was identified in both the Clapham Junction Rail Disaster and Chernobyl investigations.
With Covid-19 lasting much longer than anyone could anticipate, it may be worth checking your processes, procedures and risk assessments to ensure tiredness is being considered and controlled adequately, especially in light of these prolonged circumstances. I suppose as a benchmark example we could compare a forklift driver in comparison to an HGV driver, while the HGV driver is obliged to stick to the EU driving tachograph rules and cannot drive more than 9 hours per day (extended to 10 hours twice per week) with a maximum 56 hours while a forklift driver could exceed this if current work demands are not checked. In the above scenario we have used a forklift example but could be applied to any other occupation such a maintenance worker or machine operative.
One of our members has addressed this issue and have put the following control measures in place in dealing with this often hidden risk:
- The implementation of a HR Alarm system which flags up employees working over 60 hours
- Awarding all employees an extra 2 days (per the 9 months’ pandemic)
- They encourage employees to take holidays in line with months worked (3 months would mean at least 1 week’s holiday)
- Employing additional staff meet business demands
Fatigue management was an issue before Covid-19 existed and implicated in 20% of all road traffic accidents on major roads. Let’s not forget the effects of fatigue:
- lack of attention
- slower reactions
- reduced co-ordination
- decreased awareness
- underestimation of risk
- memory lapses or absent-mindedness
- a reduced ability to process information
HSE has published some more detailed guidance fatigue, see link below:
Human factors/ergonomics – Fatigue (hse.gov.uk)
Should you need more on fatigue please contact:
