Safety Update

Safety Update: Driving Tired

Fatigue management is increasingly being recognized as a critical occupational health and safety issue. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) fatigue and sleep deprivation contributes to roughly 100,000 police-reported highway crashes, causing more than 1,500 deaths annually in the United States. Every year approximately 400 Canadians die and many more are injured because of drowsy or tired drivers. It is also suspected that incidents related to fatigue are underestimated as it is difficult to measure and quantify unlike alcohol impairment where there are established legal limits for blood alcohol concentration (BAC).

Studies have shown that fatigue affects physical and mental alertness, decreasing an individual's ability to operate a vehicle or equipment safely and increasing the risk of human error which could lead to fatalities and injuries. As with drugs and alcohol, sleepiness slows reaction time, decreases awareness, and impairs judgment. A study by Australian researchers compared the effect of staying awake for 28 hours with the effect of varying doses of alcohol on the same driver. Subjects were asked to perform four tasks at hourly intervals. The tasks judged the accuracy and speed of subjects on grammatical reasoning and vigilance (watchfulness) tests. Findings of the study suggested that subjects were most affected after 17 to 19 hours of wakefulness, demonstrating performance similar to what they achieved with a BAC of .05 percent.

The comparison between impairment due to alcohol consumption and lack of sleep brings up the issue of criminal responsibility. In the U.S. drowsy drivers have been successfully convicted of vehicular homicide or manslaughter under negligence statues in Maryland, California, Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia, as well as in Australia, Britain, Japan and New Zealand. New Jersey is the only state to have established that driving a vehicle while knowingly fatigued constitutes recklessness under its vehicular homicide statute. Although there is no specific law governing driving a vehicle fatigued in Canada these cases are worth acknowledging.

For employers, implementing a fatigue management program is critical. A business case can be made for implementing a fatigue management program in the workplace. Not only would a program help avoid the costs of incidents and reduce worker absenteeism and turnover, but it would also provide proof of a company's due diligence in meeting fatigue-related and hours-of-service legal requirements.

A fatigue management program is part of an overall health and safety program and is similar to programs for substance use and dependency. It should help companies increase awareness of fatigue, how to manage the risk factors and hazards, and how to prevent related injury and illness. Most important is the moral imperative to do the right thing and reduce the ill effects of fatigue.

For more information on designing a fatigue management program please click on ENFORM's "Guide To Safe Work: Fatigue Management, An Employer's Guide To Designing And Implementing A Fatigue Management Program".

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