The Saskatoon (Canada) Star Phoenix recently reported that two nurses working in the local health system were among the highest paid employees in the organization. They achieved this ranking by working not only the full-time hours associated with their regular position, but also enough overtime hours, at double pay, to constitute another full-time job.

 Though few workers would want to put in that many hours, excessive overtime is not uncommon. There are many reasons for this - not enough qualified employees, inclement weather, special projects, work delays and more.

 It’s often difficult, however, to get a handle on overtime. Employers expect that employees will work a certain amount of extra hours, but they also use this as a strategy for maintaining workforce flexibility and reducing benefits costs. Employees, on the other hand, become addicted to the money that’s associated with overtime. It affords vacations, bigger homes, boats and vehicles and pays for college. Immigrant workers, on the other hand, can achieve their goals of supporting their families back home much more quickly.

 Whatever the circumstance, when workers are working more than 12 hours at a time or more than 40 hours a week and have less than 10 hours between shifts, fatigue and safety become of the utmost concern.

 Strategies for Health and Wellness

 Educate workers and managers about the symptoms, hazards and solutions for fatigue and sleepiness.

 Develop an organizational protocol for managing worker fatigue and sleepiness.

 At the start of any overtime, assess the worker for symptoms of fatigue and/or sleepiness.

Develop a napping protocol and make napping rooms or chairs available close to the workstation.

Assess organizational staffing, scheduling and work processes to determine how excessive overtime could be eliminated.

 If the organization has a “Safety First” or “People First” value, put it into practise.

Continuous mental or physical effort, long work periods and rotating shift schedules all can induce fatigue. Omissions, errors, accidents and extensive use of sick and disability time may be the result. Consider the following low-cost, no-cost strategies to reduce fatigue, promote alertness and increase efficiency and productivity.

1. Drink water - Water promotes oxygen flow to the brain and thereby promotes alertness. Provide water coolers or personal drinking bottles and encourage consumption every hour.

2. Breathe - When we are fatigued, our breathing becomes shallow. Encourage employees to take several deep, diaphragm breathes every 10 minutes through the time of greatest fatigue.

3. Stretch - Big muscle movements and stretches get blood flowing and that all-important oxygen moving to the brain. Brisk walking on the spot for even one or two minutes is ideal, but there are many sitting and standing movements which are equally effective.

4. Turn on the Light - Light signals our bodies to be awake and alert, but it must be high-intensity light. Modern technology has provided us with portable lighting systems which mimic this light and which can be installed in various workstations to promote alertness.

5. Nap - If you can overcome the “we pay you to work and not sleep” attitude, you will find that a controlled napping policy will result in measurable improvements in alertness.

6. Sniff - Both peppermint and lemon scents are known to promote alertness. There are several ways that the scents/oils may be used by individuals or you may want to consider a planned infusion program at a workstation.

7. Drink Tea - As simple as it may sound, having a cup of hot tea is a great pick-me-up. Choose one of the many non-caffeine varieties and enjoy!

A teen driver is found at the wheel of a vehicle stopped at an intersection. When police approach, they find the driver and the passenger asleep and unable to be roused. Subsequent tests show the teen also had a blood alcohol level far above the legal limit.
Saskatoon, Canada

A teen working alone on the night shift at a gas station is murdered.
Montreal, Canada

Veteran employees show new employees locations for unapproved naps.
Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania

School division explores option of offering evening classes for high school students rather than requiring them to attend morning and afternoon classes.
Saskatoon, Canada

Saskatchewan Government Insurance provides funds to a sleep clinic to advance diagnosis of sleep disorders and prevent drowsy driving.
Saskatoon, Canada

Study determines melatonin is not effective as a sleep aid for secondary sleep disorders, but melatonin continues to be a hot seller at health food stores.
Edmonton, Canada

A sleepy driver fails to stop at an intersection and kills the driver of the car that he hit.
Saskatoon, Canada

Do you live in a ‘hot’ zone or are you part of a ‘hot’ profession? Many regions of the country are experiencing strong economic growth and business development, while other professional and trade sectors are finding they can’t find enough employees to fill ever increasing demands for the work they do.

In such circumstances, overtime and long hours of work become the norm and high levels of stress, fatigue and sleep deprivation become inevitable.

Strategies for Health and Safety

Where circumstances result in high levels of stress and fatigue, it is critical that employees implement ‘fatigue-busting’ strategies.

Provide sources of water and encourage employees to drink water regularly throughout the shift.

Allow short rest breaks approximately every 90 minutes. These breaks don’t require that the employee leave the work area, but that they stop work for about 10 minutes to regenerate both physical and cognitive function.

Teach employees a series of stretches to regenerate both the brain and muscles.

Provide infusions of alertness promoting aromatherapy scents.

Ensure that lighting levels are adequate to promote alertness. This may require making ‘daylight’ lamps available at workstations.

Resources

To remind employees of these fatigue-busting strategies, post our Fatigue Busters Poster in all work areas and distribute the Fatigue Buster Bookmark to all employees.

Sleepiness is a physiological manifestation and is most commonly seen late at night or in the afternoon when we have a propensity for sleep. Sleep deprivation compounds the physiological need. Sleepiness is usually associated with drooping head and/or eyelids and an inability to focus on visual or aural information.

Cognitive or mental fatigue, on the other hand, is a manifestation of exertion. The brain can only work for so long before it needs a break to consolidate what it has taken in and to prepare itself for more activity. Fatigue is usually manifested in detriments in judgment, reasoning, vigilance and decision-making.

Fatigue and sleepiness can go hand-in-hand if one has worked long hours and is sleep deprived. This is further complicated by the fact that sleepiness can be masked in high intensity situations such as an emergency or need to complete a project by deadline. If an error or accident results, was it fatigue or sleepiness?

Strategies for Health and Safety

The solution for sleepiness is to sleep. This may require getting more sleep while you are off work, limiting hours worked or having a nap (up to 20 minutes) at work, perhaps in the afternoon or at some point during the night.

Fatigue can be overcome through a variety of measures other than sleep. Short rest breaks (2 – 10 minutes) should be taken throughout the shift, day or night. Simply stopping the task for a few minutes may suffice, but one should also consider some stretches, deep breathing and drinking water.

Though it is useful to consider the benefits of napping, it is equally important to understand the value of short rest breaks and other fatigue-busting measures.