Debate Intensifies Over Managing Fatigue Risks

By Crown Content

Fatigue management systems should regulate workers' opportunity to gain sufficient sleep, not their opportunity to work, according to Prof. Drew Dawson from the University of South Australia's Sleep Research Centre.

He proposes an alternative compliance regulatory framework for fatigue management, similar to that which is being used in aviation, rail and in road transport. Dawson argues in the WA Government's Extended Wotking Hours public discussion paper that fatigue-related impairment is similar to the effects of moderate alcohol intoxication, yet policy-makers and employers have failed to tackle fatigue with the same care. The paper sets out the effects of sleep-loss and proposes a range of approaches to deal with the issue.

Crown Content Occupational Health and Safety Bulletin. Vol. 12,, no 270 14 August 2003)