Human factors - Fatigue
Fatigue, we’ve all felt it; it’s the feeling of weariness caused by prolonged or excessive exertion, not just physical exertion but mental exertion too, which can have detrimental impacts on performance at work. Fatigue is a ‘top ten’ human factors issue facing the petroleum and allied industries and has been identified as having a significant part in many accidents. The cost in terms of accidents, loss of productivity and liabilities runs into millions of pounds.
Although fatigue has been identified as a contributor, it is often unclear which particular aspect of fatigue is the root cause, i.e. whether shift patterns and duration, physical and mental task demands, staffing levels, workload, sleep patterns and quality, task duration etc. To help answer these questions and fill this knowledge gap, the Human and organisational factors working group has commissioned two projects, both of which are complete.
EI projects
1. Improving alertness through effective fatigue management
2. Sleep contracts research - EI Research Report: Viability of using sleep contracts as a control measure in fatigue management
An artical was published in the July 2006 edition of Petroleum Review reviewing the two projects.
According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), fatigue from shiftwork and overtime is one of the key human factors topics to be addressed by onshore major hazards industries. Recognising the importance of this issue, HSE has published Managing shiftwork: Health and safety guidance (HSG 256 ISBN 0717661970) as an aid to all industry. The EI Human and Organisational Factors Working Group has also identified fatigue as one of its priority issues for attention and has already developed some resources to help the industry understand and deal with fatigue.
Other fatigue resources Recommended Practice 755 Fatigue Risk Management Systems for Personnel in the Refining and Petrochemical Industries
This API report provides guidance to help manage fatigue risk. It was developed for refineries, petrochemical and chemical operations, natural gas liquefaction plants, and other facilities. However, it should be noted that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has issued a statement asking those who may wish to apply the findings of this report to remain cautious and to ensure they comply with UK standards. RR446 - The development of a fatigue / risk index for shiftworkers
This report describes the work carried out to revise and update the HSE Fatigue Index (FI). Extensive changes have been made to the previous version, incorporating recent information relating to a variety of issues including cumulative fatigue, time of day, shift length, the effect of breaks and the recovery from a sequence of shifts. In addition, a review has been carried out of trends in risk related to shift work, and this has enabled the final version to incorporate two separate indices, one related to fatigue (the Fatigue Index) and the other to risk (the Risk Index). While the two indices are similar in many respects they diverge in others. The main differences are due to the different trends with respect to time of day in fatigue and risk. The index has been implemented in the form of a spreadsheet, the design of which has incorporated feedback from users of the previous index. EI Human factors briefing notes resource pack: No. 5: Fatigue
To improve industry's understanding of key human factors issues, the EI’s H\uman and Organisational Factors Working Group commissioned a series of 'briefing notes'. Each two- to three-page leaflet: commences with a definition; provides case studies, checklists and references; and explores solutions to address the issue. Of particular interest to supervisors and managers of major hazard installations, they provide a first step in raising awareness and guiding users to further information. Briefing note 5 provides an introduction to fatigue. EI Workshop on fatigue
In October 1999 the Institute held a workshop on the health and safety aspects of fatigue affecting both the upstream and downstream sectors of the oil and gas industry. The proceedings include a summary and introduction, as well as the following papers written by academics: An Introduction to body rhythms, shiftwork and fatigue; Sleep, mood and performance in relation to offshore shift patterns; Adapting to night shift on oil-rigs and elsewhere: implications for health and Sleep-related vehicle accidents. Additional references on fatigue are provided in the Top ten human factors issues listing. |
