Were employees too tired to work safely? 50 killed
May 22, 2009 by Fred HosierPosted in: cost of safety, Fatality, fatigue, Special Report, Transportation safety
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Imagine this: Two of your employees who work together both get little sleep before performing a safety-sensitive task. Then, the two are involved in an incident that kills 50 people.
A major focus of the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) investigation into the crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 on Feb. 12 has been on whether the captain and co-pilot were fatigued.
Co-pilot Rebecca Shaw lived with her parents near Seattle and commuted across the country to her job. The night before the accident, Shaw flew overnight from Seattle and changed planes in Memphis before reporting for the early morning flight out of Newark, NJ.
It’s unclear whether Captain Marvin Renslow slept the night before the trip. He was in the middle of a two-day assignment. The night before, he logged into a computer in a crew room, according to NTSB documents.
The crash killed all 49 people on the plane and one person on the ground.
The problem of fatigued employees isn’t limited to pilots. Fatigue costs U.S. employers $136 billion annually in health-related costs and lost worker productivity — not to mention potential lawsuits in cases involving serious injury or death.
What can be done?
You can’t follow your employees home to tuck them into bed at night. Most of the responsibility for being alert at work falls on employees themselves.
However, there are some tips you can give workers and some things you can do to improve alertness. Among the things workers can do:
- Set regular hours for sleeping. The average adult needs eight hours a night, but some require up to 10.
- Avoid caffeine three to five hours before going to bed.
- Naps can help if they’re less than an hour or longer than 90 minutes. That way, workers are less likely to wake up during deep sleep.
- Develop overall good health habits such as daily physical activity and a balanced diet.
For companies with night or long shifts, bright light and cooler temperatures enhance alertness. If possible, schedule the most tedious tasks early in a shift. Moderate physical activity during breaks, such as taking a walk, helps, too.
Employees should have at least ten hours between work shifts.
Have you taken steps to encourage workers in safety-sensitive positions to get proper rest? Let us know about what you’ve done, or leave us a comment on this story, in the box below.
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Tags: Continental Flight 3407, NTSB investigation, too tired to work safely
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May 26th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
Sleep deprivation can also affect employees who work rotating shifts. I worked at a company where I changed the rotation around so that before an employee switched from working the day shift to the night shift, they took their two day weekend. This gave the employee the chance to change their sleep patterns to coincide with next week’s work schedule.
I dislike rotating shifts because of the chance for the employee to get sleep deprivation. Rotating shifts also may lead the employee to have more health related issues, too.
May 27th, 2009 at 9:18 am
Does this advice apply to medical personnel as well? Are interns still working 80 hour weeks and 36 hour shifts? Why can I not go to a hospital and be assured that the people making decisions about my health are rested enough to a peak effectiveness?
May 29th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
As a 25+ years shift worker, and now in Supervision over shift workers within a refinery, I have learned much on this issue. I am also diagnosed with sleep apnea, and use a CPAP breathing machine while sleeping to attain a good nights rest. Many men in the 40 and older group, can have this, and be undiagnosed. It killed my father by causing health effects, like an enlarged heart, then stroke, etc. A good bed is very important too. Fitness for work is important, not just for the workday, but having enough alertness left to drive home, especially after a night shift is critical too. I can remember several times I had to pull over, or sometimes even wondered how I got home. Dosing and driving is worse than drinking and driving, because you don’t even know you’re about to leave the road to react, because you’re asleep. So much more I could share here. Any inquiries may be asked through Safety/News Alert folks.
July 10th, 2009 at 4:03 am
Sleep deprivation occurs more often and introduced in the workplace more so than before 1950′s. When the job force started to become more 24/7 the increased need for help became scarce and adequate at the same time due to numerous causes. There would be someone willing to work the over night shift, but would not realize the effects of trying to rest peacefully during the daylight hours when most people are awake. The more increase of a shift change, the less of a chance more productivity or alertness would increase. Many workers are not necessarily overworked, just do not know the ways to overcome sleep patterns that decrease their rest, and increases their mood on being more frank than usual, they’re not enjoying their work and look forward more to their break or getting off of work. The work morale starts to decrease due to a lack of motivation or energy, then that’s when the caffeine and energy drinks are introduced…which aren’t healthy either, as the body needs to rest if it is not entirely fit to handle the suitable work environment. This is when the body crashes into a deep sleep once you’ve run out of fuel on energy. So, perhaps these workers were doing this for a long period of time, and still felt exhausted. Priorities must be set in place, especially when operating machinery of any sort. I believe in our economy we should still be able to provide a back up plan to any scenario, whether the employee is sick, exhausted, or has a medical emergency. Otherwise, the employee to have been relieved would most likely been placed with working a double shift or just a few hours longer until a replacement is found. This happens more commonly with the Restaurant, Hospitality, Customer Service Industry, Construction, and even Medical. I’m sure I left a few out, but if someone is feeling tired or has symptoms of fatigue or sleep deprivation. You must go see a professional for clarification of what it is your body is needing. Sometimes more exercise and a balanced diet is the solution, other times it is work habits or stress vices….Alcohol, Cigarettes, or any other stimulant needed to “calm” your blood pressure and nervousness. I think if we were to question the pilots today to speak honestly, they would’ve said their families or other co-dependents were the reason for them pushing the limitations in order to provide a steady income, that one can rarely afford to miss work. I think Obama or someone out there should introduce some kind of act on limitations of labored work, not only for the safety of the person slaving themselves for the next dollar, but for the safety of others around them. I know of a couple dozen times or more of the exhaustion of working a double, and still having to drive home. Not a nice thing when you’re zoning out The term I use is commonly known to truckers as a hypnotized chicken. The lines on the road that seem to never end, so you get so caught up in seeing these lines for miles and miles, when you slowly enter a trance of comfort, until you soon realize…hey if my tire blew out right now what would I do? Then you snap out of it and the adrenaline rush wakes you up. It’s an effect that most people never get to feel, as they have not had the need to push their limitations on sleep. Except for those that have smoked Meth, I’m certain they know the effects of this subject. Well, I spoke my peace on this subject. Hope that the younger folks learn something sooner than later, other wise they’ll face major consequences of all sorts. I’ve been working since 9 yrs old, and recently just turned 27. I have learned a lot in the past 18 yrs, which is the number one rule I follow…. Take care of yourself first, because no one else is going to take care of you any better.
Sincerely,
Art B., AZ