Reducing the Risks of Driver Fatigue

Encourage drivers to report fatigue concerns and explain how they can do that. Talk about what fatigue is, its effects, and how to manage the risk. And provide plenty of reminders.

Remind drivers that it’s difficult to accurately self-assess fatigue. Other employees, especially if they’re passengers in the same vehicle, may be better at detecting issues. Educate all employees about their safety responsibilities, and about fatigue impacts, causes, and warning signs to help them recognize a driver who is too tired. Drivers then need to respect and act upon a co-worker’s evaluation of their fitness to drive.

Remind employees to advocate for their own safety when they are passengers in a work vehicle. They have the right to refuse unsafe work, including riding with a fatigue-impaired driver.

Many road and weather conditions can contribute to driver fatigue. They include:

Low visibility

Fog, rain, snow, and low lighting conditions cause the driver’s eyes to work harder to see the road ahead. Similarly, driving into a sunrise or sunset can generate eye strain. That extra work tires the driver out sooner.

Short winter days

Driving in the dark is simply more work. It means the driver is going to encounter more oncoming headlights. A lot of vehicles have high intensity headlights and/or drivers who forget to dim their high beams for other traffic.

Temperature

Warm summer days seem to make drivers sleepy. Heat outside or inside the vehicle, and the monotony of driving, can cause micro-sleeps. These periods can last a few seconds as the brain rapidly switches between being asleep and being awake.

Uncertainty, anxiety, and stress

Stress generates fatigue. It can happen when a driver isn’t certain of the route they are taking, are anxious about road conditions or the vehicle they’re driving, or are in heavy traffic.

Rough roads

Drivers are likely to become fatigued sooner on roads with a lot of potholes or ruts than if they were on a smoother surface. Commercial drivers often deal with a lot of vibration that can contribute to driver fatigue in the near term and have significant health consequences in the longer term.

In BC, when a driver declares they are fatigued, it’s important to pay attention. Sections 4.19 and 4.20 of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation states that people can’t do work if it would cause undue risks. So, workers are required to tell their employer if they are impaired by any means, including fatigue. Their employer is then not to assign them work.

Once you receive a report, there are options to pursue. You may want to confirm its validity. Maybe that employee can rest for a bit and go back to work. Maybe they can do other work with lower risks. But it’s important to encourage employees to understand fatigue and its risks, and to speak up when they know they are too tired.

People sometimes put themselves (or allow themselves to be put) in driving assignments where they will become fatigued. Perhaps they want to show they can drive for long hours. Maybe they think “toughing it out” makes them a good employee. Perhaps the supervisor, dispatcher, or the organization has a mindset that fatigue is just part of the job. Regardless, drivers and their employers need to be open and honest, recognize where and when fatigue risks are greatest, and take steps to reduce those risks.

Once the organization makes it clear it doesn’t want its employees driving while fatigued, it’s essential to communicate your expectations and process. Managers and owners need to talk about it. Our Driving Toward a Stronger Road Safety Culture Webinar has some relevant ideas.

Many experts aren’t fond of energy drinks because of the potentially dramatic adverse affects on our bodies. One a day is plenty.

The drinks typically contain large amounts of caffeine, added sugars, other additives, and legal stimulants such as guarana, taurine, and L-carnitine. These stimulants can increase alertness, attention, and energy but also increase blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing.

Some of the dangers of energy drinks include:

• Dehydration (not enough water in your body)
• Heart complications (such as irregular heartbeat and heart failure)
• Anxiety (feeling nervous and jittery)
• Insomnia (unable to sleep)