Why It Is Important to Always Pay Attention to Drowsy Driving and Fatigue Management

Dec 30

When is Drowsy Driving and Fatigue Management Month

According to the National Safety Council (NSC), November of each year is Drowsy Driving and Fatigue Management month. During this time, this safety theme is focused upon by stakeholders across America in many industries, such as oil and gas, manufacturing, and especially trucking. Workers in these areas are frequently working extended shifts or night shifts and therefore are subject to more risk. In fact, accidents and injury rates during night shifts are 30% higher than during the day. While we may have passed November of this year, we believe it is important to stay vigilant to drowsy driving and fatigue risks every month. As such, we would like to spotlight this cause in December because it is something that should be prioritized year-round.

Incidents like these must be approached in a preventative rather than reactive way. As non-alertness and cognitive impairment are not always apparent, the dangers that they present are often only recognized after an incident occurs. This is why knowing what it entails and using technological advancements in safety to evaluate workplace impairment is extremely vital.

What is Meant by ‘Impairment’

The word ‘impairment’ is an umbrella term that includes any kind of behavioral impact related to lack of sleep, intoxication, illness, or other causes. It has been found that fatigued and distracted drivers pose dangers to both the public and themselves. Impairment is unique in that it is experienced differently by everyone. Due to limitations in traditional testing methods, companies cannot effectively rely just on observation alone, and instead need a more customized approach.

When impaired, workers’ decision-making abilities and judgment as well as reaction time are reduced. There is actually an equally strong correlation between sleep loss and the effects of alcohol, which is quite alarming. Further, it is estimated that fatigue costs employers $136 billion every year in lost productivity.

The need for managers’ active involvement in this issue and the increasing adoption of safety technology in the workplace to mitigate fatigue-related incidents is very apparent.

The Significance of Safety Tech

A case study from a prominent transportation company provides us with insight into how technology can be applied to safety scenarios. To help ensure fit-for-duty status among their trucking personnel, and after identifying fatigue as a major contributing factor behind many recent safety incidents, this company decided to implement AlertMeter. By adopting this, their goal was to be able to better identify when a driver was unfit for work and have a prompt action plan to prevent associated consequences.

The AlertMeter helps prevent risks by determining when a worker is struggling with alertness and sends a notification to a manager that contacts the driver so they can have an objective discussion together that is based on data and regards their capability to continue working. Some responses include countermeasures such as a nap or caffeine, and rarely, the manager may conclude that the worker is not able to work safely and will send them home in compliance with corporate policy. At the end of the day, it provides useful, informed feedback regardless and leads to the most responsible decision possible.

This technology works through a quick 45 second game-like cognitive assessment where the worker must score within their personal baseline before an interview with a manager occurs. It is highly comprehensive yet simple, as it is based on NASA science and language-independent.

The outcome of added visibility allowed for more realistic safety assessments by the managers in this case. There was a reported 32% reduction in safety incident frequency by fiscal year since implementing. These results helped contribute to a holistic solution and overall more positive workplace safety culture. Additionally, the managers were found to be more understanding and treat drivers with more empathy. This improved their morale as well, rather than feeling external pressure to continue working since it is often a cultural norm to push through. Lastly, this product was also beneficial in how it eliminated costs for additional equipment as it was applied to existing truck-based tablets and the SaaS based solution reduces IT requirements to just local infrastructure.

An additional safety tech product called Aware4Duty, a graphical app-based alertness test that has test scores that have been found to correlate to time of day, indicating sensitivity to circadian cycles, has also experienced success in these contexts. Similarly, recommendations may be made for workers impacted by impairment to take a short rest or replace high-hazard tasks with others.

More options will likely come to be available in the future, as biometric reading wearables, for example, are being further developed along with other safety technology. This will ensure that they can provide their aid in a plethora of circumstances and all individual preferences are met so workers can stay safe.

Conclusion: A Call to Action

From these examples, it is clear how impactful it is to workers when companies commit to a higher standard of safety. Always being mindful of drowsy driving and fatigue works to ensure the frequency of accidents stays low. A combination of safety technology to protect against and prevent danger, as well as the promotion of a foundation of wellness, can drastically change the degree and occurrence of workplace injuries and fatalities. For dealing with workers’ impairments, such as wakefulness, it is the company’s responsibility to better understand and mitigate fatigue risk in order to sustain effective performance. Solutions must be time-efficient in a workplace setting to be compatible and cause minimal disruption. Technology can now be leveraged to provide a bigger picture of workers’ mental acuity. These are a demonstration of relying on leading indicators to effectively manage safety and the result is that it works to motivate employees long-term.

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