Employer responsibilities

An employer's responsibilities to manage fatigue in the workplace.

You must talk to your workers about the hazards that can lead to fatigue, and then manage the risks.

Review rosters, time sheets, near misses and incident reports, and discuss possible control measures with your workers.

Once you’ve identified what’s causing fatigue – be it the demands of the job, the environmental conditions or something outside work – you can begin to assess the risk, then eliminate or minimise it.

For example:

  • Job demands  – the mental (cognitive) and physical demands of work:
    • eliminate excessive demands from the job
    • reduce the time spent on physically and mentally demanding work
    • redesign jobs to include a variety of tasks and/or implement job rotation
    • introduce lifting equipment, ergonomic furniture and anti-fatigue matting
    • plan for unexpected changes in workload.
  • Work schedules – the way work is planned:
    • design work schedules to allow for adequate breaks and recovery time between work days or shifts
    • manage excessive working hours, overtime and on-call duties
    • ensure workers take adequate work breaks
    • manage workloads during emergencies and absenteeism
    • avoid workplace cultures that provide incentives to work excessive hours such as employment or financial incentives.
  • Shift work, rosters and sleep patterns:
    • consider whether night work is necessary
    • structure shifts so that non-essential, complex and safety critical tasks are not carried out when workers are likely to be fatigued
    • use a forward-rotation shift system
    • minimise sequential night shifts
    • allow shift workers adequate periods of non-work to overcome sleep debt following a sequence of night shifts.
  • Environmental conditions:
    • avoid working during extreme temperatures
    • install ventilation and cooling devices in hot work environments and enclosed spaces such as truck cabins and heating devices in cold work environments
    • install adjustable, low vibration seats in machinery and vehicles
    • make sure the workplace is well-lit, safe and secure
    • provide shelter for those working outside.
  • Non work-related factors – lifestyle, travel time and other commitments:
    • implement a system that allows managers and workers to assess fitness for work before and after a shift
    • provide information about managing fatigue, nutrition, work-life balance, and the body clock
    • consider travel times between a worker's home and workplace, particularly if they're shift workers, work overtime, or work in rural or remote workplaces.

Develop a workplace policy

It’s not mandatory, but you should develop a fatigue policy in consultation with your workers. It can be a standalone policy or included in another policy, such as drugs and alcohol.

It should outline roles and responsibilities; how to manage excessive working hours, fitness for work and fatigued workers; and the procedures for reporting hazards and managing risks.

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