Calculator Developed to Test Workers' Tiredness
Employers in high-risk industries, including trucking and health care, can use it to check staffers' fitness for duty, the development says.
A researcher with the University of South Australia (UniSA) has developed a fatigue calculator to help workers assess if they are too tired to work.
Developed by Professor Drew Dawson, head of UniSA’s Centre for Sleep Research, the calculator helps individuals recognize the likelihood of them making a fatigue related error on the job. Dawson says workers and their employers were interested in a way to better manage fatigue in the workplace.
“Employers in high risk industries such as mining, trucking and health care need a simple way to know if their staff are fit-for-duty and how to estimate the level of risk,” Dawson said.
The Fatigue Calculator takes into account two factors when determining individual fatigue levels: How long a person is going to be awake; and how much sleep they have had in the previous two days. The answers to these questions are calculated to determine whether the individual is operating at a low, medium or high risk level.
“Use of the calculator has the potential to reduce the number of fatigue related incidents and accidents that occur in the workplace,” Dawson said. More information on the calculator is available at www.fatiguecalculator.com.au.