How Unused Vacation Days Increase Workplace Safety Hazards
New research shows deferred recovery and worker burnout act as operational exposure risks that trigger preventable errors and near-misses.
- By Jesse Jacobs
- May 20, 2026
Employee burnout and unused paid time off are traditionally categorized as human resources concerns, but new data suggests safety professionals should monitor them as leading indicators for workplace incidents.
A study of more than 1,000 U.S. workers conducted by Clarify Capital found that employees leave an average of six days of paid vacation unused annually. In safety-critical fields like healthcare, 26% of respondents reported skipping time off entirely due to staffing shortages.
When workers defer necessary recovery time, the resulting fatigue directly compromises human performance in high-risk environments.
“There’s a misconception that burnout is only an HR concern. In occupational safety, it is also an exposure risk,” said Michael Baynes, CEO of Clarify Capital. “Nearly half of employees are worried about falling behind or returning to disorder. To get ahead of this, organizations can operationalize coverage by cross-training teams, normalize workload redistribution, and design systems where stepping away doesn’t cause risk downstream. That’s how to protect workplace safety.”
The survey noted that the employees who need rest the most are the least likely to receive it. Burned-out workers are more than twice as likely to postpone or cancel scheduled vacations due to workplace pressures compared to their non-burned-out peers, at 19% versus 8%.
This accumulation of stress undermines standard workplace hazard controls.
“Safety professionals are well-positioned to treat unused PTO as an indicator of fatigue risk,” Baynes said. “In high-risk environments, deferred recovery manifests as slower reaction times, poor decision-making, and increased incident rates. From a safety lens, time off is a kind of control measure that stabilizes human performance under pressure.”
The issue is compounded by corporate culture. According to the data, 41% of employees report that their workplace only silently accepts time off rather than encouraging it, and 35% admitted to lying about their reasons for requesting leave.
This underlying anxiety prevents employees from fully disconnecting from their duties, prolonging cognitive fatigue even when they are technically off the clock.
“When one in three workers thinks they can’t take time away from work without consequences, they often stay mentally ‘on the job’ when they’re off the clock,” Baynes said. “In safety-critical roles, cognitive overload often accumulates out of sight. But it can appear as near-misses and preventable errors.”
Safety managers can mitigate these systemic risks by treating rest periods as formal administrative controls, ensuring operational infrastructure supports regular workforce recovery.
About the Author
Jesse Jacobs is assistant editor of OHSOnline.com.