NSC Awards Grants to Advance Workplace Fatigue Prevention Technologies
The National Safety Council has awarded grants to help employers pilot emerging technologies designed to identify, predict and mitigate worker fatigue, a leading contributor to workplace injuries and operational risk.
- By Stasia DeMarco
- Jun 08, 2026
The National Safety Council (NSC) has awarded funding to help employers pilot emerging technologies designed to identify, predict and mitigate workplace fatigue; a persistent safety challenge linked to injuries, reduced productivity and long-term health risks.
The grants are part of NSC's Work to Zero initiative, which aims to eliminate workplace fatalities by adopting safety technology. This year's pilot grant program focuses specifically on fatigue prevention, connecting employers with technology providers whose solutions can measure, detect or predict worker fatigue in real-world settings.
Through support from the McElhattan Foundation, NSC is providing up to $60,000 in total grant funding, with individual awards of up to $20,000 available to participating organizations. Preference was given to small- and medium-sized employers, businesses in safety-sensitive industries and women- or minority-owned organizations.
The initiative follows the 2026 NSC Safety Innovation Challenge, which highlighted technologies to address fatigue-related risks across industries. Selected solutions include tools that use physiological, behavioral and performance-based indicators to help employers identify fatigue before it contributes to incidents or injuries.
According to NSC, fatigue remains a significant workplace concern. Research cited by the organization estimates that fatigue contributes to approximately 13% of workplace injuries, while more than one-third of employees are sleep-deprived. Workers on night shifts, rotating schedules and extended work hours face elevated risks.
NSC encourages employers to adopt science-based fatigue risk management systems that incorporate worker education, scheduling practices, sleep disorder screening and technology-enabled monitoring tools. The organization also offers resources and guidance to help companies integrate fatigue management into existing safety programs.
Grant recipients will work directly with selected technology providers to implement and evaluate fatigue-prevention solutions over a 12-month period, with findings expected to help advance broader industry efforts to reduce fatigue-related incidents and improve worker well-being.
About the Author
Stasia DeMarco brings a strong and varied journalism background to her role at Occupational Health & Safety, having previously served as a multimedia editor, broadcast journalist, professor and reviewer across major news organizations. As Content Editor, she writes news and feature articles, hosts sponsor and editorial webinars, co-hosts the SafetyPod worker health and safety podcast, and manages the brand’s digital and social media presence. She is committed to informing and engaging the safety community through compelling reporting and conversations that support safer, healthier workplaces.