WHY
MANAGE FATIGUE RISK...
WHY MANAGE FATIGUE RISK AMONG MY EMPLOYEES?
Key figures
Fatigue is estimated to cost employers around $136 billion each year in lost health-related productivity, and more than 70 million Americans suffer from a sleep disorder (National Safety Council (NCS)). Find out more
Explanation
Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity (World Health Organisation (WHO)). Find out more
Sleep is one of the three main pillars of good health, along with nutrition and physical activity.
- Sleep is vital: during this period, our immune system rebuilds itself.
- Sleep cures us: sleeping less than 6 hours is associated with higher risk of obesity, type II diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and accidents.
- Sleep makes us grow: during phases of deep sleep, children and adolescents secrete growth hormones, while adults experience tissue regeneration.
- Sleep regulates our weight: sleep deficiency provokes decreases in satitety hormone levels and increases in hunger hormone levels.
- Sleep helps us learn: a portion of sleep (called REM-sleep) is strongly involved in our learning process.
Indeed, sleep deficiency can threaten your health and well-being.
Several sleep stages succeed each other during the night, some of them allowing for physical recovery, but also mental recovery (maintaining long-term memory, regulating emotions, etc.). Poor sleep quality and/or quantity can thus increase mood disorders (irritability, anxiety, stress, etc.), reduce vigilance during daytime, and distrub family relations, as well as work and life quality.
Fatigue has a significant impact on health and personal and professional well-being in the short term, but also in the long term if not considered and treated in time.
Our solution
Welbees offers « Individual Fatigue and Stress Management » training courses, providing the scientific basis explaining the consequences of fatigue and stress, in order to learn to recognise the signs at an individual level and adopt the best practices in your professional activity as well as in your daily life. Find out more
Key figures
Fatigue and sleepiness are the leading causes of road fatalities, accounting for around 20% of fatal road accidents in 2019. Find out more
Explanation
According to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), accidents in aviation are occurrences in which an individual is fatally or critically hurt, the airplane is structurally damaged, and/or the airplane has dissappeared or is completely inaccessible.
Other than accidents, incidents in aviation are occurrences in which safety was or could have been compromised.
Serious incidents are occurences in which the probablity of an accident was strong. Find out more
Fatigue is just as dangerous as alcohol!
Though it is prohibited to come to work drunk, it is not prohibited to come ot work fatigued. And yet, staying awake for 20 hours is equivalent to 0.8 g/L of blood alcohol, whereas not sleeping for 27 hours is equivalent to 1 g/L of blood alcohol!
Fatigue may be a poorly-known cause of accidents, but it is not without consequences. By taking direct actions to manage the risk of fatigue, the risk of incidents and accidents in the workplace can be reduced.
Our solution
Welbees offers « Incident and Accident Investigation and Analysis » trainings, combining theoretical knowledge (definition and reglementation) with practical enforcement (case studies and role-playing exercises) to implement tools and methods for investigating and analysing incidents and accidents within an organisational context. Find out more
WHY MANAGE FATIGUE RISK AMONG MY TEAMS?
Key figure
Counting 583 deaths, the crash between two Boeing 747’s at Tenerife airport in 1977 was the worst accident in the history of aviation. Between technical problems and human factors, team work was one of the main contributing factors.
Explanation
Cohesion is defined as « all the factors that keep members in a group » (S. Schachter, American psychologist specialising in social psychology, at the origin of two-factor emotion theory).
According to Schachter, the basis of team cohesion is the notion of valence, i.e. the attractivity value that a group or team has on all of its members. A team is said to be strongly united when the forces of attraction motivate newcomers and rally existing members around their objective. These forces of attraction consist of sharing a common objective, a complementary repartition of tasks, a commonly accepted definition of values, a pride in appearance, and a constant motivation in completing the objective.
The case of the Tenerife accident is an illustration of an event caused by miscommunication which was avoidable but wasn’t because of social confirmity issues. Apart from the error within the team, a number of other factors had already led the situation to become a « crash in progress ». These factors included radio interference and the difference in mother tongues between the air traffic controllers and the pilots, impeding the pilots of the aircrafts to correctly understand ATC instructions. However, this did not mean the accident necessarily had to happen: the post-accident investigation showed that one crewmember had noticed the problem and challenged the captain’s decision, but had not dared to insist because of his inferior status, experience and reputation within the company.
Our solution
Welbees offers « Human Factors and Risk Management » trainings, which providing the latest scientific findings knowledge, ranging from sensorial perception mecanisms to psychosocial influences, to help you better identify challenges and issues at stake in order to put in place effective approaches to prevent risks associatiated with human factors. Find out more
Key figures
Each year, 270 million people are victims of workplace injuries (International Labour Organisation (ILO)). Find out more
Click here to follow the figures live
Explanation
According to the International Civil Organisation (ICAO), safety is defined as « a situation in which the risk of personal injury or damage to property is limited to an acceptable level and maintained by a continuous process of hazard identification and risk management at all times. » Find out more
In aviation, pilot errors are one of the main causes of accidents. These errors are linked to the technical characteristics of the aircraft, but also to the pilot’s behaviour (fatigue, stress, etc.), which can result in an inappropriate reaction to a dangerous situation, judgement errors, failure to follow procedures, etc..
The course of a working day can be disrupted by various events and incidents linked to different factors: individual variability (fatigue, stress), time pressure, workstation layout, various oversights, communication difficulties, etc.
Thus, the safety of an organisation is based on individual (employees) and organisational (employer) flexibility, continuous learning mechanisms (trial and error, adaptation, improvement of know-how and interpersonal skills), but also reciprocal surveillance or vigilance developed and maintained by the occurrence of accidents, the recurrence of incidents, and feedback.
In-flight errors of inattention or poor decisions or interpretations due to fatigue or stress can directly lead to fatal consequences. « Errors and intelligence are two sides of the same coin » (Reason). Everyone makes mistakes and these mistakes help us to adapt and learn. The important thing is to know how to detect and recover these mistakes so that they can be passed on and the company can learn from them, reinforcing the group spirit and shared responsibility. Mutual supervision is therefore an essential component of teamwork in order to ensure the safety of operators.
Our solution
Welbees offers numerous training courses, including the « Safety Management System and Safety Culture » course, which combines theoretical knowledge (definition and regulations) with practical application (case studies and role plays). These allow to acquire in-depth knowledge of safety management systems in order to understand the principles and methodologies for implementing a safety management system. Find out more
WHY MANAGE FATIGUE RISK IN MY COMPANY ?
Key figures
According to a study by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, only 16% of European workers feel that their work does not harm their physical and mental health. This could indicate that fatigue is a common problem in European workplaces, highlighting the importance of putting measures in place to prevent fatigue at work and complying with the relevant legislation. Find out more
Expanation
In Europe, there are are number of regulations framing fatigue management in the workplace.
- European directive 2003/88/CE, which lays down the basic rules on working time, including maximum weekly hours and compulsory rest periods.
- European directive 89/391/CEE, which requires employers to guarantee the health and safety of their employees by taking measures to prevent occupational risks, including fatigue.
- ISO 45001:2018, which sets out the requirements for an occupational health and safety management system, including fatigue risk management.
- Each European member state may also have its own national legislation on fatigue and working time management, in addidtion to European regulation. In France, for example, the Labour Code governs working hours and compulsory rest periods.
The aim of these regulations is to protect the health and safety of workers and to ensure optimum productivity and performance. Companies must therefore comply with these regulations and implement fatigue management measures to prevent risks to the health and safety of their workers.
Complying with the regulations that require fatigue risk to be managed in the workplace helps to protect the health and safety of workers, while reducing the risk of fatigue-related accidents and occupational illnesses for which they may be held responsible.
Adherence to these rules can thus help to safeguard the health and safety of workers while improving company performance.
In addition, compliance with current legal and regulatory standards can help avoid potential sanctions and fines and enhance the company’s reputation.
Our solution
Welbees offers a number of training courses, including the « Safety Management System and Safety Culture » training, which combines theoretical knowledge (definition and regulations) with practical application (case studies and role plays), enabling to acquire in-depth knowledge of safety management systems and understand the principles and methodologies involved in implementing a safety management system. Find out more
Key figures
A study carried out by the National Safety Council in the United States in 2017 found that fatigued workers experienced a 30% reduction in productivity and were three times more likely to have an accident at work. Find out more
Explanation
Productivity in terms of fatigue can be defined as the degree of quantity and quality of work a worker can accomplish when sufficiently rested and alert. The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) has shown that when a worker is fatigued, their productivity can drop considerably due to a reduction in their ability to concentrate, think clearly and make efficient decisions. In other words, productivity is the measure of the effectiveness of a worker’s work, and fatigue can have a significant impact on this measure. Find out more
Employees who are determined to go to work regardless of their state of fatigue, health or motivation, are clearly under-productive, as fatigue can lead to a drop in concentration, alertness and performance at work. Managing fatigue in the workplace is therefore crucial to improving employee productivity.
Our solution
Welbees offers a number of training courses, including the « Fatigue Risk Management Systems » training, which presents the latest scientific knowledge and methodologies for assessing and preventing fatigue risk in order to combat fatigue in the workplace. Particular attention is paid to providing participants with scientific knowledge about fatigue, its causes and consequences, as well as presenting methodologies for assessing fatigue risk and ways of preventing it. Find out more
Key figures
Fatigue costs €136 billion per year in Europe (European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA)) Find out more
Explanation
Fatigue-related presenteeism is one of the main factors having significant costs for a company. When employees work while fatigued, they may be less productive, make more mistakes and be more likely to injure themselves at work.
Managing the risk of fatigue in the workplace is essential for a number of financial reasons.
We often hear about absenteeism, but the biggest culprit is presenteeism, which costs the company far more!
While the cost of absenteeism is partly shared by society as a whole, the company is the only entity to be financially impacted by presenteeism, as it sees little or no return on the salary received by the employee.
According to a study by Global Corporate Challenge, a corporate health initiative that aims to promote health and well-being at work, the cost of presenteeism can be up to 10 times higher than that of absenteeism in terms of lost productivity. It is therefore important to consider fatigue risk management in order to improve productivity and reduce the costs associated with presenteeism.
In addition, fatigue can increase the number of errors and accidents in the workplace, which can have significant financial repercussions for the company.
Learn more about the Global Corporate Challenge click here
Our solution
Welbees offers a number of training courses, including the « Psychosocial Risk Management » training course, which includes an in-depth approach to psychosocial risks (PSR). Each module provides participants with specific knowledge about psychosocial risk management, so that they can implement or improve psychosocial risk prevention adapted to their organisation. The aim of the course is to provide an understanding of the mechanisms involved in psychosocial risks and to develop new skills in the management and prevention of these risks. Find out more
Key figures
According to a report by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), around 15-20% of aircraft accidents are caused by pilot fatigue. However, it should be noted that fatigue can also be a contributing factor in other types of human error or in accidents. Find out more
Explanation
An accident is an occurrence in which a person is fatally or seriously injured, the aircraft has sustained structural damage, and/or the aircraft has disappeared or is totally inaccessible.
Different from an accident, an incident is an occurrence which affected or could have affected safety.
A serious incident is one in which the likelihood of an accident was high.
Fatigue can have a negative impact on safety at work and increase the risk of accidents or incidents. According to sleep research specialists, the risk of road accidents is just as high among drowsy drivers as it is among those who drive while their faculties are impaired.
And that applies to all industries!
Fatigued workers may have slower reaction times, be less attentive and commit errors, which can endanger their own safety and those of their colleagues. Fatigued workers are also more likely to have poor judgement, take unnecessary risks and be more irritable or impatient (EU-OSHA). These factors can all contribute to an increased risk of accidents or incidents at work. It is therefore important for companies to manage the risk of fatigue to protect the health and safety of their employees and to minimise the costs associated with accidents and incidents at work.
The European Unions’ Organisational Safety and Health Agency (EU-OSHA) Find out more
Our solution
Welbees offers a « Incident and Accident Investigation and Analysis » training course combining theoretical knowledge (definition and regulations) and practical application (case studies and role play), allowing to implement the tools and methods for incident and accident investigation and analysis within your organisation. Find out more
