Accident Investigation

All workplaces will experience accidents, errors and omissions of some magnitude from time to time. Many of these, upon investigation, will be found to be the result of sleep deprivation and fatigue, even though the official categorization may be ‘human error.’

In transportation and health care, investigations subsequent to any accident or error usually give consideration to the possibility of sleep deprivation or fatigue as these sectors are known to have high rates of both. However, the investigation of all accidents and errors in the workplace should give consideration to the possibility of sleep deprivation or fatigue as a root cause of the accident or error. This is because many ‘human error’ accidents are the result of poor judgment and reasoning, failure to attend to information or inattention. All of these can be the result of sleep deprivation and fatigue.

Consider the example of a bartender who, at the end of the late shift, goes to restock the coolers. While lifting the cartons of bottles, he loses his balance and falls, causing injury to his back. On the surface, this would seem to be a pretty straightforward incident. However, one should also consider how much the employee was lifting and his reasoning in deciding how much and how to lift. If the employee was extremely fatigued, he may have made an error in judgment that caused him to attempt lifting more than was safe. Even if the load was one that he was accustomed to handling, his fatigue may have decreased his capacity for lifting the load.

Strategies for Health and Safety

Employees need to learn about the behaviors associated with sleep deprivation and fatigue and how these can get played out in their work. Employees also need to recognize when they are sleepy and fatigued and recognize that they may not be able to work with the same effort that they would expect in a more refreshed and alert state.