Manage fatigue during Christmas and New Year rush

Workplace Health and Safety Queensland has produced a new guide on preventing and managing fatigue-related risks.

Fatigue is more than feeling tired and drowsy. It is a state of mental or physical exhaustion which reduces workers’ ability to perform work safely and effectively. The guide includes checklists, a self-assessment tool and sample assessment, safety plans and investigation resources.

Fatigue impacts alertness, which may lead to errors that increase the likelihood of incidents and injuries occurring, particularly when:

• operating fixed or mobile plant, including driving vehicles
• performing critical tasks that require a lot of concentration
• doing night or shift work when a person would be normally sleeping.

Managing fatigue at work is a shared responsibility between the employer and workers, as it involves factors both inside and outside of work. This guide can help you identify and manage fatigue-related risks at work, with the aim of minimising potential incidents and meeting your responsibilities under work health and safety laws.

Further information

Read Preventing and managing fatigue-related risk in the workplace and more on fatigue at work.