Fatigue is a critical safety issue that affects the environmental industry. Fatigue impacts a technician’s attention and alertness and increases the risk of mistakes, which in turn impacts the safety of the entire job.
Given the long hours that technicians tend to spend on the job and the high number of jobs, it is no wonder that fatigue is one of the biggest problems facing our industry these days. It is essential that technicians and drivers do what they can to prevent fatigue. When a technician or driver is fatigued, they are impaired. Driving while impaired by fatigue can have tragic results.
Fatigue is the progressive reduction in physical and mental alertness which leads to exhaustion. Fatigue becomes problematic when it compromises a technician’s reflexes and ability to concentrate or use judgment. Some of the effects can be:
- Decreased vigilance
- Concentration
- and attention
- Altered judgment and the quality of decisions affected
- Decreased and slow reaction time