A recent incident involving a microsleep at an underground coal mine in New South Wales has highlighted the need for effective fatigue management from the top down.
The incident occurred when a worker had a microsleep while driving inbye in an underground mine vehicle. He woke up just before there was a collision, but when he went to brake his foot missed the brake pedal.
The vehicle collided with the corner of an intersection he was approaching, resulting in damage to the vehicle but no injury to the worker. It was his second night shift in three months.
Despite implying a split-second loss of awareness, microsleeps can last for several seconds and are a serious side effect of fatigue.
The NSW Resources Regulator investigated and compiled some recommendations to the industry at large to tackle the issue of microsleeps and prevent future incidents.
Fatigue controls include:
- roster patterns that allow for adequate sleep and life activities
- shift durations that consider workers’ commuting times to allow for adequate sleep and life activities
- allowing a 48-hour break after a block of night shifts and an adequate break between blocks of shifts for recovery
- allowing an adequate break between shifts to enable seven to eight hours’ sleep
- increasing supervision during periods of low alertness (e.g. 3am to 5am)
- providing training and information on the risks of shift work and ensure supervisors and management can recognise problems
- ensuring breaks are taken within shifts to mitigate fatigue.
Two other fatigue-related incidents in August prompted regulator intervention, with the NSW Resources Regulator expressing concern at the time over the rise in events.
“Shift work and the nature of the mining industry require workers to have irregular and long hours in a high-risk working environment with many operations exceeding 12-hour shift lengths,” the Regulator report said.
“When a person is fatigued, they are in a state of impairment that can impact physical and or mental capacity including reduced alertness and performance.
“Identifying controls to manage the complexity and variability of fatigue is a challenge and the regulator is aware that depending on the operation, different systems of work are required.”
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