Fatigue
By tackling fatigue, we can improve the health and wellbeing of the workforce as well as everyone’s safety.
Fatigue continues to be a key safety consideration. It increases the likelihood of other incidents and is often listed as a causal factor in major accidents. The investigation into the fatal collision at Clapham in 1988 found that fatigue played a key role in the causal chain.
The rail industry fatigue survey shows that around 2 in 5 respondents had experienced a safety event influenced by fatigue or alertness while at their current company (see Figure 4). This is an increase on the 1 in 6 rate reported in the 2018 survey. However, data from Safe Insights shows that less than 0.1% of events identify fatigue as a causal factor, which indicates potential under-identification and under-reporting of fatigue as a casual factor.
The rail industry fatigue survey also shows that 47% of respondents had to make an effort to stay awake at work at least once a week. This is higher than the 34% who responded this way in 2018. The results also indicate that 72% of respondents had driven while fatigued in the last 12 months. These results indicate that fatigue is widespread in the rail industry.
With this statistical picture in mind, the ORR has refreshed its ‘Managing Rail Staff Fatigue’ guidance. It uses the ‘Plan, Do, Check, Act’ framework, and its format should help rail companies apply these principles to their individual safety management systems more easily.
