Keeping employees safe from these dangers

Longer hours lead to both physical and mental fatigue and errors. Through some basic steps, employers can greatly reduce the impact of fatigue. OSHA offers prevention tips for employers to help employees avoid fatigue and the dangers associated with working long hours. These include:

Allow for frequent breaks. Ensure employee schedules are designed to allow them breaks to rest, and whenever possible, arrange schedules so workers can get the nighttime sleep they need to stay refreshed and healthy.
Address staffing issues. Issues like workload, being understaffed, unscheduled and scheduled worker absences, etc., can play a role in worker fatigue.
Help increase alertness. Make necessary changes like improving lighting and adjusting temperatures to help improve employee alertness.
Provide ongoing education. Training on the hazards, symptoms, and impact worker fatigue has on health can increase employee awareness of the issue. Also, provide training on the importance of quality sleep and the role exercise, diet and stress can have on the quality of life, and offer management techniques to help reduce the impact of fatigue.
Implement a Fatigue Risk Management Plan. A Fatigue Risk Management Plan can help manage worker fatigue. Several federal agencies and national organizations have adopted these programs into their existing risk management programs. Employers can check federal and state guidelines to help create a customized plan for their organization.

The current labor shortage is heightening the dangers of working longer hours. Often the employees who are being asked to work the longer hours now lack the requisite skills and training that they might be able to fall back on in their fatigued state, and this can lead to very dangerous situations.

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The dangers of working long hours

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