Citation

Starren A, Besten H, Kampen J, Dijkman A. Proc. Road Saf. Four Continents Conf. 2010; 15: 1044-1055.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Conference Sponsor)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In transport the need for an effective fatigue management system has grown to give answer to the growing economic pressure and flexible working circumstances in the sector. Fatigue or sleepiness due to stress, health problems or harsh working schedules has lead to traffic accidents in the past. Recent research has shown that approximately 10 - 25 % of all accidents in transport companies have been related tot fatigue. Also fatigue can affect the health and wellbeing of drivers. Fatigue management systems can be seen as a set of measures, incorporated in the processes of the company, to prevent the existence of fatigue. A good fatigue management system identifies what exactly the fatigue risks in a company are, and what can the organization do to manage the risk of fatigue. This is preferably done by way of integrating fatigue management into the company's safety management systems and general policies and procedures. Actually, an important aspect of preventing fatigue is that fatigue should be seen as just one of the risks (financial, safety, business continuity) in an organization.In this research we have carried out 6 approachable fatigue management practices in road transport companies in the Netherlands. These practices were build upon the theoretical viewpoints of what a good fatigue management system should look like, for example: the need to look at the chain of events further away, a shared responsibility of management, schedulers and drivers together, assessment of early warning signals and integration within the organization's policy (safety management). But also, the practices had to be workable and useful in a variety of companies. The practices as well as some basic themes have been described and are compiled in a toolkit. This toolkit will be made available to all transport companies in the Netherlands via the internet.