Tiredness is a hazard you have to manage — not just a personal problem
Fatigue is a state where someone can't function at their best mentally or physically — and it's a workplace hazard you must manage under the HSWA. It's caused mainly by lack of sleep, being awake too long, working against the body clock, and heavy workload. Manage it through hours, rostering, breaks and workload, not by telling people to “toughen up”.
Fatigue is a physiological state where a person is unable to function at their best, mentally and physically — and managing it is a business duty.
Because fatigue reduces alertness, slows reactions and impairs judgement, WorkSafe treats it as a form of impairment, alongside drugs and alcohol. Under the HSWA, a PCBU must manage the risk of fatigue so far as is reasonably practicable, and workers also have a duty to take reasonable care of their own health and safety. It is a shared responsibility — but the way work and hours are designed is firmly the business's to control.
Four main factors drive fatigue, and most fatigued workers are dealing with more than one.
| Cause | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| Not enough sleep | Poor quality or too little sleep, building up as a “sleep debt”. |
| Being awake too long | Long shifts and long days without adequate breaks or recovery. |
| The body clock | Working and sleeping at the wrong times of the circadian cycle — night and early-morning work especially. |
| Workload | Sustained high mental or physical demands without enough recovery. |
Shift work is a major source, and so are long commutes and staying away from home — the travel and disruption add to the load.
A fatigued worker is an impaired worker — slower to react, more likely to make mistakes, and more likely to be hurt.
Fatigue reduces alertness and concentration, which leads to errors and a higher incident rate — and the rate tends to rise as hours at work increase. It is especially dangerous for safety-critical work like driving and operating machinery, where a lapse can be serious. This is why fatigue belongs in your risk management, not in the “just push through” basket.
Effective fatigue management uses several controls together — rostering alone won't fix it.
Some sectors, such as commercial road transport, also have specific legal work-time and logbook rules that apply on top of the general HSWA duty.
If your people drive for work, fatigue is one of the most serious risks you manage.
A tired driver is impaired, and the consequences on the road can be fatal. Plan journeys with realistic times, build in breaks, avoid scheduling driving at the worst body-clock hours, and never let a worker drive home after a shift so long they are unsafe to do so. See our guide to driving for work and fleet safety for more.
Document your fatigue controls and keep them under review. Book a demo and we'll show you how it works — free 30-day trial included.
Yes. Fatigue is a workplace hazard that a PCBU must manage under the HSWA, so far as is reasonably practicable. WorkSafe treats fatigue as a form of impairment because it reduces alertness and increases the risk of errors and injuries.
Four main factors: not getting enough sleep, being awake for too long, working and sleeping against the body clock (especially night and early-morning work), and sustained heavy mental or physical workload. Most fatigued workers are dealing with more than one of these.
Use several controls together: limit excessive hours and overtime, design rosters that follow natural sleep rhythms with adequate breaks between shifts, manage shift swaps and on-call, build in breaks and recovery, lower work demands, and factor in travel. Train workers and make it safe to report fatigue.
For most work, there is no single legal cap on hours, but you must still manage the risk of fatigue under the HSWA. Some sectors, such as commercial road transport, do have specific work-time and logbook rules that apply on top of the general duty.
Used properly, yes — a short managed nap can temporarily reduce the effects of fatigue, including before driving home. It needs a clear policy, and it should not be used to justify extending shifts. It is one control among several, not a substitute for good rostering.
