Worker Fatigue: What NIOSH's Center for Work and Fatigue Research Is Doing About It

Fatigue — "a feeling of weariness, tiredness or lack of energy" — is a real health and safety risk at work. It's commonly tied to nonstandard schedules that cut short or disrupt sleep, such as night shifts and long hours:

• nearly 30% of the U.S. workforce works outside a regular daytime shift;
• one in four workers reports working more than 40 hours a week.

Other workplace factors can cause fatigue too; see NIOSH's fatigue topic page.

The center

The Center for Work and Fatigue Research (CWFR) at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) launched in May 2020. It works with other government agencies, industry, labor, safety professionals and researchers to:

• raise awareness of the many sources of worker fatigue;
• find effective ways to assess fatigue risk at work;
• reduce the health and safety risks it brings.

What it has done

• hosted a mini symposium on work fatigue for the NIOSH Board of Scientific Counselors in May 2021 — on the history of fatigue research, COVID-19 and fatigue, fatigue risk management and global perspectives;
• published science blogs on shift work, fatigue and fatigue-detection technology;
• proposed an industrial hygiene approach to fatigue — anticipate, recognize, evaluate and control it;
• contributed articles to the American Journal of Industrial Medicine on what's known and unknown about fatigue in mining, oil and gas extraction, its economic costs, and populations at disproportionate risk;
• ran a systematic review of fatigue interventions in mining and similar industries, finding substantial evidence that bright-light treatment improves night-shift alertness;
• reviewed and validated data for a World Health Organization/International Labour Organization study of heart disease and stroke from long hours in 194 countries (2000–2016): working 55 or more hours a week carried a higher risk of stroke and of dying from ischemic heart disease than working 35–40;
• presented on fatigue-detection technology at forums including an Electric Power Research Institute webinar series, NIOSH's Data 2 Info workshop, the National Safety Council's Work to Zero meeting, OSHA's Oil and Gas Conference and the XXII World Congress on Safety and Health at Work;
• produced an infographic, How to Choose the Right Fatigue Detection Technology for Your Workplace, as part of a complete safety management system.

What's next

• a Cochrane Review on adjusting shift schedules to reduce sleepiness and improve sleep;
• videos with tips for managing fatigue in hard times;
• a scoping review of sleep education and training for nurses;
• with the U.S. Department of Transportation's Volpe Center, materials on fatigue risk with automated and assisted driving;
• a themed journal issue on emerging concerns and industry-specific solutions.

Contact: cwfr@cdc.gov.

Resources

• NIOSH/CDC: AJIM special issue from the NIOSH Working Hours, Sleep and Fatigue Forum (2022) · blogs on work schedules, sleep and fatigue · sleep and sleep disorders · heat stress work/rest schedules · Overtime and Extended Work Shifts (2004) · Plain Language About Shiftwork (1997)
• Other federal: FAA fatigue countermeasures training · FMCSA North American Fatigue Management Program · Railroaders' Guide to Healthy Sleep · NHTSA drowsy driving · NIH Your Guide to Healthy Sleep · OSHA long hours, irregular shifts and worker fatigue
• Partners: American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Fatigue Risk Management in the Workplace · National Safety Council, fatigue · International Agency for Research on Cancer, night shift work · International Labour Organization, standards on working time · American Academy of Sleep Medicine

Sources

Based on "Center for Work and Fatigue Research," National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; a work of the United States government in the public domain.