How do you know if your employees are getting enough sleep? While employers cannot be responsible for how workers choose to live their private lives, there is a clear relationship between sleep deprivation and workplace accidents. So next time you spot a colleague nodding off at their desk or popping down to the sick room (if you have one) for a snooze, this should be ringing alarm bells.
The recent broadcast media campaign for the ‘fatigue detection system’ in new car models from a certain German manufacturer has done much to remind people of the dangers of driving on insufficient sleep. Whether the campaign results in increased sales for the car company remains to be seen, but it does follow a raft of recent health warnings about ‘burning the candle at both ends’[1]
Sleep deprivation-related accidents
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) makes the point that fatigue can lead to errors and accidents, ill-health and injury, and reduced productivity. It is often a root cause of major accidents and cites the Herald of Free Enterprise, Chernobyl, Texas City, Clapham Junction, Challenger and Exxon Valdez tragedies as examples. Fatigue has also been implicated in 20% of accidents on major roads and is said to cost the UK £115 - £240 million per year in terms of work accidents alone.[2]
While its guidance is aimed more at employers of shift workers, employers with standard working time arrangements are still exposed to some risks if employees persistently turn up for work tired and unable to concentrate on the job in hand.
Work-related?
Employers operating shift working patterns are subject to specific regulation and this is helpfully explained in the HSE’s ‘Managing shift work: health and safety guidance’. Thanks changes in consumer habits such as all night shopping, around 14% of the working population (3.6 million people) now doing shift work ‘most of the time', according to an ONS Labour Force survey (2005).
Even if an employee is willing to work non-standard hours, the employer still has a duty manage ‘fatigue risks’ under health and safety law. The guidance defines fatigue as ‘the issues that arise from excessive working time or poorly designed shift patterns. Fatigue is a perceived state of ‘weariness’ caused by prolonged or intensive exertion. Fatigue results in slower reactions, memory lapses, absentminded slips, ‘losing the picture’, lack of attention etc.’[3]
However, there are many organisations that do not have shift working patterns that still have a long-hours culture – with some late working into the evening become standard. As the HSE points out in a separate piece of guidance: ‘Culture can be best understood as "the way we do things around here". Culture forms the context within which people judge the appropriateness of their behaviour. An organisation's culture will influence human behaviour and human performance at work. Poor safety culture has contributed to many major incidents and personal injuries’[4]
In other words excessive pressure on ostensibly willing employee to work well over and above reasonable working hours can also create a safety risk – as well as exposing the organisation to the effects bad judgement.[5]
Personal causes
Even if an organisation does not operate shift patterns or a ‘long hours culture’ that does not mean it will not have its share of sleep-deprived employees. The human factors of, for example, small children that keep parents away night after night, a snoring partner or just bad habits about going to bed at a sensible time are out of the control of an employer.
It should also be remembered that chronic insomnia can be regarded as a disability for the purposes of the Disability Discrimination Act, and an employer may need to make reasonable adjustments for an individual diagnosed with such a condition. This might mean flexibility on working hours or, organising somewhere for that employee to have a nap during the day.
The vast majority of sleep-deprived employees have it in their power to adjust their lifestyles to improve the situation and an employer needs to watch out for warning signs. As insomniacs.co.uk points out: “An awareness of the need for sufficient rest and how it affects performance should be encouraged. Many people will not be aware that they or their colleagues are not getting enough sleep. Sleep is not a luxury and everyone needs to be aware of their own requirements which differ not only between individuals but at different stages of life.”
It is worth reading the all of the tips it has for employers ‘How you can help your employees with sleep problems’.[6]
And although American, Vicki Bell’s article ‘How sleep deprivation affects work performance’ has some telling statistics in it as well as some useful tips for the sleep deprived.[7]
The most important thing is to identify the problem and engage the employee in finding a solution. If ignored, the results could be catastrophic, as the accident statistics have demonstrated all too powerfully.
[1] ‘Why late to bed, early to rise, is a recipe for a heart attack’ Daily Mail, 9 February 2011
[2] www.hse.gov.uk/humanfactors/topics/fatigue.htm
[3] www.hse.gov.uk/humanfactors/topics/specific2.pdf
[4] www.hse.gov.uk/humanfactors/topics/culture.htm
[5] See the story ‘Are your employees heading for a stroke?’ where one former law firm partner confirmed he had been working through the night on urgent deals shortly before his stroke.
[6] www.insomniacs.co.uk/how-you-can-help-your-employees-with-sleep-problems.html
[7] www.thefabricator.com/article/safety/how-sleep-deprivation-affects-work-performance