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Our company, Predictive Safety SRP, works with many different industries, and safety experts in our company are always finding situations in work environments that might create safety concerns.  We also find hidden issues when we talk to employees, identifying problems that even the most caring managers would never have considered.

About 3 years ago I flew to a city to attend a tradeshow and to stay with my adult son who lived there. But when I got to his apartment, he didn’t answer the door. I finally walked around the building and looked in a window and saw him slumped over on the couch, unconscious. I called 911. An hour later at the hospital emergency room, the doctor on call told me that my son had suffered an anoxic brain injury and they didn’t expect him to live.

The close call at SFO last month when a plane came within 5 feet of landing on top of other airplanes illustrates the critical element of fatigue in the workplace. If the pilot, in his fatigued state, had not pulled up at the last minute, he could have killed over 1,000 people in the worst disaster in aviation history.

We spoke recently with our resident fatigue doctor, Dr. Doug Potter, who is one of the few people in his industry who balances both medicine and leadership skills.  He works in environments that are risky and remote, helping management make smart choices for the health of their workers, and helping employees understand why one week they might feel energetic, yet the next week they can’t keep their eyes open.  

It’s all a matter of timing, and management can use these simple tips about shift worker fatigue to keep it all straight.

Recently I visited one of our customer companies and began talking with a long-time employee. She was telling me about the random drug testing that they used to do, and how the mood of the building always turned flat when the “UA lady” showed up.