Welcome to Focus on Fatigue, InterDynamic’s Fatigue Risk Management Newsletter
Issue #21 – December 2012
Views expressed in articles and links provided are those of the individual authors, and do not necessarily represent the views of InterDynamics (except where directly attributed).
Dear Reader,
Season’s greetings from InterDynamics!
With only a few days to go until the holidays, most of us are busy trying to tidy up things at work before some time off, fitting in the last minute shopping, attending parties and preparing for potentially the long drives to visit relatives for the festive season. Busy, busy, busy!!!
John Hartley (NSW Traffic and Highway Patrol Commander, Assistant Commissioner) has some sobering figures and a timely reminder for us in this edition’s ‘In the News’ section about not forgetting the risks of fatigue whilst driving over this particularly busy season.
When sitting and marvelling at the beauty of the lights on your Christmas tree this year spare a thought for those in space in the U.S. section of the International Space Station, who have to wait a few more years for changing red, white and blue LED lights to help them through their day. Yes, insomnia affects astronauts too due to demanding schedules, stress, and circadian rhythm disruptions from shift work in non–natural lighting situations. The use of programmable LED lights to change between bluish, whitish and reddish light at various times throughout the day is planned to assist with the sending of signals to the brain consistent with our usual light and circadian cycles.
Blue light, found in computers, energy-saving light bulbs, and smartphone screens program our brains to be awake, thus these things are unhelpful to be around at night if we are trying to wind down and get to sleep. Tips like this and others are included in “A refresher course on getting a good nights sleep”, as well as (in keeping with the astronaut theme) a handy “Countdown to sleep” routine.
As the other big countdown to midnight on December 31 approaches, and the resultant morning-after headaches along with it, you might be interested to read about the recent research that shows that 10 hours of sleep is more effective than codeine at reducing pain. Truly amazing!
When the parties are over and it’s time to return to the job of protecting against the risks presented by fatigue in the workplace, make sure to check out our feature article “What makes an effective FRMS”. The process of creating an effective and meaningful Fatigue Risk Management System is broken down into four key areas of influence, to help you on your way with as little fuss and confusion as possible.
We hope that you find this edition of Focus on Fatigue interesting, insightful and useful in the effective management of fatigue within a risk-based approach, and all of us here at InterDynamics wish you a wonderful festive season and a happy new-year!
Work safely.
Peter Mushenko
InterDynamics
Feature Articles
What makes an effective FRMS?
In simple terms, an effective Fatigue Risk Management System (FRMS) is one that is able to avoid an intolerable event by detecting a fatigue-related error prior to it translating into an incident or accident.
A model FRMS can be summarised into 4 key areas of influence as part of addressing fatigue-related risks.
- Promoting and fostering a safety culture that recognises fatigue as a safety concern.
- Implementing protective measures to avoid unacceptable fatigue-triggered events.
- Ensuring the fatigue exposure of working hours are not at an unacceptable level.
- Proactively investigating fatigue as a possible contributing factor to incidents and accidents.
InterDynamics News
FAID® v2.1.1
A new version of FAID (v2.1.1) is available providing minor bug fixes and an enhanced functionality to the Exposure Log to more fully record control measures implemented.
All users current in their Annual Licence Access and Support fees should have received an email notification to download the latest version from InterDynamics’ file sharing site ‘idBase’ at no extra cost.
If you did not receive this email or would like to upgrade to the latest version please contact us.
The latest FAID User Guide can be found online. To review the latest release notes with the enhanced functionality of version 2.1 click here.
Upcoming free FAID® Webinar series
Over the coming months InterDynamics will be offering webinar (short for Web-based seminar) sessions for those interested in joining FAID users across the world in an interactive session with Robert Farrell – InterDynamics Application Developer to answer questions about the use of FAID, the internationally recognised bio-mathematical model used to estimate work-related fatigue based on hours of work.
Sessions will be free of charge, utilising screen-sharing technology with audio via a teleconference phone number and/or inbuilt voip.
If you would like to join us for this, or future webinars simply add Training webinars to your newsletter subscription profile. You will then be notified as webinars come up and be able to register and participate.
2012 Christmas gift
As a valued supporter of InterDynamics, you know that we often produce the best results by working in partnership and combining traditional methods with an innovative approach. Well, we’re doing it again.
Traditionally this time of year is a time of gifts and cards. For the past few years however InterDynamics has donated the amounts allocated for gifts and cards to TEAR Australia.
This year’s donation has been made to support two Community School projects in Laos. Full details of the project can be found at http://www.usefulgifts.org/cart/add/community-school and then “How your gift helps”.
Your understanding and support of this initiative is appreciated. In this way, our donation becomes a gift from you as well.
Thank you for your ongoing support and we look forward to sharing a successful 2013 with you.
In the News
Astronauts see the light in tackling insomnia
NASA plans a new weapon in the fight against space insomnia: high-tech light-emitting diodes to replace the fluorescent bulbs in the U.S. section of the International Space Station.
About half of everyone who flies to space relies on sleep medication, at some point, to get some rest. In an effort to address the problem, NASA plans to replace the orbiting laboratory’s fluorescent bulbs with an array of LEDs switching between blueish, whitish and reddish light, according to the time of day.
Groups on Earth will benefit from the research, too, especially shift workers or travellers fighting jet lag, Johnston said.
Extra sleep can be more effective than painkillers
Sleeping for two hours extra a night can reduce sensitivity to pain and can be more effective than strong painkillers, according to a new study. Scientists say ten hours of sleep a night – rather than the recommended eight – is more effective in reducing pain than codeine.
Study: Treating sleep disorder may thwart heart disease
People with obstructive sleep apnea have the same early cardiovascular damage as people with diabetes, a small new study finds.
Obstructive sleep apnea (sic)— a common disorder marked by disrupted breathing during sleep — increases the risk of high blood pressure, heart rhythm disorders, heart attack, stroke, sudden cardiac death and heart failure.
Fatigue and mobile phones blamed for most of road toll
As the year’s busiest time on the roads approaches, statistics from the (Australian) government’s Centre for Road Safety show the road toll is 350, compared with 328 at the same time last year.
Investigators believed fatigue may have contributed to a crash that killed a seven-year-old boy at Bungonia, near Goulburn, on Sunday.
Mr Hartley said driver fatigue was ”the hardest nut to crack” because there was no test for it and people do not realise its danger. ”Some people don’t get it into their heads that we’re not trying to prevent their lifestyle, we’re trying to save their lives.”
Alliance Partner News
Working Globally
InterDynamics’ alliance partners are based in Australia, Europe, New Zealand and North America. Between us we aim to service the FRMS needs of every organisation that is exposed to fatigue risks around the world. No matter where you are, we would like to hear from you. We want to add value and increased safety to your business.
Integrated Safety Support
Integrated Safety Support invites you to sign up for a free demonstration of our Fatigue Awareness and Management eLearning course which is the most up-to-date online course available.
The eLearning course has been developed specifically for employees, supervisors, rostering personnel, managers and contractors. The aim of the course is to improve awareness about fatigue related risks and provide practical information about how to improve personal fatigue management.
Highly informative and easy to understand, this eLearning course offers participants who have successfully completed the course an option to print a Certificate of Completion.
Click here for a free demonstration.
We are happy to offer volume pricing to organisations wishing to implement the course in their workplace, making this course an affordable and valuable investment in managing fatigue.
For further information please contact Adam at the Melbourne office on 1300 98 57 58 or via email at training@integratedsafety.com.au .
Shiftwork Services
Based in New Zealand, Shiftwork Services provides a specialised advisory/training service to organisations whose employees work shifts or extended hours. Services include specialist workshops, fatigue risk management, wellness programmes, training materials, roster design. Call us to discuss your safety and performance issues.
Please browse our website here.
About the Custodian of the Brand
InterDynamics have been in the planning, scheduling and risk business since 1992 and have been privileged to work with leading operational practitioners, scientists and risk engineers to develop and deliver world class fatigue risk programs and products. InterDynamics’ FRMS Solutions are offered as a global benchmark for risk-based integrated fatigue management.