Fatigue, at its very core, is one of the causes of impairment which leads to a lapse (or lack) of judgment causing potentially fatal incidents at the workplace. Typically driven by continuous, repeated jobs, fatigue is an issue that is widespread across the industrial sector where manual shift work is commonplace. In tackling this issue, technology advancements have allowed us to address the cause (i.e., lack of rest); as well as symptoms (i.e., reduced awareness, blink rates, slowed reactions). In this section, we’ve chosen our top three picks in the market today that address fatigue.
Predictive Safety - Identifying “red-flags” using predictive analytics, while prescribing corrective actions
Predictive Safety is a US-based company, offers an analytics platform backed by experts in fatigue science. Its Fatigue Management System PRISM instantly pulls the employee's past work schedule as s/he checks in, assesses job risk profile, and uses other selected metrics to build a comprehensive fatigue and alertness profile. If warranted, the system will run a 60-second impairment test to confirm its findings. When PRISM predicts that an employee's fatigue level will reach hazardous levels during their upcoming shift, it automatically notifies them and offers countermeasures to keep them alert. If no action is taken, notification escalates up to the supervisory level.
Vigo – Detectings “point of failure” fatigue symptoms related to eye and head motion
Designed with fleet drivers in mind, Vigo combines a head mounted device with an advanced algorithm to tracks patterns in drivers’ blinks and head motion to see if they're getting drowsy. When a driver starts to fall asleep, Vigo can stimulate the user with pulsing vibrations, discrete flashing lights, a favorite pump-up song, or calls to a loved one. This “point of failure” approach is especially useful in preventing incidents caused by fatigued drivers, since the split second intervention right before the incident can be all that counts in avoiding it.
Fatigue Science – Leveraging data captured via a smartband and analytics platform to predict fatigue
Fatigue Science developed a solution combining its wearable (ReadiBand TM ) and Fatigue Model (SAFTE TM ) for a comprehensive fatigue management system. The ReadiBand captures high-resolution sleep data, validated against the clinical gold standard of polysomnography – a test used to diagnose sleep
disorders by recording brain waves, blood oxygen levels, heart rate, and breathing – with 92% accuracy. The SAFTE Fatigue Model (Sleep, Activity, Fatigue, and Task Effectiveness) is a leading biomathematical fatigue model. Developed by the US Army Research Lab and validated by the US Department of Transportation, it analyzes sleep data in order to accurately predict fatigue.
While these are just three examples of evidence-based fatigue management solutions on the market, there are myriad options that cater to the nuances of fatigue management and incident prevention.
If you have any questions on how to identify the best solution for you, contact us at EMAIL.
