3.4 – Fatigue Management
Griffin Properties wants all employees to come to work on a daily basis and to be refreshed and ready to participate in the days activities without any form of sleep impairment. Workers who are not getting the appropriate amount of sleep due to after work activities can be a potential hazard to themselves or the people they work with. The following recommendations are to help you manage your day without feeling fatigued.
- Workers are not to work past their regularly scheduled shift and are not to exceed 16 hours in a work day
- If workers are on a long-term project working 7 days a week they shall be entitled to a turn-a-round break as per contract or Owner/client schedule
- If you are extremely tired and not able to do your job safely please stay home to catch up on your sleep and inform your supervisor of your intentions. If you miss more than one day of work WITHOUT NOTIFICATION your employment is subject to termination. If you miss more than one day of work WITH NOTIFICATION you are subject to termination if a proper reason cannot be stated
Fatigue is something that every one of us deals with at one time or another. Our body is a good indicator when enough is finally enough and sleep deprivation finally starts to take its toll.
Fatigue can cause your body to feel a variety of things: sluggishness; intoxicated; irritable; loss of mental control or depression and weakness.
Work schedules and our day to day life can cause a person to feel the effects of fatigue. With proper management you can help reduce the effects of feeling tired all the time and putting yourself at risk for serious incident or injury on or off the jobsite by following some easy steps:
- If you are at work, report to your Supervisor and let them know that you are fatigued and have them put you on a less stressful job or allow you to take a break
- A good 20 minute power-nap during your day can refresh you enough to resume normal activities
- Take a break and go for a brisk walk to get your cardio up
- Have a snack! Eat light and do not rely on caffeine. Caffeine can take up to a half an hour to give you a boost and lasts only a short time.
- Do a more interesting task to wake your mind up
- Turn on the air conditioner or layer down to allow your body to feel the cold
- Limit your alcohol intake after work. For every drink that you have it takes one hour for the alcohol to leave your system. 6 drinks = 6 hours to put your blood alcohol back to .00
- Try and get a good night sleep of 7.5-8 hours a day
- Do not stay up for a long period of time when you know you have to work or have a planned activity scheduled for the next day
- If none of the above is working for you then you need to go get a good night’s sleep