HEALTH & safety
Fatigue is inevitable. Incidents aren’ t.
Most Comprehensive Fatigue Risk Management System
Tired, distracted machine operators are a cause cannot be identi ed. Upon further leading cause of accidents in the earth-moving investigation, these same customers found the world. �e problem, rooted in human scheduling demands of miners ' 24 / 7 physiology, is insidious, cumulative and operations were playing havoc with the sleep complex. But the new fatigue and distraction patterns of a small, but signi cant percentage risk management solution from Caterpillar is of their employees – including some of their showing customers ways to mitigate the most talented heavy equipment operators. hazard – and proving that the company ' s Many of those affected were having difficulty commitment to innovation goes ' beyond the synchronizing their internal clocks with job iron.' schedules that required them to work during For years, some of our customers have been the night and to sleep during the day. So they puzzled over what they call“ unexplained weren ' t getting enough rest and were starting incidents”— accidents where there is no shi�s already fatigued. �e effects were apparent fault in the machine, and the root insidious and cumulative, so as the work week
Page20 | Jan- Feb 2016 | FMDZ dragged on, operators were increasingly inattentive and impaired. Some even dozed o in the driver ' s seat.“ �ese customers had tremendous risk that they didn ' t know how to address,” says David Edwards, Safety Technology Manager with Caterpillar Safety Services.“ �ey told us bluntly, ' We have operators falling asleep at the wheel in our big haul trucks.'” Traditional OEMs probably would have redirected the conversation towards selling more iron, but Caterpillars Safety Services instead responded to this challenge with a solution that combines technology and cultural development to help customers see, mitigate and manage fatigue on the job site. Because the underlying issue – the circadian rhythm – is hardwired into humans, the