ENVIRONMENT IN FOCUS
Training employees on personal lifestyle
issues can also reduce fatigue, which can
be increased by:
• Having less than seven to eight
hours’ sleep
• Chronic illnesses such as diabetes
and TB
• Wrong diets, such as foods high in
Tryptophan
• Stress or depression
• Sleep apnoea (a potentially serious
sleep disorder in which breathing
repeatedly stops and starts. It can
manifest in loud snoring or feeling
tired even after a full night’s sleep).
Potter uses the industry formula:
Ft = Fss + Few + Fpf
• Ft = Total Fatigue
• Fss = Shift system
W
ith so much focus on
technology, it is easy
to forget the needs of
workers. Effective fatigue
management among employees could make
a big difference between efficiency and
stagnation, says Predictive Safety South
Africa’s director of Fatigue Education, Dr
Doug Potter. He has observed trends in
fatigue management for the past nine years.
For quarries struggling to improve
efficiency, but without the budget to
implement a full risk-management fatigue
strategy, Potter says they should consider
the following steps: fatigue risk assessments,
fatigue education and shift roster analysis.
“It is not commonly realised the extent
to which noise and vibration causes fatigue.
It’s the same effect that puts a crying baby
to sleep when you drive a car. Vibration and
harmonics studies on fatigue will let you
know when your company vehicle may tire
you.” He advises employers that 21°C is the
ideal working temperature (not always easy
for employees working outside in South
Africa). But when driving a vehicle, setting
the temperature in your office will keep
you more alert. Ergonomics is the process
of designing or arranging workplaces,
products and systems so that they fit the
people who use them, says Potter and poor
ergonomics cause poor performance.
He gives an example, “Your body is like a
hose. Every bend in that hose creates a kink.
When you go from working in an upright
position to being hunched over at, say, a 45°
angle, it uses twice as much energy.”
Dr Doug Potter, Predictive Safety South Africa’s director of Fatigue Education, has observed trends
in fatigue management for the past nine years.
Fatigue on quarries
“In quarrying, as we see increased need
for more aggregate in construction and
road building. This raises the pressure on
quarries to produce more product, work
more hours and this in turn creates more
fatigue,” he says. This could leave a quarry
manager wondering why, having invested
millions of rands in new operational
equipment to increase productivity, there
might be little or no significant change
in profitability. Little may he know that
effective risk-based fatigue monitoring of
employees could be that missing element.
There are a number of other important
factors to be looked at when developing a
risk-based fatigue monitoring policy.
“Companies must develop shift
schedules which directly address the
issue of fatigue, by making sure shift
workers are adequately rested in between
shifts.” Quarries can go from quiet to
busy almost overnight when a new local
project commences, and in this instance,
he recommends management develop an
overtime schedule with a fatigue specialist
to minimise accidents.
Potter also advocates healthy eating,
exercise and rest for workers in the
opencast mining industry. Education is
the central facet of fatigue management,
giving employees the knowledge to make
the necessary changes to improve their
sleep, change their diet and increase their
energy levels. This extends from educating
employees on the effects of Tryptophan,
which causes sleep, to simple tips such as
not having coffee before going to sleep,
packing a lunch for the day which will not
spoil and learning to suppress one’s sugar
craving.
“Sugar consumption can be the cause of
headaches. High level of fatigue could be
also a result of poor diet. Hence, the need
for a dietary plan for employees to ensure
that they get the right nutrients is highly
recommended,” he says.
“Anyone who is aware they suffer
from depression or anxiety should seek
professional help, rather than just battle
on. The bottom line is the human body can
recharge itself with enough breaks, rest and
nutrition but the timing of each of these
must be carefully designed,” says Potter.
“Companies must develop shift schedules which directly
address the issue of fatigue, by making sure shift
workers are adequately rested in between shifts.”
• Few = Ergonomics and work
• Fpf = Personal factors
www.quarryonline.co.za
QUARRY SA | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018_37