Getting good sleep matters

THE IMPORTANCE OF LOGGERS AND LOG truck drivers getting a good night’s sleep has been highlighted by research carried out in Australia and the lessons apply to New Zealand, too.

The University of Tasmania’s Dr Luke Mirowski took attendees at last month’s Woodflow 2018 conference through some of his findings and the tools used to assist with fatigue management in forestry jobs. Operators arriving at work with high levels of fatigue due to lack of sleep are a major issue.

He says that managing fatigue is now a requirement under new health & safety rules, but it’s more than that, because a fatigued operator can cost a business hundreds of thousands of dollars in Lost Time Injuries (LTIs) and fines when things go wrong.

Managing fatigue properly can also assist the productivity of a business. Research shows that a worker’s productivity tails off in late morning after four hours of solid work, then rises after smoko but tails off again later in the day.

For instance, the research highlighted that it was taking an operator 40-to-80 seconds longer to process a stem at the end of a day, compared to the start. Add that up over a number of shifts and the losses can be significant.

Dr Mirowski showed how transport and harvesting operators in Australia are managing risk by ensuring workers are sleeping well and monitoring their performance to identify those who aren’t, as well as ensuring workers take breaks when feeling fatigued. They are also creating improved shifts and schedules, including swapping people around on jobs to keep them fresh.

Tools to help monitor fatigue include workers wearing Fitbit wristbands, using GPS positioning data, machinery operation data etc.

NZL