Matthew S. Thimgan

Fatigue and accidents

This chapter provides examples of the danger of sleep deprived/fatigued workers in the industrial workplace. Examples of horrific accidents including the Bhopal Chemical Explosion, American Airlines 1420 crash, NASA’s Challenger Explosion, Exxon Valdez oil tanker grounding, and Three Mile Island nuclear power plant accident. This chapter demonstrates the need for fatigue risk management systems (FRMS) using various fatal accidents.

Fatigue-related regulations and guidelines

This chapter is an overview of regulations and guidelines related to human fatigue risk management. The agencies discussed include both internal and external to the chemical processing industry. Government agencies outside the United States are also discussed. The chapter provides a discussion of regulations that must be followed for the chemical industry and guidelines that should be followed in the industry. Regulations from other industries are also discussed to provide background and comparison.

Basics of sleep biology

This chapter is an educational chapter on the basics of sleep science. There are numerous recommendations and requirements that come with an FRMS, and this chapter provides information on the biology and the science that underlies these recommendations. Although the FRMS can address many of the common problems of sleep, it cannot be expected to address every unique situation and possibility. Therefore, an FRMS educational program should communicate our best understanding of the biological principles of sleep, circadian, and work performance. This way, both management and employees can integrate these principles in their everyday lives and practices to improve outcomes, and the consequences of sleep deprivation. An understanding of these principles will help an employee plan their day and incorporate adequate sleep time in their schedule. This chapter will also present why sleep is important and understand the consequences of sleep deprivation. Benefits of adhering to the principles of this chapter include better performance on the job and potentially lower health-care costs as workers will be healthier and there will be potentially fewer workers’ compensation claims.

Creating a fatigue risk management system (FRMS)

This chapter is a guide to creating a fatigue risk management systems. It is helpful for those wishing to comply with ANSI/API RP 755’s (Fatigue Risk Management Systems for Personnel in the Refining and Petrochemical Industries) recommendations related to sleep, work schedules, and safety in the chemical processing industry. The chapter outlines what should be included in a company policy and the related training that should be conducted.

The consequences of fatigue in the process industries

This chapter introduces the danger of sleep-deprived and fatigued workers in the industrial workplace. An example of horrific accidents including the Bhopal tragedy and the BP Texas City explosion is included. This chapter explores the motivation behind fatigue risk management systems, which are a data-driven approach to minimize the hazard of errors and poor decisions made by tired workers.

Sleep hygiene recommendations

For employees or critical personnel that fall under the fatigue risk management system, this chapter describes common environmental and behavioral factors that interfere with sleep and countermeasures that may remedy the source of the sleep disruption. Sleep hygiene refers to ways to clean up the sleep routine and the sleep environment to improve the ability to increase sleep duration and consolidation throughout the night as well as decrease sleep onset latency. These recommendations are particularly important for shift workers who might not be sleeping during the optimal time of day. If an employee is having difficulty sleeping, these recommendations will provide starting points and ideas to improve their ability to sleep.

Fatigue counter measures

Fatigue is an everyday fact of life for many of us, yet it can have major bearing on human performance and safety. There are steps the individual can take to counteract the effects of fatigue and to get better sleep.

Compounds that alter sleep and wakefulness

Between the foods and medications that we ingest, there are numerous compounds that could alter sleep and sleepiness. Many, such as coffee, are taken for the express purpose of increasing alertness. Other drugs are taken to purposefully induce sleepiness when people have trouble with different aspects of sleep. This chapter aims to educate people on how certain consumables may influence their sleep. With this information, people may effectively use remedies to relieve symptoms while maintaining a satisfactory sleep and wake schedule.

Circadian rhythms and sleep–circadian interactions

A human’s internal biology is timed to the 24 h light and dark cycles. This synchronizes processes, such as metabolic, digestive, and learning processes with the time of day that they might occur. This way, the internal molecular activities can be carried out efficiently. Many circumstances involving both work and social relationships may conflict with the body’s internal schedule. One example is that our cognitive performance is not stable over the day and the output of circadian rhythms governs this performance. In addition, the sleep pressure interacts with the circadian rhythms to determine the final performance level of the individual. Numerous health and psychological problems have been associated when a long-term mismatch between internal circadian rhythms and external daily activities occurs. In addition with shift work and travel across time zones, our internal biological clock can adapt to match the external inputs. Therefore, circadian rhythms are a critical part of life’s biology.