Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes
Resource Type: Articles
Topic: Facility, Program and Transportation Safety, HR Risk and Employment Practices
Our ambitious 24/7 lifestyles, filled with unbalanced diets, low physical activity, excessive electronic media use, and psychosocial stress, are causing a precipitous decline in our sleep. But the safety implications of sleep deprivation have been known for decades. Precipitating causes of the Three Mile Island nuclear incident (1979), the Exxon Valdez oil spill (1989) and the Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy (1986) include sleep loss and sleep-related disorders.
According to a Rand Corporation study, the steep price tag of economic losses in the U.S. stemming from workers who receive inadequate sleep are a whopping $411 billion a year. The Rand study and similar research published in SLEEP, the official publication of the Sleep Research Society, describe direct health costs associated with sleep loss that include sleep disorders, productivity loss, and premature death. Additionally, organizations may face rising costs from increased absenteeism, pre-absenteeism (where employees are at work but working at sub-optimal levels), nonmedical accident costs and reduced well-being.
Unfortunately, nonprofit employees prioritize cramming as many items as possible into the day without thinking about the potential repercussions sleep deprivation may have on their productivity and health. Nonprofit leaders should consider the broader risks that arise when employees attempt to ‘burn the candle at both ends.’ The costly consequences of lack of sleep not only effect the people on which a mission depends, but also threaten the health and well-being of the organization. Nonprofit leaders are in position to change the culture of their organizations from one that rewards sleep-deprived individuals to one that embraces fatigue risk management.
Fatigue risk management aims to enable and empower employees to perform at adequate levels of alertness. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) provides a helpful definition of fatigue: “a physiological state of reduced mental or physical performance capability resulting from sleep loss, extended wakefulness, circadian phase, and/or workload (mental and/or physical activity) that can impair a person’s alertness and ability to adequately perform safety-related operational duties.”
The Nonprofit Risk Management Center views fatigue risk management as an evolving strategy for cultivating employee wellness to optimize performance as well as individual and organizational well-being. The ultimate goal is to create awareness about the benefits of sleep and downside risks of sleep deprivation. A secondary goal is to ensure that the organization’s policies and values are in sync and also support the healthy workplace and healthy workers your mission requires and deserves.
Fatigue is a complicated issue that can be managed and reduced but is hard to completely eradicate. Here are some tips for instilling the principles and protocols of fatigue risk management in your nonprofit workplace.
To build momentum around a new fatigue risk management strategy, it is important to take action after soliciting and receiving employee input. Below we present ideas for building a fatigue risk management program and sustaining the interest and participation of your team. These building blocks were inspired by resources on managing fatigue risk from the National Safety Council:
Research on the costly consequences of fatigue in the workplace should inspire the resolve to fight fatigue. Nonprofit missions require creative, alert, well-rested team members. Nonprofit leaders who encourage breaks and ample rest can expect to reap the rewards of sound sleeping teams.
Katharine Nesslage is a Project Manager at the Nonprofit Risk Management Center. As an experienced meeting planner, Katharine is no stranger to sleep deprivation! She welcomes your questions about managing fatigue risks in the workplace at Katharine@nonprofitrisk.org or 703.777.3504.
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