Shift work fatigue is tiredness or impairment resulting from irregular, extended, or overnight work schedules.
A state of physical and cognitive impairment caused by disrupted circadian rhythms and insufficient recovery time, common among workers on rotating shifts, night shifts, or extended hours. It can impair reaction time, judgment, and attention, increasing the risk of errors and incidents.
A truck driver on a rotating night-shift schedule reports difficulty staying alert during early-morning drives, prompting the company to review its scheduling practices and mandatory rest periods.
Industries with round-the-clock operations — such as healthcare, transportation, manufacturing, and emergency services — commonly report higher rates of shift work fatigue among employees.
Common strategies include limiting consecutive night shifts, ensuring adequate rest periods between shifts, providing fatigue-recognition training, and, in regulated industries like trucking, enforcing hours-of-service limits.
Yes, many safety programs now formally recognize fatigue as a hazard, since it can impair judgment and reaction time similarly to other risk factors like substance impairment.
Part of SafetyIQ's EHS glossary: plain-English definitions of workplace health and safety terms.
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