Employee fatigue can cost energy companies millions

A new survey commissioned by Kronos Incorporated has revealed that employee fatigue causes energy organisations to lose an average of US$ 87 000 – 2.4 million a year, depending on company size. The survey also uncovers that working a 20 hour day or working 14 days in a row without a day off is more likely to cause fatigue than working mostly night shifts.

Report highlights

• The top influences of employee fatigue as found by the survey are as follows; 1. The number of hours worked per day 2. Number of consecutive days worked without more than 24 hours off 3. Total hours worked in a week 4. Working mostly nights.
• Survey respondents rank productivity losses, quality issues, and minor accidents as the top three impacts of employee fatigue on companies.
• Fatigue causes 10% of lost productivity and 12% of quality issues in the energy sector.
• Respondents who believe that their companies have effective internal fatigue guidelines, also believe that fatigue causes fewer production problems.
• Nearly 50% of the survey respondents consider the design of schedules to be a key element in a fatigue management effort.

Comments

Charlie DeWitt, VP of business development, Kronos said, ‘finding and producing energy is a 24/7 business, naturally leading to high employee fatigue levels and this survey confirms that the industry recognises the causes and impacts of fatigue.’

Survey basics

For the report information, frontline mangers, directors and C level executives across the energy industry comprising oil, gas, oil services and power sectors were surveyed. The survey represents view from companies with a total of approximately 350 000 employees.

Adapted from press release by Claira Lloyd

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/exploration/09042014/fatigue_in_the_energy_industry/