Powell, R and Copping, A (2010) Construction worker sleep deprivation and its effects on personal safety. In: Egbu, C (ed.) Proceedings of 26th Annual ARCOM Conference, 6-8 September 2010, Leeds, UK.
Abstract
Sleep deprivation contributes to fatigue which can have a profound effect on an individual’s wellbeing, work performance and safety. To investigate this phenomenon, an initial study was conducted on a sample of construction workers on a large construction project in Vancouver, Canada. This paper reports on the results from the workers wearing an actigraph 24-hours per day for a full week to precisely measure their sleep and rest. The results enabled sleep efficiency and mental effectiveness levels to be determined by correlating them to Blood Alcohol Concentration levels. The study concluded that there was some degree of fatigue-impairment with a resulting decrement in performance of the workers studied which increased the risk of accidents and lost productivity. A further fatigue awareness survey amongst construction professionals revealed that fatigue impairment is viewed as a problem, and that fatigue-impaired workers, who were impaired to the same extent as workers on illicit drugs or alcohol, somehow performed better and were less of a concern in the workplace. The paper concludes that there is currently a miss-match between the perceived threat from sleep deprivation and its potential resulting consequences and that further research is needed into how fatigue-factors should be measured and managed on construction projects.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | sleep deprivation; fatigue; operatives; accident; productivity |
| Index terms: | deprivation, construction worker, alcohol, operative, work performance, construction professional, well-being, construction project, impairment, effectiveness, fatigue, productivity, survey, Canada, efficiency, large construction project |
| Subjects: | performance management, management, professional development, organizational theory, Geography, production management, social justice, health conditions and diseases, mental health and wellbeing, data collection methods, practitioner, operations management, psychology |
| Topics: | Quality Management, Ethics, Roles and Professions, Business Strategy, Health and Safety, Research Practice, Geographical Context, Project Management, Information Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here