Identifying and Dealing with Fatigue: Insights from the 21st European Health & Safety Seminar

1. YES FATIGUE AT FESTIVALSIDENTIFYING AND DEALING WITH FATIGUE 21ST EUROPEAN HEALTH & SAFETY SEMINAR Groningen, 14 januari 2016 WWW.VANDESANDEINLEZINGEN.NL

2. INTRODUCTION • HOW DO YOU FEEL NOW? • IF YOU’RE TIRED, YOU WILL AUTOMATICALLY LOOK FOR CAUSES • Such as:HOW MUCH DID I SLEEP TONIGHT? HOW MUCH DID I DRINK? • Or maybe: WHAT IN HELL DID I DO?? ETC.? • If your behavior yesterday made you tired, this will have consequences: • HOW WILL YOU PERFORM THE NEXT HOUR? • IT DEPENDS ON HOW YOU START • It could get better or it could get worse • AN IMPORTANT FACTOR IS INVOLVEMENT or FLOW • If I do poorly in your eyes, you will not be interested and fall asleep • If I can get you interested in what I say, it will wake you up THERE ARE MANY MORE THINGS THAT CAN WAKE YOU UP

3. SEEING THIS APPEAR AT YOUR TURNSTILE WILL WAKE YOU UP Boom ?? The name of this lovely lady will be revealed during the lecture. So, pay Attention!

4. A BIT OF BACKGROUND Our body is machine-like But a very special machine, a psychological machine, one with empathy and habits • It can turn full swing (spending energy)>AROUSAL • It can also run slowly (recovering energy)>SLEEP • In both states it can break down and stop, but for different reasons. Mostly, out of habit, it goes on and on and on • The machine reacts on two main factors • The internal state: tiredness, metabolism: BIOLOGY • The external situation: kicks, boredom: PSYCHOLOGY Spending too much energy for too long leads to STRESS

5. It is all about the brain

6. Brain in Top gear? Arousal • Arousal means: Being awake • Arousal comes in degrees: Both too much or too little are no good Causes of Arousal: Opportunities or hazards and danger give short term activation and raised alertness. Decision must be taken either to approach, or to avoid. Arousal is preparation for action Effects of arousal: Attention becomes narrowed down (Funneling), Feeling more assured, Insensitivity for pain and punishment, Stronger emotionality, Other sense of time (longer or shorter), Perseveration (“More of the same”) Arousal stops after reaching goal Hormones (Neurotransmitters) involved: (Nor)Adrenalin, Serotonin a.o.

7. Brain gone haywire? STRESS Causes of Stress • Stress is caused by longer periods of arousal without reaching a goal or an ending. No solution • Stress arises when people get the idea that they are losers and have no control Effects of Stress • Feeling Uncertain, Anxious, Afraid, Fatalism and Cynism, Doubting, Tendency to act on (wrong) impulses • Withdrawing from action, Flight in drink & drugs, Obsession, Physical complaints • Hormones involved: Adrenalin, Cortisol a.o.

8. Types of fatigue Types of fatigue according to cause and effect

9. What fatigue does to your personnel Two main types of fatigue: short term and long term Both have more or less the same characteristics: It makes them feel uneasy(sleepy, ill, depressive, nervous, irritable) It makes them hard to handle(uncooperative, resisting, weak) It makes them less efficient(slow, wrong decisions, less attentive) It makes them careless(emotional instead of rational, no planning) It makes them dumber (slow thinking, impaired memory, no humour) It makes them likely to make faults(accident rate goes up) It makes them turn to drugs like coffee and worse But short term passes with sleep, long term not

10. What fatigue does to festival visitors It makes them feel uneasy (sleepy, ill, depressive, nervous, irritable) It makes them hard to handle (uncooperative, resisting, weak) It makes them less efficient (slow, wrong decisions, less attentive) It makes them careless (emotional instead of rational, no planning) It makes them dumber (slow thinking, impaired memory, no humour) It makes them likely to make faults (accident rate goes up) It makes them turn to drugs like Red Bull and worse So if you pit these morons against your own highly trained personnel, it may just go well, But if your personnel too did not sleep nor stop for 14 hours it may just not work out well

11. What this lecture is about • Recognising Fatigue • Not so easy, you have to be an amateur psychologist • Just asking helps, but is no guarantee (Heavy eyes? Tired?) • You must look at the problem through the eyes of the other • An important symptom is loss of the play-urge (jokes, teasing, etc) • In science we do EEG or comparable measures. Not possible in the field • Doing something about fatigue • What to do depends on the reserve capacity (in the man and in your work force) • If this is still there, you can try to offer some form of variety (like changing places with another operator or giving a new assignment) • If the operator is at the end of his tether, he must sleep and you must then set in your reserves • If you ask too much, they will turn to drugs and sabotage • Drugs help, but make you very vulnerable in case of disaster • Not knowing laws and regulations about working times too!

12. BOREDOM Psychological Fatigue

13. Being bored • Getting bored is personal. E.g. Males sooner get bored than females. Being bored is infectuous & tiresome for everyone • In the old days people often worked for 14 or more hours • But in between spaces of work were spaces of fun • We got adapted to machines and thus invented that people could not work longer than 8 hours • This is only true if they are supposed just to work • Fun and Short Time Outs are absolutely necessary • Alcohol is a great helper for making social fun • So in the old days everyone drank before and during work • If people get bored, they translate that to fatigue • So: Make the workplace more fun!

14. INTERNAL CLOCK Psychological Fatigue

15. Man lives by his habits • It is natural to work when light and to sleep when dark • Moreover we get easily used to that and it becomes a habit • Since 100 years we can manipulate light and dark by electricity, but the principle remains: we have an internal clock • So for most people the rule is: 8 hours for work, 8 for yourself and 8 for sleep • If you change the time for sleep, the internal clock must be adapted. This can be done by preparation. Takes days! • Therefore rotating shift work is a problem and tiring • Also think of ‘Jet lag’. There is no patent cure for that. Quacks recommend melatonine and thus earn money but have little effect • So: do not deviate too much from habits. • If it must be done: prepare!!

16. METABOLISM Physical Fatigue

17. Metabolic causes of fatigue • Not enough blood sugar • Cause: Not eating or Wrong diet • Caffeine overload • Cause: Energy drinks, Coffee • Dehydration • Cause: not enough to drink • Alcohol (the day after) and Drugs (after use) • Cause: disrupts metabolism, disturbs sleep patterns • Illness: • Flu, Heart trouble, Anaemia, Liver or thyroid disease, Depression, Diabetes, Cancer So: regularly dispense food and drink (& make it fun)

18. SLEEP Physical Fatigue

19. How to get enough sleep • Thus for most workers it is: 8 hours for work, 8 for yourself and 8 for sleep • For seamen this is the same, but: they divided the 8 hour periods in two, so there were 6 watches of each 4 hours • This was done because 8 hours of being attentive is quite impossible, and doing a watch is very boring • This system is, with some variation, still in use in the seafaring world and it is quite easy to get used to it • The basic requirement is a room with sufficient hammocks or beds, light and noise control and a good schedule • It is quite possible to adapt this system to the requirements of event safety teams, but it takes some organising • So: organise a 4 hour system of shifts and make them get used to it, for instance by personal practice at home

20. Sleep disturbance • It is difficult to fall asleep on order (Choice?) • Your brain must be ready for it • You know the feeling from driving long stretches • The feeling of sleep is highly conditioned • Everyone has rituals for sleeping and for awakening • Thus, once they are used to the watch system, they will profit from it by falling asleep • Therefore the easiest way is to prepare your people for 4 hour periods of rest by making them do it at home • Avoid the use of sleeping pills, mostly they work for longer periods (avg. 8-10 hours) • Try to create a suitable space with low levels of noise and lighting and a guarded entrance

21. The classic system of watches Every half hour a signal was given by bell, in order to shorten the subjective idea of time and to coordinate the behavior of the team En als ik ‘s avonds laat Te kooi lig uit te rusten Dan denk ik aan Marie En aan haar fraaie busten And if an evening late I’m comfortably resting I think of my Marie And of her wond’rous breasting

22. END WWW.VANDESANDEINLEZINGEN.NL

23. Some references • Do a Wikipedia search for : Watch system; Shift work; Arousal