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Comparison of Objective and Subjective Operator Fatigue Assessment Methods in Offshore Shiftwork
Comparison of Objective and Subjective Operator Fatigue Assessment Methods in Offshore Shiftwork
a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t
Article history: The oil and gas extraction (OGE) industry continues to experience an elevated fatality rate; OGE workers
Received 26 January 2017 are exposed to intensive shift patterns and long work durations inherent in the OGE environment, which
Received in revised form can lead to fatigue, thereby increasing risks of incidents and injuries. As such, fatigue assessment
5 February 2017
methods play a critical role in identifying and subsequently managing fatigue in offshore operators. The
Accepted 15 February 2017
aims of this observational study were to explore the effect of offshore shiftwork on physiological and
Available online 16 February 2017
subjective fatigue outcomes. Ten male operators (age: 31.3 (6.1) years; stature: 1.72 (0.1) m; weight:
85.24 (9.8) kg) were monitored throughout their daily shifts for six days on an offshore drillship using
Keywords:
Shiftwork
intrinsically safer physiological sensors that recorded various physiological parameters. Additionally,
Heart rate existing subjective fatigue scales from the literature were employed to obtain perceptions of fatigue. Six
Physiological monitor of the ten operators underwent swing shift in the middle of the data collection period. Physiological
Sleep results indicate that overall average heart rate (an indicator of fatigue) were elevated for all operators and
remained elevated for those who started and ended their work on the day shift. Operators' subjective
reports of fatigue were relatively high for acute fatigue and intershift recovery as well as for lack of effort
and sleepiness; however, the physiological measures were not consistently correlated with the subjective
measures of fatigue. The study outcomes identified a critical gap in fatigue assessment in OGE opera-
tions; existing fatigue surveys for the general (or other) working populations are not comprehensive of
OGE operations and are thus not applicable for OGE workers, nor are they validated against physiological
fatigue outcomes in OGE workers.
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction 1331 OGE workers died while working, resulting in an annual fa-
tality rate seven times higher than that for all U.S. workers (BLS,
Worker fatigue is a critical occupational risk that has cost lives, 2015). Fatigue, generally defined as a physiological state of
injured workers, disrupted productivity, with economic losses reduced mental or physical performance capability resulting from
estimated at $18 billion a year (Caruso, 2014; Lerman et al., 2012). sleep loss, circadian phase, and workload, has been implicated as a
This is a big problem, particularly in the oil and gas extraction (OGE) serious risk factor in a majority of the cases affecting worker safety
industry, as OGE workers are exposed to intensive shift patterns (Mason et al., 2015; Retzer et al., 2013). To address this growing
and long work durations, coupled with intense physical and mental concern, both industry and federal agencies have determined that
workload inherent of the OGE environment. From 2003 to 2014, “decreasing fatigue-related injuries and fatalities in the OGE industry”
is one of their top strategic research (to practice) priorities.
In offshore operations, fatigue is predominantly considered a
* Corresponding author. Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, consequence of two sources: an insufficiency of sleep (or poor
Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3122, United States. quality of sleep) and the 24-h circadian cycle in wakefulness and
E-mail addresses: rmehta@tamu.edu (R.K. Mehta), peres@tamu.edu (S.C. Peres),
alertness. Fatigue, due to sleep loss and extended wakefulness, is
Pranav.kannan92@tamu.edu (P. Kannan), rhee@sph.tamhsc.edu (J. Rhee), ashortz@
sph.tamhsc.edu (A.E. Shortz), mannan@tamu.edu (M. Sam Mannan). typically managed through shift and time management. Work
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jlp.2017.02.009
0950-4230/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
R.K. Mehta et al. / Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 48 (2017) 376e381 377
Table 2 three days after the measure (later in the shift) were obtained. For
Number of operators in each shift. N ¼ 10. those who did not change shifts during their hitch, the middle day
Shift Time Earlier in Hitch Later in Hitch of the data collection period were identified and the average of the
6am 2 3
measures three days before and three days after that middle day
12pm (noon) 5 0 was obtained. Because of the observational nature of the study, this
6pm 1 1 method enabled comparison of the physiological measures of those
12am (midnight) 2 6 who did and did not change shift in a somewhat equitable way,
Note: ‘Hitch’ is used to indicate the duration of the continued work period of an albeit imperfect.
operator employed on the drillship. Operators recruited in this study completed a
28-day hitch on the drillship.
2.3. Statistical analyses
motivation; Åhsberg et al., 1997), the Occupational Fatigue To identify effects of time on hitch (Within: earlier/later in the
Exhaustion Recovery (OFER) provided 3 sub-scales (acute fatigue, hitch), Shift Time (Between: Day/Night), and Swing (Between:
chronic fatigue, and inter shift recovery; Winwood et al., 2005), the whether the person changed their shift day from day to night or
Fatigue-Related Symptoms Questionnaire (F-RSQ) provided 2 sub- vice versa), effects on the physiological variables, separate mixed
scales (physical and mental fatigue; Chalder et al., 1993), and the effects analyses of variance (ANOVA) was done for each of the heart
Fatigue Scale (FAS) provided one unidimensional score of overall rate variables (minimum, maximum, & average HR) for stationary
fatigue (Michielsen et al., 2004). Additionally, a questionnaire on and ambulatory activities, as well as average ambulation during the
working environment, which included items specific to the phys- ambulatory activities. To identify relations between the fatigue
ical, mental, and psychosocial demands, was administered to scales and the physiological variables, Pearson's correlations were
identify work risk factors. done with the survey responses and the physiological measures
from the day the person completed the survey.
Fig. 1. Maximum ambulatory HR by Time of first shift (Day/Night earlier in hitch), Time of second shift (Day/Night later in hitch), and change during the hitch (Earlier/Later). Error
bars represent the standard error of the mean. N ¼ 10.
Fig. 2. Average Ambulation by Time of first shift (Day/Night earlier in hitch), Time of second shift (Day/Night later in hitch), and change during the hitch (Earlier/Later). Error bars
represent the standard error.
hitch with there being a greater increase in ambulation over the 3.2. Operator perceptions of fatigue
shift for those who started their shift during the day than those
who started at night, F (1, 6) ¼ 6.27, p ¼ 0.05, h2p ¼ 0.51. All other Descriptives of the fatigue scales are presented in Table 4. In
possible main effects or interactions had p's > 0.06. general, operators perceived higher acute and inter shift fatigue
In general, studies have shown association between swing shifts (from the OFER scale), lack of effort and sleepiness (from the SOFI
and altered physiological changes, and that these alterations scale), and increased Work Demand, Work Pace, and Repetitive
further depend on time of shift (Lauridsen and Tønnesen, 1990; Strain Injury (from the working environment survey).
Parkes et al., 1997). In the present study, the earlier/later in the
hitch differences (or lack thereof) in physiological indicators of fa-
tigue in operators who underwent swing shifts were lower than 3.3. Comparison of physiological and survey responses
those who did not. Against expectations, the operators who started
in the day shift and remained in the day shifts showed the most Pearson correlations of physiological responses from the day the
increase in HR levels. It is likely that their job demanded greater operators completed the surveys and their survey responses is
efforts, which is moderately evident from the ambulation data (see presented in Table 5. The primary purpose of correlation analyses
Fig. 2). It is also possible that environmental factors, such as tem- was to identify whether indicators of fatigue, across objective and
perature, may have influenced HR responses. Due to the small subjective methods, measured operator fatigue similarly. Physical
sample size in each of the sub-groups identified, results need to be discomfort was positively associated with minimum HR during
cautiously interpreted. Finally, even though the HR levels of oper- stationary activities; however although significant correlations
ators on swing shifts, particularly those that began on a night shift between FAS scale and maximum HR during ambulatory activities
and ended on a day shift, remained relatively similar, on an average, and inter shift recovery sub-scale from OFER and minimum HR
most of these operators had HR levels well above the average were found, but opposite to what was expected. Additionally, when
resting HR range of 60e100 bpm. comparing perceptions of work risk factors and physiological re-
sponses, Work Demands was the only risk factor strongly
380 R.K. Mehta et al. / Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 48 (2017) 376e381
Table 5
Pearson Correlations of physiological responses from the day the operators completed the surveys and their survey responses. Significant correlations are highlighted in bold
and italics and have an*. The measures on Physical Discomfort and Repetitive Strain Injury were the only ones to correlate with more than one physiological measure.
Measures of Fatigue
FAS (Usual fatigue) 0.14 0.16 0.19 0.22 0.22 0.54* 0.30
F-RSQ (Overall) 0.02 0.47 0.13 0.29 0.17 0.12 0.34
F-RSQ (Physical) 0.01 0.38 0.34 0.33 0.33 0.43 0.14
F-RSQ (Cognitive) 0.02 0.32 0.04 0.15 0.02 0.09 0.30
SOFI (Lack of Effort) 0.04 0.34 0.17 0.33 0.19 0.11 0.23
SOFI (Lack of Motivation) 0.36 0.01 0.18 0.04 0.23 0.07 0.55*
SOFI (Physical Discomfort) 0.59* 0.12 0.14 0.13 0.25 0.10 0.60*
SOFI (Physical Effort) 0.47 0.10 0.19 0.11 0.26 0.13 0.61*
SOFI (Sleepiness) 0.03 0.41 0.05 0.34 0.15 0.14 0.32
OFER (Chronic Fatigue) 0.33 0.04 0.08 0.11 0.12 0.14 0.38
OFER (Acute Fatigue) 0.02 0.31 0.06 0.32 0.18 0.30 0.13
OFER (Inter shift Recovery) 0.24 0.47 0.10 0.60* 0.27 0.44 0.14
Working Environment
Physical Environment 0.01 0.29 0.47 0.20 0.26 0.01 0.23
Repetitive Strain Risks 0.35 0.54* 0.40 0.32 0.56* 0.63** 0.13
Pain 0.11 0.18 0.11 0.12 0.02 0.29 0.36
Work Pace 0.00 0.48 0.45 0.35 0.35 0.04 0.04
Work Demands 0.01 0.24 0.55* 0.23 0.45 0.20 0.44
Safety 0.37 0.10 0.11 0.12 0.07 0.38 0.11
Comfort 0.20 0.22 0.01 0.39 0.07 0.16 0.30
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