Alert at Work? Perceptions of Alertness Testing and Recommendations for Practitioners

Details

• Personal Author:
  Brossoit RM ; Crain TL ; Guasta L ; Stevens SC ; Wong JR
• Description:
  Around-the-clock, 24/7 operations are common in many industries, yet contribute to employee fatigue, which can have grave consequences for worker safety, public health, and the environment. Alertness testing is one option for identifying and mitigating issues related to fatigue at work. We review alertness testing options, including fatigue risk management systems and app-based tools, and share results from a study evaluating employee and manager perceptions of alertness testing. Despite a growing body of research on the validity of app-based alertness tests, it is also critical to understand how these tools are perceived by workers and management. To investigate perceptions of alertness testing, mixed-method data were collected from organizations across four safety-sensitive industries (i.e., a mining company, fire department, and two construction companies) that were in the process of implementing an alertness testing platform. Results suggest that employees and managers are open to and optimistic about implementing new alertness testing safety tools. Employees in work environments with strong managerial support for safety were particularly open-minded to alertness testing at work. However, some employees and managers expressed reluctance towards alertness tests. We provide recommendations for how occupational health and safety professionals can effectively select alertness tests and implement alertness testing. Ethical considerations related to identifying whether workplace alertness testing is needed, and how to protect employees and their data, are discussed. Correction: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41542-022-00142-8: In this online published article, the abstract was inadvertently omitted. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Fatigue Occupational Health Public Health Risk Assessment Safety Workplace
• Keywords:
  Occupational Health Public Health Risk Management Work Environment Workers Worker Safety
• ISSN:
  2367-0134
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant ; Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Colorado ; Illinois ; Louisiana ; Oregon ; OSHA Region 10 ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 6 ; OSHA Region 8
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  379-396
• Volume:
  7
• Issue:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20067926
• Citation:
  Occup Health Sci 2023 Jun; 7(2):379-396
• Contact Point Address:
  Rebecca M. Brossoit, Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA
• Email:
  rbrossoit@lsu.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2023
• Performing Organization:
  University of Colorado, Denver
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20070701
• Source Full Name:
  Occupational Health Science
• End Date:
  20250630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:13f78f4cb5227f07c4a234768e320cb5d361ec561d5ac508c163d7c8162225f171a9e56ce95d68a33e52d79c2145a1a33ef0e6b139c4481bc823c9eeb3e6f449
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/230160/cdc_230160_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 663.49 KB ]