Utility Creative partnered with a range of agencies to deliver the WorkSafe truck driver fatigue and lighting intervention research project, which aimed to improve the mental health and wellbeing of the Victorian manufacturing and road haulage workforce by addressing and reducing fatigue, and other work-related factors that influence mental health.
The project was delivered in partnership with Hazeldene's Chicken Farm (Hazeldene’s), the Institute of Breathing and Sleep (IBAS) and Monash University, supported by the WorkSafe WorkWell Mental Health Improvement Fund (MHIF).
Heavy vehicles are over-represented in fatal crashes (16%) despite making up only 2.4% of registrations and 7% of vehicle kilometres travelled, with fatigue the leading cause of truck driver deaths, accounting for 34.8% of fatalities.
Lighting conditions are similarly pivotal when examining fatigue; proper lighting within a manufacturing workplace can contribute to improvements in employee alertness, workplace productivity and safety.
The project took place on site at Hazeldene’s Chicken Farm in Bendigo, Victoria, and delivered three interventions to identify and address fatigue-related safety risks in two cohorts of shift workers – professional truck drivers and those working in the food processing area.
The project was informed by a Utility Creative-led two-month screening period of 153 employees, using the PreventionXPress (PXS) screening tool, to assess levels of fatigue and overall health and mental wellbeing. PXS is a screening tool developed by Utility Creative to identify and track the risk of five chronic preventable diseases.
This identified two at-risk groups within the organisation – truck drivers (at risk of sleep apnoea) and workers in the food processing area (at risk of impaired alertness). Adopting a user-centred approach, the following interventions were delivered:
1. Truck Driver Fatigue Intervention: 'Seeing Machines' fatigue detection devices were installed in 12 Hazeldene’s articulated and rigid trucks to monitor drivers’ eye closures. This included alarms and vibrations designed to trigger in response to a fatigue event (eye closure for > 1.5 seconds).
The intervention discovered:
122kms
driven with closed eyes by 12 trucks in 3 months
3 in 7
drivers at a high risk of obstructive sleep apnoea
2. Lighting Intervention: Fluorescent lighting in the Hazeldene’s food processing area was replaced by full spectrum blue-enriched light specifically designed to promote alertness, healthy sleep and circadian rhythms.
3. Health & Wellbeing App: Utility Creative developed a health and wellbeing smartphone app with resources to help employees manage fatigue, with a focus on nutrition, exercise, sleep, hydration, appropriate caffeine intake and stress reduction. The app, integrated with the PXS screening tool, also enabled drivers to self-monitor changes to their fatigue levels, and overall mental and physical health during the project.
Across the Truck Driver Fatigue Intervention, Lighting Intervention and Health & Wellbeing App:
- 13.7less fatigue events each day
- 50%less trips with a fatigue event
- 90%less distance driven per fatigue event (117m to 18m)
- 37 minsIncrease in average employee sleep per night
- 75%of employees in the normal range for depression, up from 67%
- 5.5 pointsDrop in average insomnia scores (12 to 6.5)
- 89%of employees rated the new lighting as better than before
- 3,000downloads of the health & wellbeing app
“This technology is as important as an oil/ temperature gauge. You wouldn’t drive a truck without those two things, so why drive without fatigue monitors. At the end of the day, you want to be able to see your wife and kids when you get home.”
- Truck Driver, Hazeldene’s
“Health and wellbeing are at the heart of everything that we do. The insights that we've been able to gather from the projects have been really valuable to the business. If you have a healthy workforce, you have a productive workforce”
- Tracey Ling, General Manager Risk and Compliance, Hazeldene’s
