ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to stimulate the interdisciplinary dialogue that is needed to advance the areas. It reviews understanding of the causes of operator fatigue and the scientific principles that underpin Fatigue Risk Management Systems. Fatigue risk reduction strategies should be incorporated into the design of human–machine systems where operator fatigue can be expected to have an impact on safety. The relationships between individual fatigue and operational risk are complex and depend on the type of task, equipment design, operator expertise and experience, time pressure, other hazards in the environment, and the risk mitigation strategies in place. A fatigue-related incident/accident can be viewed as the final point of a causal chain of events or "hazard trajectory" that penetrates all the defenses present in the system to control that hazard. In organizations that have Safety Management Systems, fatigue-related operator impairment can be considered as one of the range of hazards that need to be managed.
