Project team lead Professor Sally Ferguson said the mining industry had been doing this for years.
“Analysing specific elements of their operators’ work that cause fatigue, to understand the specific consequences based on how their performance is impacted, and then manage that risk,” Prof Ferguson said.
“That’s what we want to learn for the farming sector.”
The project will ultimately deliver a practical guide to assist agricultural enterprises of all sizes to understand, measure and manage fatigue on their farm.
“We want producers to have a clear understanding of how their current working patterns can be tweaked a little bit to manage the risk better,” Prof Ferguson said.
“We’re not saying ‘change your entire schedule’, it’s about asking, ‘What do you need to be thinking about while you’re working to keep yourself safe, happy and productive?’.
“It’s not about downing tools after X number of hours. Fatigue is inevitably higher at different times of the year or parts of the day for different individuals working in different industries.”
A workshop with Gippsland dairy farmers highlighted long days, limited days off, workforce shortages and seasonal challenges as issues for fatigue management.
“We all know dairy farmers have very early starts, but it is clear that there are many factors which affect the physical and mental fatigue including working on rainy, windy and cold days and the added load of the business management aspects of business,” Associate Professor Amy Cosby said.
“Dairy farmers not only shared their work practices with the researchers, but the fatigue management strategies they have in place for themselves and staff they manage.”
When completed, the Farming and Fatigue management guide will include tools to help farmers identify ‘hot spots’ — where and why fatigue might be an issue in their operation, and how to reduce potential harm of fatigue without impacting production.
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