When an operator triggers another fatigue alarm, it's tempting to assume they stayed up too late or made poor lifestyle choices. That assumption is usually wrong.
Fatigue has many documented causes, and most of them have nothing to do with personal responsibility. In fact, many are invisible to the person experiencing them and almost all causes are more complicated than "get more sleep."
If you're implementing fatigue monitoring technology without understanding this complexity, you're setting up a system that will identify problems you don't know how to solve. Worse, you might be setting up a disciplinary framework for people who are dealing with medical conditions they don't even know they have.
The sleep quality trap
Start with the obvious category: sleep-related causes. But even here, "get more sleep" misses the point.
Yes, insufficient sleep quantity matters. But so does obstructive sleep apnoea, which affects more people than you'd think and often goes undiagnosed for years. Sleep inertia from being woken during deep sleep, which is common for operators on call or dealing with young children at home. And uncomfortable sleep environments, which matter more during fly-in fly-out (FIFO) rotations when people are trying to rest in unfamiliar accommodations.
Someone experiencing broken sleep from a crying baby isn't making poor choices. An operator with undiagnosed sleep apnoea isn't being irresponsible. A shift worker struggling with temperature control in camp accommodation isn't lacking discipline.
These are solvable problems, but only if you're looking for them.
The invisible medical conditions
The acute medical conditions that cause fatigue are extensive and often subtle. Dehydration from working hard in the heat. Low blood sugar from missing meals during a busy shift. Urinary tract infections from waiting for access to restrooms in inconvenient locations. Vitamin or mineral deficiencies from a restricted camp diet. Hay fever and seasonal allergies triggered from working outside.
Most of these don't announce themselves with obvious symptoms. Someone dealing with a vitamin deficiency doesn't wake up thinking "I'm deficient in B12." They just know they're tired. A chronically dehydrated operator might assume they're just getting older or not coping with shift work as well as they used to.
Then there are the chronic conditions like, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, asthma, chronic pain, coronary heart disease, etc. These conditions are more common in mining workforces than people want to acknowledge, and they all contribute to fatigue in ways that have nothing to do with effort or attitude.
Someone managing diabetes isn't choosing to be tired. An operator dealing with chronic pain isn't lacking commitment. These are medical realities that affect performance regardless of how much someone wants to do well.
Psychological causes that don't show up on medical tests
Stress, anxiety, and depression cause fatigue that's just as real as physical conditions, but they're often harder to identify and more stigmatized in mining culture.
An operator going through a divorce isn't bringing "personal problems to work" in the sense of being unprofessional. They're dealing with a documented psychological stressor that has measurable impacts on cognitive function and fatigue levels. Same with bereavement and grief, eating disorders, acute stress disorder, or postpartum depression.
These aren't character flaws. They're circumstances that affect people's capacity to manage fatigue, and they require support rather than discipline.
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Medication side effects nobody talks about
Some antidepressants cause fatigue. So do sedatives and anti-anxiety medications, some anti-inflammatory drugs, antihypertensives, and antihistamines. Chemotherapy and radiation therapy have obvious fatigue effects, but even routine medications can contribute.
The problem is that nobody thinks about this connection. An operator taking medication for high blood pressure doesn't necessarily know that fatigue is a common side effect. Someone using over-the-counter antihistamines for allergies might not realize they're affecting their alertness during shift.
If your fatigue management process doesn't include a conversation about medications, you're missing a significant contributor to workplace fatigue.
Environmental and lifestyle factors you can actually control
Some causes of fatigue are directly related to work conditions, and these are the ones where operations actually have clear levers to pull.
Rotating roster shift work. Excessively hot or cold working environments. Eye strain from glare without proper polarized lenses. Work in high altitude or low-oxygen environments. Jet lag for FIFO workers. Low lighting in underground operations. Seasonal challenges like rain.
These are operational decisions with fatigue consequences. The roster design you choose has direct impacts on how many people struggle with fatigue. The cabin conditions you provide in equipment matter. The PPE you specify for eye protection affects how much strain operators experience.
There's also alcohol abuse, recreational drug use, nicotine use especially before sleep, consumption of stimulants like caffeine close to bedtime, and exposure to blue light from phone use before sleep. These are lifestyle choices, but even here the picture is more complicated than it seems. Someone using nicotine to stay alert during night shift is making a rational short-term decision that has long-term fatigue consequences. An operator consuming caffeine to manage their fatigue is responding to a real problem, even if the solution creates another one.
What this means for fatigue management programs
If you're implementing real-time fatigue monitoring, you're going to identify people who are chronically at risk. The question is what you do with that information.
A punitive approach assumes fatigue is a discipline problem. A support-focused approach recognizes that most fatigue has causes that require assistance to address.
The first step in any support process should be private, one-on-one conversation to understand what's happening. Not to judge or discipline, but to identify circumstances that explain the fatigue risk. Sometimes it's as simple as poor sleep environment during camp stays, which you can fix with accommodation modifications like blackout curtains. Sometimes it's shift roster design that's creating impossible recovery periods. Sometimes it's an undiagnosed medical condition that needs professional assessment.
The key is that most operators experiencing chronic fatigue don't know why. They just know they're struggling. A supervisor or health professional who understands the full range of possible causes can help identify what's actually happening and what kind of support might help.
This might mean referral to a General Practitioner for a formal health assessment. It might mean connection to a sleep clinic for a study. It might mean roster adjustments or temporary alternative duties while someone addresses a medical issue. It might mean helping someone understand that their medication is affecting them and discussing alternatives with their doctor.
The culture question
None of this works if operators think that being identified as higher-risk means they're on a performance improvement plan toward dismissal. The fear of being labeled as a "problem employee" will drive people to hide their struggles rather than seek help.
That's why transparency about your process matters. Post it in break rooms. Include it in handbooks. Discuss it during safety meetings and onboarding. Make it clear that the goal is support and that most causes of chronic fatigue aren't anyone's fault.
If you can identify someone's sleep apnoea and help them get treatment, you've improved their life outside of work and made them safer at work. If you can adjust roster design to reduce chronic fatigue triggers, you’ve made your onsite operation and their commute home safer. If you can connect someone dealing with depression to appropriate mental health support, you've done something that matters beyond productivity metrics.
The hidden causes of fatigue are a reminder that this isn't simple. When your monitoring technology identifies someone who's routinely at risk, you're not identifying a problem employee. You're identifying someone who needs help figuring out what's causing their fatigue so they can address it.
That's a very different conversation than the one most operations are set up to have.