How Does Fatigue Affect Labour Productivity

1) How does fatigue affect Labour Productivity? Fatigue affects labour productivity by impairing the ability of a worker to carry out his/her required duties as expected and in a safe manner. With increase in fatigue comes a reduction in muscular strength, attention to details and loss of concentration. A worker or employee who is gradually losing strength, losing concentration and not giving attention to details is usually more prone to mistakes and would not be able to work at his/her optimum level.Fatigue has also been known to affect employee health. A common example is Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), which is a debilitating chronic illness affecting various people worldwide (Lin et. Al. , 2011). Those affected endure chronic, incapacitating physical and mental fatigue that is not relieved by rest. This illness is exacerbated by physical or mental exertion and is accompanied by impaired memory and concentration, unrefreshing sleep, muscle and joint pain, and other defining sympto ms (www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov).It doesn’t require rocket science to assert that an employee/worker whose health is adversely affected would never perform any given task to satisfaction. 2) Major factors that contribute to increase in fatigue in workers. * Working conditions * Noise: Wokocha and Sopruchi (2010) in their study explained that noise effects are both health and behavioural in nature. He further said that unwanted sound can damage Physiological and psychological health. And any worker whose health is affected cannot perform any given task properly.Noise pollution can cause annoyance and aggression, hypertension, high stress levels, tinnitus, hearing loss, sleep disturbances, fatigue, make conversation difficult as well as leads to productivity losses due to poor concentration. * Heat stress: heat stress occurs when the body takes in and/or produces more heat than it gives off, thus raising the core body temperature beyond normal. It could happen due to the combinati on of high air temperature, high humidity, high radiation heat input, high energy expenditure (due to physical workload) and high metabolism (Groover, 2007).Heat usually hampers the ability of an employee to work efficiently. * Cold * Humidity * General state of health of employees * Nature of work * Posture during work * Muscular exertion * Tediousness * Stress * Repetitiveness with a short cycle. * Jobs that require high concentrations * Eye strain ( Kanawaty, 1992) 3) How the use of machines negatively affect workers The use of machines especially in manufacturing industries is usually accompanied with noise, vibration, monotony, and high concentration on the part of the workers who use them.The accumulated effects of vibrations usually affect the hands and the arms; monotony creates boredom and a job that requires a high level of concentration usually requires a lot of energy. All these contribute to a gradual reduction in muscular strength and an increase in fatigue; as fatigue increases, attention and concentration decreases, making the worker more prone to injuries and a subsequent loss in productivity. 4) The reasons for giving workers more relaxation allowances for using some machines while others require less.More relaxation allowance| Less relaxation allowance| 1) Partial or complete absence of noise reduction components on machines| Presence of noise reduction components on machines. | 2) A high level of machine vibration| A considerable level of machine vibration| 3) Attention not given to reduction of vibration and noise. | Ergonomically built machines with attention given to noise and vibration reductions. | | | References. Jin-Mann S Lin, Stephen C Resch, Dana J Brimmer, Andrew Johnson, Stephen Kennedy, Nancy Burstein and Carol J Simon(2011).The economic impact of chronic fatigue syndrome in Georgia: direct and indirect costs. Journal of Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation. Volume 9. Retrieved from http://www. resource-allocation. com/co ntent/9/1/1 on 15/11/2012 Wokocha G. A. and Sopruchi Ihenko (2010). Industrial Noise Level and its Impact on Oil Company Workers in Rivers State, Nigeria. Middle Eastern Finance and Economics ISSN: 1450-2889 Issue 8. Retrieved from http://www. eurojournals. com/MEFE. htm on 15/11/2012. Groover, M. P. (2007). Work Systems and The Methods; Measurement and Management of Work. pp 661