Fatigue Monitoring Needs More Research, Study Says
Technology for monitoring fatigue remains unproven and is not ready for widespread use in the trucking industry as a regulatory tool, according to an Australian study.
The group reviewed devices that assess alertness before a work shift and activity monitors carried on a worker’s body that mathematically calculate alertness levels.
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The study, by Australian researchers and a consultant in Alexandria, Va., also concluded that makers of fatigue-monitoring devices have failed to produce scientific evidence supporting their claims that the devices are legitimate means of predicting and regulating fatigue among truckers.
Researchers Laurence Hartley, Tim Horberry and Nick Mabbott, of Murdoch University in Western Australia, and Gerald B. Krueger, of Krueger Ergonomics Consultants, completed the study for the National Road Transport Commission in Australia. NRTC is the Australian equivalent of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
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