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fatiguemanagement.co.uk

Fatigue management in highways

Highways maintenance, improvement, and street works often run at night, across changing locations, and under programme pressure to reopen the network. Crews may face early mobilisation, limited welfare, weather exposure, and travel before and after closures.

This page describes general educational principles for contractors, supervisors, and supply chain partners. It is not legal advice, does not cover driver-hours or tachograph rules, and does not claim that industry programme material applies as universal UK law.

Why highways work is fatigue-relevant

Section titled “Why highways work is fatigue-relevant”

HSE treats fatigue as a recognised health and safety hazard. Highways environments add sector-specific strain:

Factor Fatigue relevance
Night works Closures and quiet-period access — circadian low
Moving and changing sites New layouts, traffic management, unfamiliar journeys
Early starts and late finishes Compressed sleep around closure windows
Travel to site Door-to-door burden before and after duty
Call-outs and overruns Work extends beyond planned reopening time
Weather and environment Heat, cold, rain, noise, poor light
Physical and vigilance tasks Manual work plus traffic management observation
Supply chain tiers Roster visibility across subcontractors

HSG256 notes higher accident and injury incidence on night shifts, after successive shifts, when shifts are long, and when breaks are inadequate — patterns common on highways programmes.

Industry supply chain context (scoped)

Section titled “Industry supply chain context (scoped)”

The Highways Safety Hub Raising the Bar 22 — Fatigue Management material is written for National Highways supply chain partners on relevant contracts. It describes fatigue as a decline in mental and/or physical performance from prolonged exertion, sleep loss, and circadian disruption — with slower reactions, reduced information processing, and underestimation of risk among common effects.

That programme expects supply chain partners on those works to address fatigue in work design and planning — including work patterns, overtime, rest breaks, work environment, and commute burden. It also emphasises recording planned vs actual hours.

Important scope notes:

  • Raising the Bar 22 applies to organisations on National Highways supply chain work — not all UK employers
  • This site does not reproduce contractual checklists, exceedance procedures, or mandatory element text from industry programmes
  • Themes may inform wider planning cautiously; contract requirements must be verified directly

Night works, weekends and closures

Section titled “Night works, weekends and closures”

Highways work frequently concentrates into night closures and weekend blockades when traffic is lower. Fatigue drivers include:

Night work is not automatically unsafe — but it needs explicit assessment and controls proportionate to task demand.

Welfare, breaks and environment

Section titled “Welfare, breaks and environment”

Temporary welfare units, distance from the workface, and weather affect whether breaks are restorative. HSG48 human factors guidance reminds organisations that environment, workload, and organisational culture influence performance — not only hours on the timesheet.

Planners should ask whether breaks are achievable in practice — see breaks during shifts.

Travel and door-to-door exposure

Section titled “Travel and door-to-door exposure”

Mobile crews often travel significant distances to dispersed closures. Total elapsed burden — outward journey, duty, return journey — should be considered in fatigue risk assessment, not only paid hours on site.

See duty, travel, and commute and remote sites when access or accommodation affects recovery.

Planned vs actual review and reporting

Section titled “Planned vs actual review and reporting”

Operations often diverge from the plan:

  • Overruns to complete resurfacing, barrier work, or traffic management
  • Weather delays compressing remaining work into longer shifts
  • Call-outs for emergency defects on the network — see emergency works

Comparing planned vs actual exposure supports fatigue assurance — checking controls work in practice.

Organisations may benefit from:

Records support governance and learning — they do not prove a shift was safe.

What this page does not cover

Section titled “What this page does not cover”
  • Driver hours, tachographs, HGV rules, or fleet compliance
  • Universal shift or rest limits
  • Legal interpretation of working time or welfare law
  • Reproduction of Highways Safety Hub contractual requirements
  • Software or product promotion
Section titled “Related pages”

References

Section titled “References”