Fatigue management plan template
This page provides an original template structure for a fatigue management plan — a documented description of how an organisation intends to identify, assess, and control fatigue-related risk for specific work.
It supports review and can help structure a discussion between safety, operations, and planning teams. It is not an official Network Rail, ORR, HSE, or legal compliance document.
Important disclaimer: This template is not legal advice, not a substitute for official standards, and does not guarantee compliance. Completing it does not make work safe or replace competent person judgement. Adapt it to your organisation, contract, and sector. Sector-specific requirements vary.
When a fatigue management plan may be useful
Section titled “When a fatigue management plan may be useful”A fatigue management plan may help when:
- Starting or changing shift-based, site-based, or safety-critical operations
- Onboarding a new contract, client, or operational area
- Aligning fatigue controls within a wider fatigue risk management system (FRMS)
- Describing how fatigue risk will be managed for a defined scope of roles or activities
- Supporting dialogue with workforce representatives and clients
ORR rail fatigue guidance describes fatigue management within a Plan–Do–Check–Act approach. Similar structured thinking can help other operational sectors — framed here as general educational concepts, not reproduced checklist text.
For how law, guidance, standards and policy differ, see law, guidance, standards and policy.
How to use this template
Section titled “How to use this template”- Define scope — which roles, sites, contracts, and time period the plan covers.
- Assign roles — who owns policy, assessment, roster decisions, reporting, and review.
- Work through each section — adapt depth to risk level; not every field applies everywhere.
- Link to assessments and records — the plan describes how fatigue will be managed; assessments and decision records capture what was done for specific work.
- Review — update after operational change, incidents, credible fatigue reports, or audit findings.
Section 1: Scope of work
Section titled “Section 1: Scope of work”| Field | Entry |
|---|---|
| Organisation / site | |
| Plan version and date | |
| Roles and teams covered | |
| Locations / contracts / projects | |
| Safety-critical tasks (describe) | |
| Exclusions (what this plan does not cover) | |
| Plan owner | |
| Next review date / triggers |
Prompts — record:
- What work patterns create foreseeable fatigue risk?
- Who may be affected (employees, contractors, public)?
- Which organisational policies and contractual requirements apply?
Section 2: Roles and responsibilities
Section titled “Section 2: Roles and responsibilities”| Role / function | Responsibilities (fatigue-related) | Named person or post |
|---|---|---|
| Senior accountable person | ||
| Fatigue / safety lead | ||
| Roster / workforce planning | ||
| Supervisors / operational managers | ||
| Workforce representatives (if applicable) | ||
| Competent person for assessment |
See management accountability for fatigue.
Prompts — check whether:
- Decision authority for elevated fatigue exposure is clear
- Escalation routes are defined
- Responsibilities are understood — not only written down
Section 3: Work pattern and roster controls
Section titled “Section 3: Work pattern and roster controls”Describe how rosters will be designed, reviewed, and changed.
| Topic | Organisation approach |
|---|---|
| Shift types used (day / night / early / rotating) | |
| Principles for recovery between duties | |
| Consecutive shift limits (policy — not universal law) | |
| Overtime and extension rules | |
| Shift swap / cover arrangements | |
| Consultation with workers on patterns |
Supporting tools:
- Roster design principles
- Shift pattern review checklist
- Planned vs actual fatigue — monitoring when reality diverges from plan
Section 4: Travel, commute and door-to-door exposure
Section titled “Section 4: Travel, commute and door-to-door exposure”| Topic | Organisation approach |
|---|---|
| How travel is considered in fatigue planning | |
| Door-to-door definitions used | |
| Driving after duty — considerations | |
| Accommodation for multi-day work | |
| Remote site welfare |
See door-to-door time, duty, travel, and commute, and the door-to-door planning checklist.
Section 5: Night work, early starts and consecutive shifts
Section titled “Section 5: Night work, early starts and consecutive shifts”| Topic | Organisation approach |
|---|---|
| How night work is identified and managed | |
| Early start considerations | |
| Limits on consecutive demanding patterns (policy) | |
| Recovery after night blocks |
See night shift fatigue, early starts and fatigue, and consecutive shifts and recovery.
Section 6: Workload, breaks and welfare
Section titled “Section 6: Workload, breaks and welfare”| Topic | Organisation approach |
|---|---|
| Workload / vigilance considerations | |
| Break planning and monitoring | |
| Welfare facilities where relevant | |
| Peak demand periods (outages, possessions, programme pressure) |
See breaks and recovery during shifts.
Section 7: Fatigue risk assessment process
Section titled “Section 7: Fatigue risk assessment process”Describe how fatigue risk assessment will be carried out for this scope of work.
| Topic | Organisation approach |
|---|---|
| When assessments are required (triggers) | |
| Who carries out and reviews assessments | |
| How worker input is gathered | |
| How assessments are recorded | |
| How assessments link to roster changes |
See fatigue risk assessment and the fatigue risk assessment template.
Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 3, employers must make a suitable and sufficient assessment of risks. This plan describes the process — it does not replace individual assessments.
Section 8: Modelled fatigue risk, where used
Section titled “Section 8: Modelled fatigue risk, where used”If your organisation uses biomathematical models or a fatigue risk index (FRI):
| Topic | Organisation approach |
|---|---|
| Whether and when modelling is used | |
| Who interprets outputs | |
| How inputs are validated | |
| How organisational thresholds are set (if any) | |
| How model limits are understood |
Model outputs are decision-support — not pass/fail verdicts. See limitations of fatigue models and HSE RR446.
Section 9: Worker reporting and escalation routes
Section titled “Section 9: Worker reporting and escalation routes”| Topic | Organisation approach |
|---|---|
| How workers report fatigue concerns | |
| How reports are investigated | |
| Escalation when exposure is elevated | |
| Non-punitive culture expectations |
Section 10: Records, review and learning
Section titled “Section 10: Records, review and learning”| Topic | Organisation approach |
|---|---|
| What records are kept (assessments, decisions, rosters) | |
| Retention period | |
| How planned vs actual is monitored | |
| Incident and near-miss review | |
| Lessons learned process |
See fatigue records and audit and the fatigue decision record template.
Section 11: Review frequency and ownership
Section titled “Section 11: Review frequency and ownership”| Field | Entry |
|---|---|
| Plan owner | |
| Review frequency | |
| Review triggers (change, incident, audit, reports) | |
| Who signs off updates | |
| Version history |
| Version | Date | Summary of change | Reviewer |
|---|---|---|---|
Example plan structure (illustrative)
Section titled “Example plan structure (illustrative)”A concise plan might summarise:
Scope: [Roles/sites/contracts]. Approach: Fatigue risk will be managed through [roster principles], [assessment process], [reporting routes], and [record-keeping]. Accountability: [Named roles]. Review: This plan will be reviewed [frequency] and after [triggers]. This plan supports organisational fatigue management; it does not confirm legal compliance or that all fatigue risk has been eliminated.
Adapt to your organisation. This example is illustrative only.
Fatigue management procedure template
Section titled “Fatigue management procedure template”A fatigue management procedure is the working sequence that puts part of this plan into practice. The plan describes how fatigue will be managed for a defined scope of work; the procedure tells people what to do, when, and who is responsible. It is not a separate official document, and completing it does not complete legal compliance.
Use the outline below where a procedure would help staff apply the plan consistently. Keep it shorter than the plan. Link each step back to the relevant plan section rather than duplicating the whole framework.
| Step | What to record |
|---|---|
| 1. Triggers | When the procedure starts: new or changed shift patterns, overtime or on-call, a fatigue report, incident, or new contract |
| 2. Responsibilities | Who receives the trigger, who assesses, who can escalate, and who records the decision |
| 3. Assessment | How a fatigue risk assessment is started, using the fatigue risk assessment template where that structure is useful |
| 4. Roster and travel checks | What to check on the proposed pattern, recovery, and door-to-door exposure before work proceeds |
| 5. Escalation | When elevated exposure needs a named decision-maker, and what evidence they should see |
| 6. Records | What is retained (assessment, decision, roster version, travel assumptions) and where |
| 7. Review | Review date or trigger, including when actual hours or travel diverge from the plan |
Keep the procedure specific to your organisation. Do not treat this outline as a regulator template or as proof that work is safe.
What this template does not cover
Section titled “What this template does not cover”- Legal advice or confirmation of compliance with any statute or contract
- Network Rail standard text, threshold matrices, or exceedance management rules
- Official ORR, HSE, or industry templates — this is an original educational structure
- Fitness for duty or occupational health assessment
- Driver hours, tachographs, aviation FTL, or fleet compliance
- Software or product recommendations
- Automatic guarantees that documented controls will prevent fatigue-related harm
Where contractual standards apply to your work, review those requirements separately with competent persons.
Related pages
Section titled “Related pages”- Fatigue risk management system (FRMS)
- Fatigue risk assessment
- Roster design principles
- Planned vs actual fatigue
- Worker fatigue reporting
- Fatigue records and audit
- Fatigue risk assessment template
- Shift pattern review checklist
- Door-to-door fatigue planning checklist
- Law, guidance, standards and policy
- Fatigue decision record template
References
Section titled “References”- Managing rail staff fatigue — ORR — FRMS and Plan–Do–Check–Act concepts (paraphrased; not reproduced)
- Managing shift work (HSG256) — shift work policy, assessment, and monitoring
- Fatigue — HSE — fatigue as a workplace hazard
- RR446 report — UK Government Web Archive copy — modelled fatigue factors where tools are used; archived copy, not hosted by HSE
- HSE research report series: 401–500 — includes RR446 — official HSE listing; not the RR446 PDF
- Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 3 — general risk assessment duty (narrow legal reference)