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The handbook of operator fatigue

The handbook of operator fatigue is advertised as a comprehensive account of the subject suitable for the likes of myself (whom I would loosely term a practitioner) who tackles fatigue issues on an almost daily basis. From the outset this ‘handbook’ (the emphasis is deliberate) is highly appealing to me. A peruse of the contents suggests that some sections will be more beneficial than others and I have to hold back from diving straight into specific chapters. The book features 30 chapters written by experts from around the world to address many important components of fatigue. Chapters are sensibly organised into eight sections and include: the scale of the fatigue problem (Section I), the nature of fatigue (Section II), how to assess fatigue (Section III), the impact of fatigue on health (Section IV), fatigue in the workplace (Section V), the neurological basis of fatigue (VI), sleep disorders (VII) and the design of countermeasures to fatigue (VIII). I had visions, or maybe hopes would be a better term, of this book being analogous to a Haynes manual, a ‘handbook’ to help with day-to-day fatigue issues, but also giving me all the whys and wherefores to justify and explain my approaches to addressing them. However, from my perspective this is not the book’s function and I was disappointed. It is a challenging read. Some chapters broadened my thinking and opened my eyes to aspects of fatigue I had not really considered, such as Chapter 26 entitled ‘Adaptive automation for mitigation of hazardous states of awareness’. The ability, described here, to produce a symbiotic system capable of considering the mental state of the operator to optimise performance is an exciting prospect. Other chapters, however, rapidly reached my limits of comprehension and even my motivation to finish. For example, Chapter 14 entitled ‘Biochemical indices of fatigue for anti-fatigue strategies and products’. After a few attempts at reading this chapter, it became increasingly difficult to discern how I could use this information in a practical setting, to the extent of losing motivation to learn more about this area. Instead, I found I got rather bogged down with the detail, and like a few other chapters I never read it to completion. More ‘down to earth’ chapters, such as Chapter 27 ‘Countermeasures for driver fatigue’, sounded more promising, but the conclusions are widely known and cited in freely available literature. So whilst I read this with gusto, I felt a little disappointed at not finding much I did not already know. This book confirms that there is still very little really known about fatigue; its causes are multifactorial, relationships between the factors are not well understood and individual variability is high. This appears to be a common theme across the chapters, with most concluding that more research is required. This is a substantial book incorporating a lot of theory, but I see limited opportunity for applying this theory in a practical business setting. That is, I would not describe this as a ‘handbook’ but rather an academic reference book, which I fear I would infrequently reference. On these terms, however, the book is more successful. It is a thoroughly rounded examination of fatigue, from theory to practice, and looks towards the future offering a clear and tangible direction for research in the various areas of fatigue. We return again to the title, which is perhaps misleading. The book is too entrenched in the theory and lacks the practical application to be a handbook. It is reference material, perhaps more ideally suited to a researcher or fatigue specialist. For most ergonomists, I feel the majority of benefits would come from dipping into relevant sections whilst at a library. I would endeavour to read through all of the 30 chapters to deepen my scientific understanding of fatigue, but fear it will simply gather dust. At £80 I also feel this book is somewhat over priced for a personal reader.