Modelling physical fatigue and recovery patterns within and across multiple shifts using a healthcare example

Work induced fatigue is associated with quality deficits, human-system errors, accidents, and injuries in the workplace, which in many industries may cause harm to employees and communities they serve. Managing physical fatigue requires tools that inform system design and management decisions. This research presents a method to quantify employee fatigue levels across multiple days. Physical workload time history from simulation provides inputs to empirically based endurance time and recovery models. Outputs include fatigue level indicators within and across multiple shifts. Three nursing example scenarios demonstrate the recovery needed over a two-week shift schedule in response to: (1) varying recovery efficiency between shifts; (2) nurse strength differences; and (3) shift scheduling changes. Scenarios showed the impact of fatigue accumulation and time spent needing recovery or time fully recovered due to competing interests outside of work, individual differences, as well as organisational influences on work scheduling. While further research is needed, the proposed method can provide work system designers and managers with critical information about employee fatigue consequences for operational and design decisions in work systems. This information is crucial for the design of safe, effective, and sustainable high-quality performance in Industry 5.0 systems.