Work-related fatigue guide for employers

Guidance on the following pages may help employers prevent and respond to work-related fatigue.

Employers have new duties to manage psychosocial hazards

The Occupational Health and Safety (Psychological Health) Regulations 2025 comes into effect on 1 December 2025. These regulations require employers to:

identify and control psychosocial hazards and risks
review and revise risk control measures for psychosocial hazards in certain circumstances.

This information has not yet been updated to reflect these new duties.

More information on employer duties

Definition of work-related fatigue

Fatigue is an acute and/or ongoing state that leads to physical, mental or emotional exhaustion and prevents people from functioning safely. Working long hours, with intense mental or physical effort, or during some or all of the natural time for sleep, can cause fatigue. All of these have obvious implications for workplace and public safety. Fatigue can also have long-term effects on health.

Work-related fatigue guide for employers

Employers have new duties to manage psychosocial hazards

Definition of work-related fatigue

Introduction to fatigue in the workplace

Risk management approach to fatigue

Implementing risk management systems to control work-related fatigue

Fatigue management policy and procedure