Researching fatigue in transport systems has been a long haul, and it remains debatable that valid, practicable, and socially acceptable solutions to the variety of potential fatigue problems that still plague transport operators are currently available. This unsatisfactory situation results not so much from disagreement on the definition of fatigue, or its causation, or its possible countermeasures, as from the conflicts that are seen to exist between the effects of those countermeasures and the economic viability of those systems in which the problems largely exist. This commentary thus presents the view that fatigue as it is commonly experienced today, and especially in transport systems, is essentially of society's own making, although it is suffered mainly by individuals working in those systems.
Abstract