Evaluation of fatigue management technologies using weighted feature matrix method. Paper presented at the 4th international driving symposium on human factors in driver assessment, training and vehicle design, held in Stevenson, Washington, USA, Jul...

Operator fatigue is one of the most prevalent root causes of accidents, both on the highway and in workplaces where heavy equipment is used and 12-hour shifts are employed, such as in the mining industry. In response to this concern, a growing number of Fatigue Management Technologies (FMT) are becoming available to help maintain operator alertness and performance levels by detecting operator fatigue and interfacing with the operator and/or supervisor to prevent accidents and incidents. In light of the numerous competing technologies, the research community, as well as industry, could benefit from the flexible evaluation tool proposed here. It will assist industries as a whole, and corporations more specifically, in identifying the best FMT solutions for different work and/or driving situations. This project was specifically focused on the needs of operators of heavy equipment in the mining industry, but could also be of value to other like industries where shift work is necessary and maintaining high levels of alertness are crucial for ensuring workplace safety and productivity. (Author/publisher)