Metro Launching Sleep Study

Examining fatigue among employees

Metro will start monitoring some of its employees next year in hopes of learning how their sleep habits affect their jobs.

The Washington Post reports that employees who operate and maintain buses and trains will log their activities and wear motion-detecting devices, similar to a wristwatch, that measure how much they sleep as a part of the study.

Metro is trying to combat worker fatigue after a 2011 study found that Metro employees, in what they call safety-critical jobs, worked longer hours than allowed and there were no limits on the number of days they could work in a row.

But, according to the Post, the firm that worked with Metro on the original study found that the failure to get enough sleep and an employee’s schedule had an even bigger impact on fatigue. That has Metro considering rotating shifts, especially so late-night workers can work an occasional day shift.

Metro is asking for $5.5 million for fiscal year 2014 to fund the fatigue study and whatever recommendations come from it.
 

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