New system improves alertness, safety among shift workers
Tuesday, 26 October, 2021
researchers and optimisation technology company have developed a cloud-based rostering system to improve alertness, productivity and safety among shift workers.
Funded by the , the AlertSafe rostering system has already been trialled in hospitals across Victoria, including and . 黑料吃瓜群网 studies have reported a 15% reduction in medical incidents as a result of staff fatigue.
According to , shift work and irregular or long working hours can adversely affect the health, safety and wellbeing of workers. Strategies for alertness management are becoming increasingly important, and everyone in the workplace has a responsibility to ensure impaired alertness 鈥 or fatigue聽鈥 doesn鈥檛 create a work health and safety risk.
Professor Mark Wallace from the Faculty of IT said the system tracks the impact of shift work on each individual staff member during the rostering process and takes into consideration new alertness management guidelines.
It generates rosters using artificial intelligence-based optimisation, which infers the consequences of each assignment of a shift to a person who can and cannot be assigned to other shifts, Professor Wallace said. The platform then determines smarter ways to improve a roster time until it meets the preference needs of the roster and the people working within it, he said.
Associate Professor Mark Howard, a sleep and respiratory physician from Austin Health, said healthcare workers are the biggest shift-working population in the country and the recent COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the stress they鈥檝e been placed under.
There鈥檚 been a lack of a systematic approach when it comes to effectively rostering shift workers so that they perform their roles safely and effectively, Professor Howard said, noting that the trialling allowed Austin Health to implement rostering changes for its medical staff who are working in an extremely high-pressure environment.
鈥淭he rostering changes have allowed us to carry out shorter rotations, which minimised staff burnout and stress, as well as lowering the adverse medical implications for patients.鈥
The platform was developed in a collaboration with the Faculty of Information Technology (IT) and the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health at Monash University, the Institute for Breathing and Sleep at Austin Health and the .
The algorithms developed by the Department of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence in the Faculty of IT use a mathematical model based on the underlying biology of sleep to estimate the impact of work schedules on alertness levels.
The platform, which was commercialised by Opturion, has also been used in various construction projects, engineering applications and medical transport. Ambulance Victoria and the Victorian Level Crossing Removal Program have already been implementing the system within their rostering schedules.
The Managing Director of Opturion, Dr Alan Dormer, said the platform can be applied across a variety of industries including health care, the police force, emergency services, airlines, trucking, construction and mining.
Artificial touch boosted by brain-controlled bionic hand
New research suggests that a complex sense of touch for people with spinal cord injuries is now a...
Patient-specific 3D models to assist in surgery
UNSW engineers have their sights on developing anatomically accurate 3D printed models which...
Alfred Health deploys GE system to optimise operations
The system is designed to enhance situational awareness, communication, and overall operational...