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Abstract

Fatigue is a common health problem among healthcare workers, ranging from ambulance drivers to specialist doctors. In Malaysia, a majority of healthcare workers prefer to commute to work by their own vehicles compared to public transport. Thus, they are exposed to excessive fatigue on the road while commuting to and back from work. The aim of this study is to find out the role of fatigue in association with road crashes among healthcare workers. The research was conducted using the semi-quantitative approach based on self-reported questionnaires. In total, 551 healthcare workers from five selected hospitals were involved in this study. Results showed that prolonged travelling time and distance to and back from work increased the risk of crash involvement. Most of the participants (37%) reported that the causes of road crashes were due to fatigue, sleepiness and microsleep while driving to and back from work. In addition, the findings show that the road crashes and near misses involvement on the road were significant due to fatigue. This research suggests that the hospitals' management may need to review their staffs' job scopes and workloads to overcome the fatigue problems and consider their feedback when designing work schedules. In addition, the management may take into consideration the need to relocate staff based on prolonged distance from home to the workplace and vice-versa.