Gas Pipeline Industry Pak

EmpCenter® Fatigue Management

Gas Pipeline Industry Pak

Background

EmpCenter Fatigue ManagementIn 2006, the Pipeline Inspection, Protection, Enforcement and Safety Act of 2006 (PIPES) took aim at improving the overall safety and work environment for control room personnel. This was reinforced through the passage of CFR Title 49 – a.k.a. ‘Regulation 49’ – which addressed several topics including SCADA design, alarm management and, most importantly, operator fatigue.

In order to minimize the risk for your employees and your organization, you need to proactively identify, monitor, and manage those work patterns and conditions which create fatigue. EmpCenter Fatigue Management (FM) was designed from the ground-up to accommodate these critical needs and its Gas Pipeline Industry Pak delivers pre-configured rule templates based specifically on CFR Title 49 mandates.

Aligned to Your Business Needs

The pre-configured rules included within the Gas Pipeline Industry Pak are just the beginning. At WorkForce Software, we begin with the fundamental understanding that, despite similarities you may share with peers in your industry, your organization is unique. The policies, processes, and workforce you employ combine to form a distinctive environment. Our engagement includes a complete audit and review process identifying unique rules that may prevent fatigue in your organization.

WorkForce Software experts work with you to examine shift patterns, review job types, and explore specific tasks unique to your business, in an effort to identify underlying sources of fatigue. Once determined, this information can be retained within the EmpCenter FM system and leveraged to measure an employee’s relative ‘fitness for duty.’

Monitoring & Managing Fatigue

EmpCenter FM leverages employee time and labor data (sourced from either your existing workforce management solution or through tight integration with EmpCenter Time and Attendance) to track hours worked, tasks performed, breaks taken, time-off scheduled and virtually any other parameter you may define. Then, EmpCenter FM identifies and ‘flags’ those employees who are most at risk of becoming fatigued based on the established conditions.

The ‘fatigued’ classification is entirely flexible and can be derived strictly from CFR Title 49 guidelines or on any conditions you define. Factors leading to a ‘fatigue’ classification may include:

  • Overnight shifts
  • Dangerous or highly-repetitive jobs
  • Schedules that lack regular periods of rest
  • Work sets that extend beyond the industry standard
  • Failing to take time off at regular intervals

Once an employee is flagged as a fatigue risk, a number of configurable actions, matching your corporate policies, are available, such as: proactively notifying managers when an employee meets a fatigue condition, removing an employee from the pool of ‘available workers’ eligible for shift placement, and scheduling mandatory days off. Furthermore, EmpCenter FM will also track assessments and waivers, as well as provide employees with an opportunity to ‘self-declare’ fatigue, providing yet another layer of protection for you and your organization.

Gas Pipeline Industry Pak Features

Arguably the most valuable feature of the Gas Pipeline Industry Pak is commitment. With this solution, WorkForce Software will deliver a fully compliant solution that simplifies fatigue management and provides additional protection through a detailed, automated audit trail.

Furthermore, experience has shown complex regulatory mandates are often subject to future debate and multiple revisions over time. WorkForce Software will monitor these discussions and, as definitive rule revisions are mandated, will update your instance of EmpCenter FM to ensure compliance.

EmpCenter FM’s differentiating capabilities include:

  • Proactive warnings – informing management if time worked (or expected to be worked) will exceed thresholds
  • Fatigue scoring – through this optional feature, WorkForce Software can develop a scoring algorithm based upon factors you define, and display employees’ fatigue scores directly on their timecards; providing managers with an immediate view into the most- and least-fatigued employees.
  • Smart scheduling – If combined with EmpCenter Advanced Scheduler, the solution can ensure that only employees currently ‘fit for duty’ from a fatigue standpoint can be called out for shifts.

Combating Fatigue Produces Measurable Results

In addition to ensuring compliance with evolving mandates, proactively addressing employee fatigue can pay significant dividends, including:

  • Reduction of health-related issues and absences
  • Increased productivity
  • Improved employee morale
  • Reduced exposure to litigation and risk
  • Improved workplace safety
  • Reduction in errors and quality concerns

Summary

Combating employee fatigue is more than ‘nice to have’ for gas and pipeline professionals… it is now compulsory. EmpCenter FM’s Gas Pipeline Industry Pak draws on WorkForce Software’s extensive fatigue management experience and delivers an automated solution that both protects your employees and improves the bottom-line.