Impairment, which the National Safety Council (NSC) defines as a temporary negative change in a person’s ability to do their work normally or safely, regardless of cause, is often not examined at the same level as other safety risks.

One of the major causes of impairment is fatigue. And for that reason, the NSC recently announced it is offering a grant from its 2026 Work to Zero Fatigue Pilot Grant program to Impairment Science. Inc. 

The program is an initiative to advance innovative technologies that can help prevent fatigue-related incidents and injuries in the workplace. 

Fatigue is a high safety risk. One study, from NSC, found that workers on night shifts face a 30% greater risk of injury, while employees working 12-hour shifts experience nearly a 40% increase in injury risk. 

Other Contributing Factors of Impairment

Fatigue is one example of impairment, but there are other contributing factors including:

Chemical – chemical exposures, substance use;

Physical – exposure to extreme temperatures, fatigue, improper shift scheduling, sleep deprivation;

Psychosocial – violence, harassment, anxiety, depression, stress

Primary ways to detect and measure potential impairment include:

Using risk and contributing factors

• Refers to workplace and worker risk and contributing factors such as substance use, fatigue and stress
• Primarily measured through employee surveys and drug testing
• Indicates the presence of contributing factors, not their impact on the person’s ability to do their job
• Measuring potential contributing factors cannot determine what causes behavior changes

Using neurocognitive tests

• Refers to testing a person’s cognitive and psychomotor performance
• Measured through employee’s communication, memory, attention, processing speed, finger dexterity, balance and more
• These tests capture the person’s function more objectively
• Neurocognitive tests do not provide insights into the factors impacting cognitive impairment