The holiday hustle is upon us. Truth is, we have already experienced a great deal of hustle even before the holiday season arrived. Today’s article

Shiftworkers have a special role in the workforce, especially those who work rotating shifts. Most Controllers in the pipeline industry work 12 hour rotating shifts.

The heavy cloud of fatigue weighs on each one of us at some time or another. Pipeliners who work rotating shifts are more vulnerable to

Like air and water, we need sleep to survive. In fact, the brain will force sleep, if necessary, in the form of microsleeps. A microsleep

The only means of reversing fatigue is with sleep. Sleep debt refers to the mismatch of sleep you need, versus the amount of sleep you

Summer is the time of year when many of us plan a vacation in the hopes of catching up on much needed rest and relaxation.

Our Team Resource Management course includes a section on defining and applying professionalism. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) believes professionalism is important

One of the primary ways Controllers maintain situation awareness in the control room is with information perceived visually. The muscles and fibers in and around

When sleep seems like an elusive dream, you’ve checked all of the other boxes to see that your sleep hygiene is good and there are

Are all calories created equal? If you are a calorie counter, you may choose your meals based on calorie content and taste. This leads one

My mother suddenly became very ill the day after Christmas. Her blood pressure and heart rate had been somewhat erratic for weeks. Could it be

Any day is a good day to implement a plan for improvement. It may be safe to say that most of us have made attempts

We interviewed a young shift worker who admitted to getting only 5 or 6 hours of sleep each night. He reported that he stayed very

Sleepiness and driving are a dangerous combination. According to the National Sleep Foundation, more than 6,400 U.S. deaths are attributed to drowsy driving each year.

Choices produce outcomes. Two people can go into the same grocery store, push the same sized carts through it, and choose from the same inventory.

Caffeine consumption is not without controversy in the community of health and wellness advisors even though it’s legal and unregulated throughout most of the world.

Our bodies are designed with an innate 24-hour cycle of energy and hormone production. Light enters the eyes and stimulates the brain to wake. When

Several years ago, while visiting a Control Room, I had a lengthy conversation with a female Controller who had over ten years of experience at

The two processes controlling our sleeping and waking periods are the circadian rhythm and sleep/wake homeostasis. The circadian rhythm changes with light and dark that

Imagine our surprise at seeing Controllers turn on the radio, push away from their consoles, and begin dancing in the middle of the Control Room

Controllers and their companies share responsibility for ensuring there is adequate time for getting sufficient rest between shifts. The company must provide time for employees

Joe has just completed the shift turnover and is finally ready to leave after his rotation on night shift. Due to a possible leak on

February is American and Canadian Heart Health Month. This is a time when we highlight the need to remind people that heart disease remains the

What unexpected and unanticipated lessons have been learned in the past year? What new lessons will this year bring? Will organizations and individuals do things

The holiday season has arrived. Some of you feel elated by that; others feel a deep sense of dread. This time of year can be

The Scrabble dictionary contains 4,030 four-letter words. There are, undoubtedly, many fine words contained in that list such as ship, goat, free and plot to

Air, food, water and sleep are some of the most important resources our bodies need. Sleep is a basic, physiological need which our bodies cannot

Sleep is critical for brain functions. Most of us need our brains to perform tasks and relate to others, yet many don’t take seriously the

I’ve heard it said that common sense is not so common. No one is born with it, but it can certainly be developed over time.

Fatigue affects us in various ways. One example we can look to is exercise. If you’ve ever worked out with weights, you’ve experienced muscle fatigue.

In 1903 Thomas Edison, concerned about the healthcare of his time stated, “The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his

Have you ever walked out of your house, forgot to bring your cell phone with you, and nearly panicked at the thought of leaving without

Control room operators, like many of us, spend a great deal of time sitting. It is likely the most comfortable position for monitoring the pipeline,

The month of March is an important time in my family.  My dad, brother, nephew, granddaughter, and I have birthdays this month. We enjoy getting

Have you ever had a car, motorcycle or truck that you liked a lot? You probably took very good care of the engine in that

During a recent workload assessment, I observed a Controller who completed the shift-change process thoroughly, then immediately set to work organizing his console. He rearranged

I’ve heard it said that the best shift schedule is the one you are not working. That’s a common perception, possibly because shift work is

Fatigue can be defined as a complex state characterized by a lack of alertness and reduced mental and physical performance, often accompanied by drowsiness.  Each

How does the food you eat affect your ability to be “fit for duty”?  Primarily it is important to provide energy to your body that

Good morning! Did you wake singing, “Zippadee-doo-dah, zippadee-a; my, oh my, what a wonderful day”? A good night’s sleep can leave you feeling livelier, with

Water is the primary foundational component of health. It’s known to be the most important nutrient we take in because it’s involved in every function

Bill Engvall made the phrase, “Here’s your sign” famous when he made us laugh about people not getting the picture, not understanding the obvious. The

For some of our readers, the abuse of drugs may be a very sensitive topic because you or someone you care about has become physically

The term ‘circadian’ comes from the Latin circa meaning around, and diem meaning day. Our bodies go through a fairly predictable series of processes in

Stonewall Jackson made the song “B.J. the D.J.” famous in 1963. Have you heard it? It tells a story about a friend of the singer

Have you been told you snore loudly and often? Do you ever stop breathing or have difficulty catching your breath during sleep? Do you find

Oh, just look at them . . . isn’t this a heart-warming scene? You can see the connection between them. Do you remember the feelings

Are you one to set goals for yourself at the start of a new year? Even if you haven’t had great success completing the steps

Family Gathering In The Lost Country by William Gay, there is a passage about a hospital that is appropriate for those who work shift work

Sleepy Driving Drowsy Driving Prevention Week is scheduled in November.  The National Safety Foundation sponsors it and the organization provides information at https://sleepfoundation.org/drowsy-driving.  How many

Fatigue Training and Education Carlette is a pipeline controller in a hazardous liquids pipeline control center.  We were providing control room team training for the

Off Duty But Not Resting What shiftworkers do when off duty is a contentious subject.  Scarlet Knight and I were leading fatigue risk management training

Investigating Fatigue Factors In planning this article, I recalled an operational near miss with my fatigue as the cause. In the 1980s I worked eight

Types of Fatigue For work and pleasure, I traveled every week between the first week of February and the last week of May.  After I

How Exercise Affects Sleep When I was a teenager, my best friend’s family had a lake house with a dock and a boat. She and