By Antonio Visconti - C.E.O./Founder, SOBEREYE INC.
Has this ever happened to you? You are driving at night, you are tired, your eyes are slowly closing, and you lower the car window to let fresh air in to keep you awake. I have done it more than once. When I think about it, I know how lucky I have been for not have gotten into an accident.
According to the National Sleep Foundation, about half of U.S. adult drivers admit to consistently getting behind the wheel while feeling drowsy, while according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, every year about 100,000 police-reported crashes involve drowsy driving.
But even knowing that, I must ask myself why I have done it so many times? Why don’t I stop and rest instead of driving?
The answer is a “Can Do” attitude that, while helpful most of the time, in that very moment prevented me from accepting I was not okay to drive. In my head, I’m saying: “I’m almost there, I’m okay, I can do this.”
This same situation happens regularly in workplaces around the country. Every day, thousands of people show up to work tired, fatigued. They are either sleep-deprived or impacted by medication, drugs, or alcohol. But their sense of duty and a “Can Do” attitude make them ignore their condition and keep going.
Up to 90 percent of workplace accident reports indicate “human error” as a contributing cause, and that human error is so often due to impairment from fatigue, alcohol, and drugs.
Most of us don’t think we are impaired. This is where our SOBEREYE safety solutions have a major impact. Since its introduction in 2018, we have verified that using impairment testing in the workplace is a highly effective, efficient, and educational solution. Besides the obvious benefit of stopping impaired workers from engaging in a dangerous activity. The self-administered test helps people to learn about their condition without excuses, developing what we like to call “Impairment Awareness.”
Nobody goes to work expecting to get injured or killed. when people develop impairment awareness, they investigate what is causing it and subsequently make changes to address whatever underlying habit or issue may be affecting them.
Impairment awareness helps people to avoid unsafe behaviors, thus preventing accidents and saving lives.