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Southern Region Roundup
their old-school ideals at the door,
and check in for a new-age ride.
That may be hard to swallow for
many of our members who are doing
these specials regularly, to make ends
meet or get ahead.
No-one is saying that cannot still
occur, but you are living with your
head in the sand if you think the
days of doing special after special
before or after shifts without any
consequence will continue. We all
have to take responsibility for fatigue
management.
One thing I can assure you is that
we as an Executive will put pressure
on the QPS to ensure this issue
is approached in an appropriate
manner.
I hope the senior executive read this
article and look at the investigation
example I have highlighted, where the
real problems of fatigue management
are present in the QPS workplace
every day, all over the state.
The QPS senior executive ought to
realise that their exposure to the
risk of a serious incident will not
be diminished just because they
“Research
highlighted that when
a person becomes
fatigued, often a short
power nap of about
20 minutes is a very
real and effective way
to rejuvenate
that person.”
commissioned a well-respected,
switched-on expert on fatigue
management to put together some
excellent presentations for them.
I call upon the QPS to take this
issue seriously and embrace some
of the notions Peter Simpson has
suggested.
We need to move away from the old
days of thinking, ‘if you can’t stand
the heat, get out of the kitchen’, to
a more modern day approach of
thinking, ‘what can we do in this
instance to reduce the fatigue of our
officers?’
In doing so, we will ensure that
officers are capable of their best
output every time they step foot in
the office.
Keep up the good fight and stay
awake, alert, and safe.
Darren LEES (Beefa)
Regional Representative
Southern Region
QPU Treasurer
0417 776 184
Queensland Police Union Journal August 2012 11