Sleep-health indicators and sleep improvement

Sleepfit

Name: Why do we sleep?
Uploaded: 2026-10-30
Duration: 1 min 7 s
Description: Measurement of the sleep your workforce is actually getting, with established sleep-health questionnaires that identify employees who may benefit from clinical evaluation, including people who would not otherwise present to a health service.

Measurement of the sleep your workforce is actually getting, with established sleep-health questionnaires that identify employees who may benefit from clinical evaluation, including people who would not otherwise present to a health service.

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Health & Wellbeing solution Risk & Safety solution

The problem

The sleep problems that matter most are the ones nobody reports

Sleep apnoea, insomnia and distress are common in shift-working populations and mostly undiagnosed. They do not show up in a roster or a health plan until something goes wrong.

Sleepfit measures sleep health at population scale, privately, identifies employees who may benefit from clinical evaluation, and gives each person a route to their own doctor.

**Why do we sleep?** Watch the video · 1:07

The size of the problem

National figures for Singapore, from published research. They are modelled, not measured in your workforce.

27.6%have inadequate sleep2022 (SMHS 2016, fieldwork 2016-2018)
30.5%projected to have moderate-to-severe sleep apnoea2016 (Singapore Health Study 2012)
7.4%projected to have insomnia2024 (fieldwork May 2020-Jun 2021)
S$2,312lost productivity per affected employee each year

Sources

Lee YY, et al. Sleep quality of Singapore residents: findings from the 2016 Singapore Mental Health Study. Sleep Medicine: X, 2022.
Tan A, et al. Prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing in a multiethnic Asian population in Singapore. Respirology, 2016.
Satghare P, et al. Insomnia during the COVID-19 pandemic: prevalence and correlates in a multi-ethnic population Singapore. BMC Public Health, 2024.
Rosekind MR, et al. The Cost of Poor Sleep: Workplace Productivity Loss and Associated Costs. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 2010;52(1):91-98, applied to average earnings in Singapore (MOM, mean gross monthly income from work of full-time employed residents, 2Q 2026 preliminary, excluding bonuses).

Stories

When a sleep disorder went unchecked

Published cases from Singapore and Australia where sleep apnoea, insomnia or chronic short sleep sat behind a crash, a claim or lost work.

Jun 2017 · Victoria, Australia
Taxi driver with severe undiagnosed sleep apnoea hits aged-care minibus, three residents die; convictions quashed
- Safety
- Legal
A taxi driver carrying clients of a disability service drove through a rural give-way intersection without braking and struck a minibus taking nine aged-care residents home from a day trip; three of the elderly passengers died. Two hours later he was seen falling asleep and snoring in a busy hospital emergency department, and he was later diagnosed with very severe obstructive sleep apnoea (69 breathing stops an hour). He was convicted and jailed for six years, but the Court of Appeal quashed all the convictions because the jury could not exclude that his undiagnosed apnoea left him in microsleeps or diminished consciousness, so his driving may not have been conscious and voluntary.
Case AU-transport-35Report an issue
Aug 2016 · South Australia, Australia
Paramedic with undiagnosed sleep apnoea falls asleep; patient dies in ambulance rollover
- Safety
- Legal
During an overnight patient transfer, an ambulance left the road at about 2:50 am, hit a tree and rolled; the patient died and two others were seriously injured. The paramedic driving told police he fell asleep, and was later diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnoea that an expert said was probably present at the time. The District Court of South Australia acquitted him of dangerous driving charges because it could not exclude that he fell asleep without warning due to the undiagnosed condition.
Case AU-emergency-01Report an issue
May 2021 · Victoria, Australia
Tour minibus driver with poorly treated sleep apnoea dozes off; passenger killed, driver jailed
- Safety
- Legal
A minibus carrying a seniors' club on a silo art tour left the road in northern Victoria after the driver fell asleep, killing a passenger and leaving three others with life-threatening injuries. Passengers had seen the bus drift onto the gravel shoulder about 10 times that morning. The driver had had sleep apnoea since the mid-1990s, and his CPAP data showed only about four hours' use a night, heavy mask leakage and 22 breathing events an hour. He pleaded guilty in the County Court and was jailed.
Case AU-transport-19Report an issue
Dec 2017 · Singapore
Guard on 10 straight 12-hour shifts faints on patrol; fatigue held work-related
- Safety
- Legal
In 2017 a security officer who had worked 12-hour shifts for ten straight days without a rest day fainted on patrol, fell and suffered a serious spinal injury. The Assistant Commissioner for Labour found that tiredness from his employment caused or contributed to the fainting, and in 2020 the High Court upheld the work injury compensation award.
Case SG-security-01Report an issue
Dec 2021 · Victoria, Australia
Truck driver with sleep apnoea and work diary breaches ploughs into stopped traffic, killing a toddler: 12.5 years' jail
- Safety
- Legal
- Financial
A 43-tonne prime mover driver who had sleep apnoea, at most six hours' sleep opportunity the night before, and a history of work diary and rest-break breaches wandered across lanes on a major freeway for half an hour, alarming other motorists who wondered if he was asleep. He then ran into the back of slowed traffic at roadworks, killing a two-year-old girl and seriously injuring her parents. The court found beyond reasonable doubt that he was fatigued, knew his driving was badly impaired and chose to push on. He was jailed for 12 and a half years and also fined for the work diary and hours offences.
Case AU-transport-42Report an issue
Dec 2016 · Victoria, Australia
Fuel tanker driver with undiagnosed severe sleep apnoea runs a stop sign, killing a motorist: coroner finds OSA probably contributed
- Safety
- Legal
About 40 minutes into his shift, a B-double fuel tanker driver for a national logistics company failed to slow or brake for a stop sign and drove into the path of a utility, killing its driver and seriously injuring the passenger. The criminal prosecution was permanently stayed in 2019. At the 2023 inquest the coroner ruled out a heart attack and ordinary tiredness as causes. She found it highly probable that the driver had severe obstructive sleep apnoea at the time, which had not been diagnosed until 2018, and that its symptoms may have contributed. Witnesses had seen him swerving across his lane just before the crash. The driver had held current commercial and dangerous goods fitness-to-drive clearances, and the coroner recommended a public campaign on drivers' duty to report medical conditions.
Case AU-transport-47Report an issue
May 2023 · Singapore
Minibus driver who fell asleep from lack of rest kills pedestrian on zebra crossing
- Safety
- Legal
A minibus driver carrying young children briefly fell asleep at the wheel around midday because of a lack of rest, failed to see a pedestrian on a zebra crossing and struck her; she died six days later. The driver, then in his late 60s, pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention causing death. The judge named his fatigue, and the risk it posed to others, as an aggravating factor and imposed jail and an eight-year driving ban.
Case SG-transport-02Report an issue
Apr 2019 · Western Australia, Australia
Semi-trailer driver impaired by fatigue runs red light and kills motorist; court finds undiagnosed severe sleep apnoea
- Safety
- Legal
A semi-trailer driver at work drove through a red light at about 12:49 pm and slammed into a car turning across the intersection, killing its driver. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter, and it was accepted he was impaired by fatigue. A sleep physician later diagnosed severe obstructive sleep apnoea, likely present for at least three years, and the Supreme Court of Western Australia found on the balance of probabilities that the driver had undiagnosed sleep apnoea at the time. The court also found earlier methylamphetamine use had disrupted his sleep the night before, and that he was not aware his capacity to drive was impaired when he started work.
Case AU-transport-38Report an issue
Jul 2018 · Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Tipper driver who ignored two sleep-study referrals kills child at traffic lights
- Safety
- Legal
A medium rigid tipper truck ran into the back of a family car waiting at traffic lights, killing a four-year-old boy. The driver had been referred for sleep studies in 2013 and 2017 for suspected sleep apnoea, had reported drowsiness to doctors, had felt more tired than usual in the days before, and never told his employer; after the crash he was diagnosed with very severe obstructive sleep apnoea. He pleaded guilty to culpable driving causing death and was jailed, and the territory coroner later called for mandatory reporting of drivers' health conditions and incentives for fatigue detection technology.
Case AU-transport-10Report an issue
Jun 2021 · Singapore
Bus captain on 4 hours' sleep closes eyes for 3 seconds and crashes; jailed 12 weeks
- Safety
- Legal
A public bus captain who had slept only about four hours before starting a 5:30am shift dozed off at the wheel mid-afternoon, closing his eyes for about three seconds before the bus crashed into a bus stop bollard. Three of the ten passengers were injured, including fractures. The prosecution told the court the crash was caused by his lack of sleep; he was jailed for 12 weeks and banned from driving for five years. The operator said its roster gave at least nine hours' rest between shifts, a reminder that a compliant roster does not guarantee that sleep was actually obtained.
Case SG-transport-01Report an issue

See all fatigue news

How it works

Sleep health, measured privately

Each employee completes a private, clinically structured sleep assessment on their own phone and gets a result, an action plan and, where a score is above a questionnaire’s cut-off, a letter they can choose to take to their own doctor. It works at the level of defence where most fatigue starts: whether people actually get the sleep their roster allows. The employer sees aggregate results only.

The five levels of defence

Step 01
Assessment
A clinically structured sleep assessment on the employee’s own phone. Five published instruments, one sitting.
Step 02
Result and action plan
An individual result with an action plan generated from their own responses, not a generic library.
Step 03
A letter for their doctor
Where a score is above a questionnaire’s cut-off, a consent-gated letter the employee can choose to download and take to their own doctor.
Step 04
Check-in and reassessment
A three-item daily check-in (duration, quality, energy) feeding a sleep diary, and a reassessment at 14 days.

Undiagnosed sleep apnoea changed my family. It’s treatable, and too often nobody asks. Sleepfit asks, privately, and gives each person a route to their own doctor, before it costs someone else’s family.

Daniel PlattCo-founder and CEO

Sleep is so often overlooked, yet it’s the foundation of good health. Many people with a sleep problem don’t know it, or don’t know it’s treatable. Sleepfit gives everyone a private, easy way to check their sleep health, and somewhere to go next.

Melissa WebsterFounder

Rollout

How we roll it out

Scope
Agree the cohort and how people will hear about it.
Set up
Access, your privacy notice and the minimum cell size for reporting.
Launch
People complete the assessment privately, on their own phone.
Review
Aggregate results after launch, and again after reassessment.

What the client sees

Who sees what

No individual result is reported to the employer. A minimum cell size applies to every aggregate figure so small teams cannot be re-identified. Any letter for the employee’s doctor is released only by the employee.

Priced on prevalence, not headcount. How pricing works.

The employee
Everything, privately
- Their result and action plan
- A letter for their own doctor, released only by them
- Their daily check-in and sleep diary
Their manager
Nothing
- Any result
The employer
Aggregate results
- Reporting by cohort and, where numbers permit, location and craft
- A minimum cell size on every figure
- Any individual result
- Any letter for an employee’s doctor

Evidence

What we can show

Two independent studies from CQUniversity’s Appleton Institute found significant improvement in subjective sleep health and insomnia severity after using Sleepfit. Neither was powered to establish efficacy against a control group.

In a rail deployment, 62% of employees who scored above a questionnaire’s cut-off took action towards clinical follow-up.

What it does not establish

It identifies employees who may benefit from clinical evaluation. It does not diagnose any condition. Only a health professional can do that. A score above a questionnaire’s cut-off suggests a conversation with a health professional may be helpful; it is not a condition, and an above-cut-off rate is not a prevalence rate. It does not measure fatigue at the point of duty or make a fitness-for-duty determination.

In practice

Rail · Shift work

A rail operator offered Sleepfit to its shift-working workforce.

More than 1,000 employees completed a sleep assessment. A quarter came back for a second, a mean of 93 days later.

In partnership with

Research partner
Independently studied Sleepfit with shift workers
Researchers at CQUniversity’s Appleton Institute ran two independent, peer-reviewed studies of Sleepfit, with paramedics and with shift workers. They found significant improvement in subjective sleep health and insomnia severity; neither study was powered to establish efficacy against a control group.

FAQs

Questions we’re often asked

Does the employer see individual results?

No. No individual result is reported to the employer. Reporting is aggregate, with a minimum cell size so small teams can’t be re-identified, and any letter for the employee’s doctor is released only by the employee.

Trust and security Privacy policy

Does Sleepfit diagnose sleep disorders?

No. It does not diagnose any condition. Only a health professional can do that. Sleepfit identifies employees who may benefit from clinical evaluation, and the employee can choose to download a consent-gated letter to take to their own doctor.

What does the assessment use?

Five published instruments in one sitting, including STOP-Bang for sleep apnoea risk, the Regensburg Insomnia Scale and the PHQ-4.

The science

What evidence is there that it helps?

The science

How is it priced?

On prevalence, not headcount: your whole cohort gets access, and you pay for the share predicted to need it.

How pricing works

Can someone delete their account and data?

Yes, at any time, in the app or by request. All personal data associated with the account is removed, and deletion can’t be undone.

Delete an account Privacy policy

Pathways

Where to go next

Sleepfit and regulation across 32 industries in Singapore

32 / 32

Supports your general duty of care

See how Sleepfit fits the regulation in your industry, and what else we would start with there.

All 33 industries

Interested in Sleepfit for your organisation?

Tell us a little about your organisation and which solutions you’re looking at, and our team will be in touch.

Express interest See your workforce snapshot

Sleepfit’s home screen: an evening greeting, today’s must-do action (explore your sleep apnoea recommendations) and a goal to log.

The sleep problems that matter most are the ones nobody reports

The size of the problem

When a sleep disorder went unchecked

Taxi driver with severe undiagnosed sleep apnoea hits aged-care minibus, three residents die; convictions quashed

How it works

Sleep health, measured privately

Assessment

Result and action plan

A letter for their doctor

Check-in and reassessment

How we roll it out

Scope

Set up

Launch

Review

Who sees what

Everything, privately

Nothing

Aggregate results

What we can show

What it does not establish

In practice

A rail operator offered Sleepfit to its shift-working workforce.

In partnership with

Independently studied Sleepfit with shift workers

Questions we’re often asked

Where to go next

Sleepfit and regulation across 32 industries in Singapore

Other solutions interconnected with Sleepfit

SleepWellBaby

Fatiguefit4Duty

Awareness eLearning

Interested in Sleepfit for your organisation?