Noticias
Hallazgos, procesos judiciales y cambios regulatorios sobre la fatiga laboral en Estados Unidos, de lo más reciente a lo más antiguo.
Lo último
abril de 2027
OSHA's proposed Emergency Response standard (published 5 February 2024) is at final rule stage, with a final rule projected for April 2027 and no compliance date set. As proposed, it would add written medical evaluation duties for emergency service organizations.
octubre de 2027
OSHA's heat injury and illness standard, proposed August 2024 and covering marine terminal and longshoring work, is still a proposal: a supplemental proposal is projected for December 2026 and final action for October 2027, with no compliance date set.
octubre de 2027
OSHA's heat injury and illness standard, proposed August 2024 and covering shipyard and other maritime work, is still a proposal: a supplemental proposal is projected for December 2026 and final action for October 2027. No Coast Guard change to hours of rest is proposed.
octubre de 2027
OSHA's heat injury and illness standard, proposed August 2024, is still a proposal: a supplemental proposal is projected for December 2026 and final action for October 2027, with no compliance date set. Colorado plans are due 1 September 2028; Virginia must adopt heat rules by 1 May 2028.
octubre de 2027
OSHA's heat proposal (August 2024) expects a supplemental proposal in December 2026 and final action in October 2027. FMCSA's proposed pilots letting drivers pause the 14-hour window or split sleeper berth time (17 September 2025) had not launched as at 1 October 2026.
Fecha por confirmar
FMCSA proposed two hours-of-service pilot programs on 17 September 2025: one lets drivers pause the 14-hour window for a 30-minute to 3-hour break, the other allows more flexible sleeper berth splits. Neither had launched as at 1 October 2026.
Fecha por confirmar
Michigan Senate Bills 296 and 297, passed by the Senate on 15 April 2026, would bar mandatory nurse overtime and require 8 hours off after a 12-hour shift; they await the House. Pennsylvania's Patient Safety Act (HB 106) on nurse ratios remains before the Senate.
Fecha por confirmar
NRC proposed on 26 June 2026 to add a sequestration-event exception to Part 26 work-hour controls and end annual fatigue reporting; comments closed 27 July 2026. OSHA's heat proposal (August 2024) expects a supplemental proposal in December 2026 and final action in October 2027.
Fecha por confirmar
NRC proposed on 26 June 2026 to add a sequestration-event exception to the 10 CFR Part 26 work-hour controls that bind nuclear security officers, and to end annual fatigue reporting. OSHA's heat proposal (August 2024) expects final action in October 2027.
Fecha por confirmar
The Fatigued Pilot Protection Act (H.R. 7191), introduced 21 January 2026, would require the FAA to apply Part 117 flight, duty and rest limits to all-cargo pilots within 180 days of enactment. It sits with the House Aviation Subcommittee with no markup as at 1 October 2026.
Cambio regulatorio · 14 jul 2026
Your fatigue training duties under Parts 270 and 271 are unchanged.
FuenteCambio regulatorio · 4 jun 2026
Cambio regulatorio · 3 dic 2025
The sufficient-staffing duty in 42 CFR 483.35 and state staffing laws still apply.
FuenteCaso · dic 2025 · Nevada, United States
An armed patrol officer for a security company in Nevada fell asleep while driving to respond to a call and hit the car ahead hard enough to deploy the airbags, suffering head and leg injuries. The workers' compensation claim was denied at every level, and the Nevada Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that injuries caused solely by the personal risk of falling asleep are not covered by the street-risk rule. The court noted the officer had not shown he was drowsy because of his job, such as long or unusual hours, and that the employer's knowledge he had fallen asleep on the job before was not enough without evidence about its policies, procedures or training or about industry standards.
Caso US-security-07Informar de un error
Caso · abr 2025 · Massachusetts, United States
A commercial fishing vessel grounded on an island at 0731 while the captain navigated alone on autopilot and the two deckhands slept. The NTSB found the captain fell asleep due to fatigue from accumulated sleep debt and poor sleep quality: in the 48 hours before the grounding, during which he made three fishing trips totalling 29 hours of fishing, he slept about 8 hours, in two 2-hour segments and one 4-hour segment. The vessel was a constructive total loss; it had no watch alarm, which the NTSB said may have woken him.
Caso US-agriculture-08Informar de un error
Caso · oct 2024 · Texas, United States
A rehabilitation and assisted living facility hired a night-shift nurse with a sleep disorder for three 12-hour shifts a week, then told her she must also work a fourth 12-hour shift every other week. When she asked, as a disability accommodation, to keep to the hours in the job posting, she was demoted and then dismissed. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the facility settled for $80,000 under a three-year consent decree.
Caso US-agedcare-01Informar de un error
Caso · sept 2024 · Washington, United States
Shortly after midday a towing vessel veered out of a marked channel and struck the docks of a coast guard station, causing about $750,000 in damage and a small diesel spill. The National Transportation Safety Board found the captain had fallen asleep while navigating, likely because of increased fatigue from an acute COVID-19 infection that degraded his sleep quality, even though he reported getting enough sleep. He had felt unwell the night before and taken unprescribed medication, and was diagnosed with COVID-19 and a partial lung collapse later that day.
Caso US-maritime-09Informar de un error
Caso · ago 2024 · Virginia, United States
A state corrections officer guarding an inmate-patient in an unsecured hospital room was found apparently asleep at about 5:22 am, around 11 hours into a shift that ran from about 6:00 pm to 8:00 am. The hearing officer accepted that long hours and feeling overworked may have contributed, but held that the officer was expected to report fit for duty and to ask for relief if he could not stay alert. The termination was upheld, with its effective date corrected and back pay for any premature termination.
Caso US-corrections-07Informar de un error
Caso · may 2024 · Louisiana, United States
An 81-foot commercial shrimp trawler off Louisiana collided with an anchored bulk carrier while running on autopilot. The on-watch deckhand fell asleep at the controls; the boat had no set watch schedule and no watch alarm to wake him or alert the crew. The National Transportation Safety Board found his drowsiness was possibly due to drug use or a related sleep debt. Damage was estimated at about $223,000 and no one was hurt.
Caso US-agriculture-19Informar de un error
Caso · abr 2024 · Louisiana, United States
A barge line towboat pushing 22 laden barges struck moored barges in a fleeting area about 1.5 hours after departure; 13 barges in the tow and three moored barges broke away. The NTSB found the pilot was distracted by cell phone use, and that his fatigue from limited sleep contributed: he had declined a company-offered hotel room and driven through the night to join the vessel, getting about 4 hours of continuous sleep in the 36 hours before the collision.
Caso US-maritime-17Informar de un error
Caso · mar 2024 · Illinois, United States
A school district bus carrying three preschool children crossed the centreline of a highway in Illinois into an oncoming truck combination. The National Transportation Safety Board found the cause was the bus driver's impairment and fatigue from multiple prescription medications; she had woken early with at most six hours' sleep opportunity, the day after the daylight saving time change. The driver, the three children and the truck driver were killed, and the NTSB also found the district had no bus-specific policies or random video review.
Caso US-education-01Informar de un error
Caso · nov 2023 · Oregon, United States
Just before 6 am a towboat pushing a loaded deck barge on a major river drifted out of the channel and struck a dock after the deckhand steering it fell asleep at the helm. The National Transportation Safety Board found he was fatigued without realising it, at the end of a midnight-to-6 am watch, at a low point in his body clock, and soon after changing from normal nightly sleep to split watches with only 4 to 5 hours of sleep in each off-watch period. The pilothouse alarm meant to wake an unresponsive watchstander was defeated by a swinging radio microphone.
Caso US-maritime-08Informar de un error
Caso · sept 2023 · Louisiana, United States
A towboat struck an industrial cargo pier on a major river in Louisiana, causing about $285,000 in damage. The NTSB found the pilot fell asleep while navigating because of accumulated sleep debt, with off-watch cell phone use limiting his sleep. His watch system met the 12-hours-in-24 rule, yet he had about 3 hours of continuous sleep before the watch.
Caso US-maritime-04Informar de un error
Caso · jul 2023 · Virginia, United States
A state corrections officer on roving patrol on a short-staffed night shift was found asleep at about 5:35 am in an agency vehicle he had pulled off the road and parked with the engine running, about an hour after taking over the post. He said he was "dead tired" and admitted he had dozed off and should have radioed for relief, but did not want to inconvenience the short-staffed shift. The hearing officer upheld his termination and rejected his claim of inconsistent discipline: an officer who had nodded off inadvertently was not in the same position as one who deliberately stopped the vehicle and slept.
Caso US-corrections-06Informar de un error
Caso · jul 2023 · Illinois, United States
A coach company's motorcoach left the travel lanes of an interstate highway in Illinois at about 1:48 a.m. and struck three tractor-trailers parked on a rest-area exit ramp shoulder. The National Transportation Safety Board found the driver was fatigued, with the coach company's variable scheduling practices leading to his irregular sleep and prolonged time awake, and that a lack of truck parking contributed. Three passengers were killed and the driver and 11 passengers were injured.
Caso US-transport-52Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2023 · Pennsylvania, United States
A gasoline tank truck driven by an owner-operator under a tank carrier's operating authority took an interstate exit in Pennsylvania well above the advisory speed and overturned; the fire collapsed the northbound interstate overpass and damaged the southbound lanes. The National Transportation Safety Board found the driver's inattention was potentially associated with fatigue, noting that the night-shift driver reverted to a daytime schedule on his days off. The driver was killed.
Caso US-transport-51Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2023 · California, United States
An agricultural pilot flying a biplane for an aerial application operator struck a power line on the eighth aerial application flight of the day over rice fields and was seriously injured. The pilot cited the monotony of the flights combined with fatigue. The NTSB found the pilot's fatigue contributed and recorded it as fatigue due to work schedule.
Caso US-agriculture-07Informar de un error
Caso · feb 2023 · Arizona, United States
A self-employed building contractor driving his pickup to work drifted out of his lane on a bridge in Arizona and struck a group of cyclists. The National Transportation Safety Board found the probable cause was his diminished state of alertness, likely due to fatigue, pointing to limited sleep opportunity, a shallow lane departure, no reaction to the riders and braking only about 6 seconds after impact. Two cyclists were killed and 14 were injured.
Caso US-construction-09Informar de un error
Caso · ene 2023 · New York, United States
A box truck operated by a logistics company, which delivers car parts to dealerships overnight, crossed the centerline at about 6:00 a.m. and hit an oncoming bus carrying 14 workers to a solar farm construction site. Six bus passengers were killed. The NTSB found the probable cause was the truck driver's fatigue from insufficient sleep and circadian disruption linked to his shift-work schedule, which typically ran from about 1:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Caso US-transport-46Informar de un error
Caso · dic 2022 · Virginia, United States
A freight carrier's truck struck a slow-moving bus carrying 23 people on an interstate in Virginia at about 1:36 a.m., killing three bus occupants. The National Transportation Safety Board found the truck driver's fatigue, due to excessive driving time and limited sleep opportunity, caused his lack of response; he had worked about 75 hours in the 7 days before the crash, building a chronic sleep debt. It also found the carrier created fictitious driver accounts in its electronic logging system that let drivers exceed federal hours limits.
Caso US-transport-63Informar de un error
Caso · jul 2022 · Washington, United States
A state-operated car and passenger ferry in Washington with 94 people aboard struck a mooring dolphin while docking at a ferry terminal. The master had been reporting to the ferry at about 3:30 a.m. on his workdays for about six months and had been sleeping 5 to 6 hours a night. The National Transportation Safety Board found he was likely fatigued from an accumulated sleep debt and was incapacitated by a likely microsleep during the approach, while the quartermaster was not actively monitoring and did not intervene. One person suffered a minor injury.
Caso US-maritime-22Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2022 · Arkansas, United States
A bus driver for a nonprofit school serving people with developmental delays or disabilities was driving eight adult passengers home from its adult center when she failed to yield at a rural highway intersection in Arkansas and a tank truck combination operated by a trucking company struck the bus. The National Transportation Safety Board found she was likely fatigued, having had about a 5.5-hour sleep opportunity the night before. Five passengers were killed and five people were seriously injured.
Caso US-agedcare-06Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2022 · Texas, United States
An LNG line at an LNG export terminal exploded after thermal expansion in a section isolated from its pressure relief valve, causing a vapor cloud explosion, fireball and pool fire. In a public briefing on the root cause analysis, federal regulators PHMSA, FERC and the Coast Guard listed operator fatigue as a contributing cause, alongside procedures that let operators routinely isolate LNG line sections. PHMSA later proposed civil penalties for procedural, monitoring, control and training failures.
Caso US-oilgas-07Informar de un error
Caso · abr 2022 · California, United States
Two commercial vehicle drivers told their employer they were too sick and fatigued to drive safely. The company issued them disciplinary points, and the points led to one driver's dismissal. OSHA found this was illegal retaliation under the Surface Transportation Assistance Act and ordered more than $145,000 in back wages and damages, removal of the points and reinstatement. A fatigue-based refusal to drive is a federally protected act.
Caso US-transport-31Informar de un error
Caso · mar 2022 · California, United States
A commuter railroad passenger train traveling at 63 mph struck three maintenance vehicles being used by a contractor crew, setting fire to the first passenger car. The FRA found the probable cause was an inadequate job briefing and the roadway worker in charge releasing track protection without telling the crew, and found that worker's fatigue was a significant contributing factor, with a peak fatigue score of 108 on the day. Twelve passengers, a crew member and a contractor were injured.
Caso US-rail-21Informar de un error
Caso · mar 2022 · Virginia, United States
Just before midnight, at the end of his fifth flight of the day, a state police medical evacuation helicopter pilot misaligned the skids while landing on a ground-handling dolly at a regional airport and the helicopter went out of control; the pilot was seriously injured and two flight paramedics were unhurt. The National Transportation Safety Board found the pilot's fatigue contributed, citing the time of night, his more than 17 hours awake, the multiple flight segments and the operator's 24.3-hour pilot shifts. The operator afterwards cut pilot shifts to a maximum of 16 hours, or 12 where staffing allows.
Caso US-emergency-04Informar de un error
Caso · mar 2022 · Virginia, United States
A Virginia state police trooper, already under an active Group III written notice, was found asleep in a marked patrol vehicle on an interstate highway twice in three days in 2022. A first sergeant testified that the trooper admitted falling asleep while operating a vehicle 14 times in the previous six months. A study later found sleep apnea, but the trooper was reported not to be complying with the prescribed bi-pap treatment, and the hearing officer upheld termination, noting no accommodation had been sought before dismissal.
Caso US-emergency-14Informar de un error
Caso · feb 2022 · Massachusetts, United States
A contractor's rail grinder working under track authority struck the rear locomotive of a stopped freight train at 21 mph shortly after midnight, seriously injuring the grinder operator and the railroad's pilot. The FRA found the main cause was the freight railroad's failure to ensure on-track safety rules were followed, and found excessive fatigue risk in both the operator's and the pilot's work schedules, both of whom had switched from day to night shifts the day before. The FRA concluded there was a strong likelihood that fatigue contributed.
Caso US-rail-20Informar de un error
Caso · ene 2022 · Pennsylvania, United States
A Pennsylvania corrections officer worked his regular 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. shift and was then mandated to return for a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. overtime shift. With an hour's commute each way he could not sleep in the gap, and at about 4 a.m. he fell asleep at the wheel while driving the prison perimeter patrol and crashed into a garage, suffering a concussion. The state corrections department refused full-salary injury benefits because sleeping on duty is prohibited, but an arbitrator, and then the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, held the injury happened in the performance of his duties.
Caso US-corrections-11Informar de un error
Caso · ago 2021 · United States
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration found that a gas pipeline company, a subsidiary of a pipeline operator, failed to set control room shift lengths and rotations that gave pipeline controllers enough off-duty time for eight hours of continuous sleep, as federal fatigue rules require. The company did not contest the finding, and PHMSA issued a final compliance order requiring corrective measures; the violation counts as a prior offense in future enforcement. PHMSA closed the case in 2022 after amended procedures were submitted.
Caso US-oilgas-06Informar de un error
Caso · jul 2021 · Alaska, United States
A fishing vessel running on autopilot in darkness to the fishing grounds grounded in Alaskan waters and sank; one crew member was slightly injured and about $660,000 was lost. The NTSB found the cause was the captain's decision to get under way while fatigued. He had been awake 19.5 hours, and the grounding came at about 3am.
Caso US-agriculture-01Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2021 · Arizona, United States
A milk tank truck operated by a milk hauling company struck a queue of stopped cars on a state highway at about 10:07 p.m. without slowing, killing four people and injuring 11. The NTSB found the driver likely failed to respond because of fatigue. The carrier ran under a federal agricultural hours-of-service exemption allowing unlimited driving within 150 air miles, had no fatigue management program and did not enforce its own on-duty hours limits.
Caso US-transport-45Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2021 · At sea, Gulf of Mexico
An offshore supply vessel struck an oil and gas production platform in the Gulf of Mexico, injuring four people and causing over $360,000 in damage. The NTSB found the company did not adhere to its own 12-hour work-limit policy, which led to the fatigued mate falling asleep on watch.
Caso US-maritime-03Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2021 · Louisiana, United States
An offshore supply vessel struck a pipeline off the Louisiana coast at about 2:45 a.m. after the mate fell asleep while piloting; passengers said they were thrown from their bunks and the pipeline owner claimed damage. In the 24 hours before, the mate had stood a midnight-to-noon watch, hauled groceries for about five hours and slept about five hours before starting another midnight shift, and the company did not monitor crew hours. A federal court refused to let the owners limit their liability, finding they had not shown they lacked knowledge of the fatigue that caused the loss.
Caso US-maritime-21Informar de un error
Caso · may 2021 · Missouri, United States
Fire broke out in the engine room of a towing vessel on a major river in Missouri, causing over $700,000 in damage. The NTSB found the fatigued chief engineer had left the fuel day tank overflow valves closed, over-pressurising the fuel system. He had slept less than 5 hours in the previous 24 and woke at about 3am, in his circadian low, to prepare for fuelling.
Caso US-maritime-02Informar de un error
Caso · may 2021 · Washington, United States
A second-year orthopaedic surgery resident at a state university in Washington, treated for shift work sleep disorder, had repeated lateness and later testified that sleep deprivation from the disorder caused it. On a trauma rotation at a teaching hospital he overslept and missed rounds after working 37 hours over the previous two days, six days after emailing his program director a first draft of proposed accommodations. The faculty competency committee, told he was failing the rotation even without that day, recommended non-renewal, and the Washington Court of Appeals upheld summary judgment for the university: the accommodation claim failed because he chose to bypass the university's disability services process, and the discrimination and retaliation claims failed because he could not show the performance reasons were a pretext.
Caso US-healthcare-18Informar de un error
Caso · mar 2021 · Louisiana, United States
A towing vessel's lead barge struck a closed gate at a waterway lock before dawn, causing an estimated $2.5 million in damage. The NTSB found the captain took the helm about five minutes before entering the lock, immediately after waking from about 4.5 hours of sleep in the circadian low, and was likely impaired by sleep inertia.
Caso US-maritime-01Informar de un error
Caso · dic 2020 · Nevada, United States
A freight carrier's box truck on its regular route in Nevada struck a group of bicyclists riding in the right lane of a 75-mph highway, killing five. The National Transportation Safety Board found the probable cause was the driver's impairment and fatigue stemming from methamphetamine use: he had smoked methamphetamine after work the previous day, was likely in the withdrawal phase, and reported only about 4 hours of sleep the night before. The cyclists' decision to ride in the travel lane contributed.
Caso US-transport-62Informar de un error
Caso · jul 2020 · Florida, United States
A garbage truck driver for a waste company, who had obstructive sleep apnea, fell asleep at the wheel in 2020 and almost rear-ended another vehicle. The employer granted medical leave, but after it ended he missed a shift and then four consecutive shifts without notice and was fired under the attendance policy. The federal appeals court held that no reasonable jury could find the firing was because of his sleep apnea rather than his unexplained absences.
Caso US-waste-01Informar de un error
Caso · jul 2020 · South Carolina, United States
A pickup truck driver hauling hay for his agricultural business on a commercial interstate trip struck a patrol car stopped behind a disabled vehicle on a highway bridge, killing a tow truck operator and seriously injuring a sheriff's deputy. The driver had slept in his truck in an all-night gas station parking lot with a maximum sleep opportunity of 6.5 hours. The NTSB found his inattention was likely due to fatigue.
Caso US-agriculture-06Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2020 · Texas, United States
A crane and rigging company's driver worked 19 hours one day and could not get the legally required rest before he was due back behind the wheel. He refused to drive, and the company dismissed him. OSHA found unlawful retaliation under the Surface Transportation Assistance Act and ordered nearly $24,000 including punitive damages; in 2024 a federal administrative law judge upheld the finding and ordered back pay and expungement of his record.
Caso US-construction-02Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2020 · Wisconsin, United States
A trucking company's truck traveling at about 70 mph struck a 1.5-mile queue of slowed traffic on an interstate early in the morning, killing four people and seriously injuring three. The NTSB found the driver failed to respond because of fatigue, contributed to by undiagnosed obstructive sleep apnea. A medical examiner had certified him for only 3 months and told him to get a sleep study, but there was no evidence he did, and a second examiner later certified him for a year.
Caso US-transport-44Informar de un error
Caso · may 2020 · Florida, United States
On a night sortie a fighter jet touched down at about 202 knots, far above normal landing speed, and the aircraft was destroyed after its flight controls fought the pilot's inputs; the pilot ejected with non-life-threatening injuries. The accident investigation board found that cognitive degradation due to fatigue substantially contributed. The pilot had frequently been getting poor, interrupted sleep and rated his own cognitive degradation well above his usual baseline at the end of the mission.
Caso US-defence-03Informar de un error
Caso · abr 2020 · Illinois, United States
An industrial device manufacturer dismissed an employee because it assumed his sleep apnea and a heart condition made him unable to work. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued under the Americans with Disabilities Act, saying the worker was fully capable of the job and was fired on stereotypes. The company settled for $275,000 and agreed to training and reporting obligations. The lesson: a sleep disorder should be assessed and managed, not treated as automatic grounds for dismissal.
Caso US-manufacturing-01Informar de un error
Caso · 2020 · Oklahoma, United States (case heard in Texas)
A tractor-trailer driven by a company trainer drifted onto the shoulder of an interstate and struck a parked box truck with its hazard lights on, killing the co-driver who was asleep in the sleeper berth. A Texas jury found the driver had fallen asleep at the wheel and, in a case centred on driver fatigue and the carrier's safety policies, awarded the co-driver's family $104 million, including punitive damages. The carrier said it was evaluating its appeal options.
Caso US-transport-30Informar de un error
Caso · dic 2019 · New York, United States
A residential manager for a provider of residential care for disabled people in New York worked days but was on call around the clock. After a night call that a residence was out of food, she went shopping, returned at about 3 am, then went to the second residence and dozed off for 10 to 20 minutes at about 4:30 am because she was tired from being woken. She was fired for sleeping on duty, but the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board held she was not on duty at the time, as the second residence was fully staffed and she could have gone home, and allowed benefits.
Caso US-agedcare-09Informar de un error
Caso · ago 2019 · New Hampshire, United States
A New Hampshire corrections officer alleged that mandatory forced overtime, often over sixteen hours a week, worsened his existing conditions, and a physician diagnosed shift work sleep disorder and burnout syndrome. His doctor asked that his overtime be capped at sixteen hours a week, but under a department policy staff with any overtime restriction could work no overtime at all, and he alleged he was then teased, harassed and threatened with termination. The federal court dismissed his state-law claims on immunity grounds but allowed his federal disability accommodation and retaliation claims to proceed.
Caso US-corrections-10Informar de un error
Caso · ago 2019 · New York, United States
A sheriff's deputy driving back to the station at 6.36 am, after a voluntary overnight overtime shift outside his normal schedule, crossed into an oncoming car on a rural state road and killed its driver. The state Attorney General's special investigations unit found, from the collision reconstruction, that the crash was caused by the deputy falling asleep at the wheel; about half an hour earlier he had texted that he was exhausted. No criminal charges were brought, and the Attorney General recommended that police agencies whose officers drive alone at night in rural areas fit fleet vehicles with lane departure warning technology.
Caso US-emergency-02Informar de un error
Caso · jul 2019 · Massachusetts, United States
A mental health technician on the 11:00 pm to 7:30 am shift at a psychiatric hospital, already warned earlier that year for sleeping, fell asleep in a chair outside the room of a patient she was assigned to observe one-to-one. Her prescribed medication made her tired, but she had not told the employer, and she took no steps to stay awake. The state unemployment Board of Review reversed an award of unemployment benefits, finding that alertness was central to the job and that falling asleep was deliberate misconduct.
Caso US-alliedhealth-01Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2019 · California, United States
A dump truck driver working long days in an area recovering from a major wildfire hit stopped traffic at a red light at 55 mph with no sign of braking, setting off a four-vehicle crash that killed two people and seriously injured four. State highway patrol investigators concluded he had not obtained the sleep needed to drive his commercial vehicle safely after late nights in the preceding days, and that he fell asleep approaching the intersection. He pleaded guilty to two counts of felony vehicular manslaughter and was sentenced to ten years in state prison.
Caso US-transport-43Informar de un error
Caso · abr 2019 · Texas, United States
A railroad roadmaster with 26 years' experience slipped from a hi-rail truck's running board and injured his arm after working 16.5 hours one day and 13 hours the next during a federal inspection - about 40 hours over three days. He sued under the Federal Employers' Liability Act, saying the railroad made him work beyond his physical capacity. The state appeals court upheld judgment for the railroad: his complaints about long hours did not tell the employer he was dangerously exhausted. The case shows how fatigue claims turn on what the employer was told and recorded.
Caso US-rail-14Informar de un error
Caso · mar 2019 · Alaska, United States
A longline cod vessel ran aground in Alaska at about 1:55 a.m. after the deckhand on watch fell asleep in the wheelhouse, where the National Transportation Safety Board found he had been asleep for about 2 hours. A crewmember said the crew was averaging just 3 hours of sleep per 24 hours, and the captain, who owned the vessel, had no formal work and rest policy. The four crew abandoned ship and swam to another fishing vessel; the vessel was a total loss, with damage estimated at $550,000.
Caso US-agriculture-18Informar de un error
Caso · mar 2019 · Texas, United States
At about 4 am a towboat pushing a fuel barge up a busy ship channel made a sudden course change and struck a moored towboat and its barges at a liquids terminal, causing over $630,000 in damage and a small jet fuel spill. The National Transportation Safety Board found the pilot had fallen asleep near the end of his 12-hour watch, with fatigue made worse by duty through the night and early morning and by an over-the-counter antihistamine he was taking. He did not hear the bridge watch alarm.
Caso US-maritime-07Informar de un error
Caso · nov 2018 · California, United States
A 53-foot crab vessel ran aground off the California coast at about 4:45 a.m. after the captain fell asleep at the helm. He had not slept at all in the first 24 hours of the season and had slept a total of 10 hours in the 96 hours before the grounding, and he had not switched on the wheelhouse watch alarm. The National Transportation Safety Board also found the owner had no measures to manage crew fatigue and that the derby-style fishery drives round-the-clock work at the start of the season.
Caso US-agriculture-17Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2018 · Idaho, United States
A freight carrier's truck failed to respond to a slow-moving traffic queue backed up from a pavement repair work zone on an interstate in Idaho at night, triggering a crash and fire that killed four people, including the truck driver. The National Transportation Safety Board found the driver most likely suffered fatigue-related performance decrements: his longest rest opportunities in the prior 48 hours were two 6-hour blocks, he kept paper logs that did not match the electronic logging device, and onboard video showed numerous instances of drifting onto the shoulder and into other lanes in the quarter hour before the crash. Inadequate traffic control and queue management by the contractors, and weak state oversight of an unapproved lane closure, contributed.
Caso US-transport-61Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2018 · Texas, United States
A bulk carrier collided with the tank barge of an articulated tug and barge in a ship channel in Texas at 2:50 a.m. The National Transportation Safety Board found the mate failed to monitor the helmsman, and that a lack of company and shipboard oversight of work and rest guidelines left the helmsman fatigued. The helmsman had been at the wheel for almost 3 hours at night without relief, and his deposition indicated daytime deck work that was not in the log. Damage was estimated at $21,338,000.
Caso US-maritime-20Informar de un error
Caso · may 2018 · Texas, United States
During a freight railroad's night switching job at a rail yard in Texas, 41 cars were left with no hand brakes applied and rolled about 0.8 mile out of the yard at about 10 mph. Eighteen cars derailed, and one crossed a highway and struck a utility pole, cutting power to a two-block area. The Federal Railroad Administration found the failure to apply hand brakes was the probable cause and named the brakeman's probable fatigue as a possible contributing factor; its fatigue model showed he was 4.2 times more likely to suffer a lapse than a fully rested person. No one was injured; damage was $453,479.
Caso US-rail-23Informar de un error
Caso · abr 2018 · Wisconsin, United States
An emergency medical services helicopter returning to base at night after two patient transports lost control in cruise and crashed, killing the pilot and two medical crew members. The National Transportation Safety Board found the probable cause was the pilot's loss of control as a result of fatigue, and that he likely fell asleep because of the time of night, the time since he had woken (possibly about 15.5 hours) and the fatigue-inducing effect of a quiet 90-minute night flight. During the flight he adjusted his seat and flexed his legs, actions consistent with signs of fatigue.
Caso US-emergency-03Informar de un error
Caso · abr 2018 · New York, United States
A youth counsellor at a short-staffed New York foster care agency worked extra hours including double shifts, averaging 110 to 120 hours every two weeks. Unwell with what turned out to be an infected tooth, he agreed to a 4 p.m. to 8 a.m. double shift in 2018 and was suspended and later fired after surveillance photos showed him lying down. The Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board credited his denial of sleeping, noted he was found at the end of a double shift where staff were encouraged to rest once chores were done, and held his actions were not misconduct.
Caso US-alliedhealth-03Informar de un error
Caso · abr 2018 · Louisiana, United States
A foreign-flagged bulk carrier struck a terminal wharf on a river in Louisiana during a downstream turn in high water at about 6:37 a.m. The pilot conning the ship had slept only 4 hours in the previous 36, had been dispatched 8 hours after his previous assignment and was nearing the end of an 8-hour shift. The National Transportation Safety Board found the fatigued pilot misjudged the manoeuvre. Damage was about $6 million to the terminal and $250,000 to the ship.
Caso US-maritime-19Informar de un error
Caso · mar 2018 · New York, United States
A security officer in New York on a 4 pm to midnight shift was warned, suspended and placed on probation after being seen asleep on duty, and was fired when he was caught asleep again six months later. He had diabetes and had taken medication for about two years that made him drowsy, but had never told the employer about the condition or the drowsiness. The Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board held that because he never disclosed the condition or tried to change his behavior, and because sleeping on duty in a security post is serious enough to need no warning, he was disqualified from benefits.
Caso US-security-11Informar de un error
Caso · mar 2018 · Wyoming, United States
A professional team truck driver's semi crossed an interstate median and struck an oncoming car, killing its driver, who was on his way to work. Prosecutors argued she fell asleep after consciously disregarding her fatigue, pointing to short sleeper-berth rests and possible logbook discrepancies, and a jury convicted her of aggravated homicide by vehicle. The Wyoming Supreme Court reversed the conviction, holding that the evidence of fatigue rested on stacked inferences and could not show she knew she was fatigued and chose to drive anyway.
Caso US-transport-42Informar de un error
Caso · mar 2018 · Illinois, United States
A trucking company's truck failed to slow for traffic on an interstate and struck several vehicles; one motorist died in the postcrash fire. The driver had been found to have sleep apnea in 2012 but stopped using CPAP and did not disclose the diagnosis at later commercial driver medical exams. The NTSB found his performance decrement was likely caused by fatigue associated with his untreated sleep disorder.
Caso US-transport-41Informar de un error
Caso · 2018 · Texas, United States
A detention officer at an immigration processing center run by a private detention contractor worked shifts of up to 16 hours and was diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnea. In 2018 he twice fell asleep at the wheel after a 16-hour shift, once causing a collision. His doctor restricted him to shifts of no more than 12 hours; the contractor refused, placed him on unpaid leave and fired him. The federal appeals court held that working a 16-hour shift was an essential function of the job, so he was not a qualified individual under federal disability discrimination law.
Caso US-corrections-05Informar de un error
Caso · 2018 · Texas, United States
A pipeline hydro-test technician in Texas was called the day before and told to meet a supervisor at a yard about 500 miles away at around 6:30 to 7:00 a.m. He left at 11:30 p.m. in a company pickup and, between 4:30 and 5:00 a.m., allegedly fell asleep and drifted onto the shoulder of an interstate highway, striking a parked car and killing the motorist asleep inside. The Texas Court of Appeals held there was evidence of a 'special mission': the employer directed an early-morning arrival knowing the technician would drive overnight, and that direction 'was at least causally related to the accident'. The summary judgment for the two energy services companies on vicarious liability was reversed; the negligent entrustment claim failed.
Caso US-oilgas-10Informar de un error
Caso · 2018 · Rhode Island and Oklahoma, United States
The owner of a small Rhode Island trucking firm altered electronic logging data on about eleven trucks thousands of times, and coordinated with drivers to falsify logbooks, to hide that drivers routinely exceeded driving and on-duty limits without the required rest. The scheme came to light after he supplied altered records to a state trooper investigating a company driver's death in Oklahoma. He was sentenced in federal court for conspiracy to falsify records.
Caso US-transport-29Informar de un error
Caso · oct 2017 · New Jersey, United States
An officer assigned overnight to a county jail control room, which monitors the jail and opens cell doors, did not answer a sergeant's radio calls to open a door. Video showed him asleep in his chair from about 3:15 am to 3:26 am, and his explanation that he had turned his radio down was not believed. The New Jersey Appellate Division upheld a 50-day suspension, finding it proportionate to the public safety risk at a corrections facility.
Caso US-corrections-04Informar de un error
Caso · oct 2017 · New York, United States
A public transit authority in New York screened its bus drivers for symptoms of sleep apnea and required any driver suspected of it to see a sleep specialist and stay out of passenger service until reaching a 70% compliance level with treatment. A driver screened in 2017 was placed on restricted duty, a sleep study found severe sleep apnea, and she reached compliance in 2018 after delays in receiving her machine and trying several masks before one worked. The employer argued misconduct, but the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board held she had taken reasonable steps to comply and was separated because of circumstances beyond her control, and allowed benefits.
Caso US-transport-60Informar de un error
Caso · sept 2017 · United States
A truck driver delivering medical supplies for a logistics company claimed he was fired for taking breaks when he became too tired to drive safely. In 2017 the federal appeals court held that the federal driver fatigue rule falls within whistleblower protection and sent the case back, because the employer had itself conceded the driver mentioned fatigue breaks to his supervisors when questioned about his delays. On reconsideration the judge found that, apart from one occasion, his delays were not due to reported fatigue breaks, and that the one protected event did not cause his discharge; in 2020 the appeals court upheld those findings and denied his petition.
Caso US-transport-40Informar de un error
Caso · sept 2017 · Alaska, United States
An LPN who was the only nurse on a nine-patient long-term care unit run by a regional health corporation in Alaska dozed off at the charge desk over a holiday weekend in 2017 and was fired under the employer's zero-tolerance policy for sleeping on duty. Low staffing meant frequent long stretches without a day off on 12-hour shifts, she was taking a nightly over-the-counter sleep aid for insomnia, and she had drunk beer the evening before. The administrative law judge, whose decision the Alaska Board of Nursing adopted, did not find she was drunk on shift but reasoned that if between-shift drinking made her sleepy enough to nod off, her nursing functions were impaired; the judge found habitual alcohol abuse that adversely affected the nurse's work and imposed a one-year license suspension, stayed, with five years' probation.
Caso US-agedcare-05Informar de un error
Caso · ago 2017 · At sea, east of Singapore
Two months after an earlier fatal destroyer collision, a second navy destroyer lost steering control in a congested strait east of Singapore and was struck by an oil tanker, killing ten sailors and injuring 48. The National Transportation Safety Board identified watchstander fatigue as one of the accident's safety issues: the 14 crew on the bridge had averaged just over 4.9 hours of rest in the previous 24 hours, one watchstander had not slept the night before, and senior officers described their sleep as poor. The Board's probable cause centred on the navy's lack of effective operational oversight, training and bridge procedures.
Caso US-defence-02Informar de un error
Caso · ago 2017 · California, United States
About an hour after finishing an 11 pm to 7 am shift guarding hospital facilities, a security officer fell asleep at the wheel, crossed into oncoming traffic and severely injured a motorcyclist. The injured rider sued the security company, but the California Court of Appeal held the 'going and coming' rule barred employer liability, finding the fatigue came from the guard's inability to sleep during the day rather than an excessive workload. The case highlights that daytime sleep failure on night shifts is a real crash risk even within normal hours.
Caso US-security-01Informar de un error
Caso · ago 2017 · Virginia, United States
A truck traveling at about 63 mph failed to slow for a construction zone and hit a slow-moving car, pushing it into a stopped tractor-trailer; one person was killed and another critically injured. Police found the driver, a co-owner of the carrier, was in breach of the federal hours-of-service rules designed to prevent fatigued driving, and the company could not produce any driving-hours records. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration declared the carrier an imminent hazard and shut it down.
Caso US-transport-28Informar de un error
Caso · jul 2017 · California, United States
A foreign airline's narrow-body airliner cleared to land at a major California airport lined up on a taxiway occupied by four loaded airliners and overflew them before going around. The NTSB found the crew's fatigue, from circadian disruption and length of continued wakefulness, contributed. The captain had been awake more than 19 hours.
Caso US-aviation-07Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2017 · At sea, off Japan
At about 1.30 am a navy destroyer collided with a container ship in a busy shipping lane off Japan, killing seven sailors. The National Transportation Safety Board found several bridge and combat information center watchstanders were likely acutely fatigued after a compressed schedule left little rest before an overnight watch, and that this impaired their awareness of and response to the approaching ship. The Board also found the navy's oversight of scheduling and fatigue mitigation was ineffective.
Caso US-defence-01Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2017 · Virginia, United States
A large truck drifted into the paved median of an interstate and struck two people re-securing a boat on their trailer, killing one and seriously injuring the other. A state police investigation found the driver had been on duty and driving for more than 103 hours over the previous eight days with only one 10-hour off-duty period; the night before, he had crashed a different truck into a transit bus. FMCSA declared him an imminent hazard and ordered him off interstate commercial driving.
Caso US-transport-39Informar de un error
Caso · mar 2017 · Alaska, United States
A 58-foot pot fishing vessel ran aground just after midnight during Alaska's open-access, derby-style cod fishery. The captain, who reported about 4 to 6 hours of sleep per 48-hour fishing cycle and had slept 1 to 1.5 hours early the previous morning, set the autopilot and fell asleep. The National Transportation Safety Board found the derby-style fishery and the captain's failure to set the bridge watch alarm properly contributed. The vessel was declared a constructive total loss.
Caso US-agriculture-16Informar de un error
Caso · mar 2017 · Virginia, United States
A master electrician for a mechanical contractor, who worked on commercial air-conditioning equipment, dozed off while driving a company vehicle home from a job site, ran off the road about 200 yards from home and hit a tree, suffering severe injuries. He said he often got tired in the evenings and had dozed off before, but described the week as normal. The Virginia Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of benefits in 2018 because he never connected his drowsiness to his job.
Caso US-construction-08Informar de un error
Caso · mar 2017 · Alabama, United States
A truck crossed the centreline and struck a car head-on, killing both people in the car. Federal investigators found the driver had fallen asleep at the wheel, had no hours-of-service records for the previous seven days and no valid medical certificate, and that the carrier did not monitor its drivers to prevent fatigued operation. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration declared the company an imminent hazard to public safety and ordered it to cease all operations immediately.
Caso US-transport-27Informar de un error
Caso · ene 2017 · New York, United States
A commuter railroad train struck the end-of-track bumping post at a New York terminal, injuring 108 people and causing about $5.3 million in damage. The NTSB found the engineer fell asleep from chronic fatigue linked to severe undiagnosed obstructive sleep apnea, and that neither the railroad nor federal rules required sleep disorder screening.
Caso US-rail-07Informar de un error
Caso · ene 2017 · New York, United States
An overnight direct care counsellor at a group home operator in New York, whose main duty was to check seven developmentally disabled residents every fifteen to thirty minutes, took an antihistamine for allergies a few hours before his midnight shift knowing it made him sleepy. Managers on a spot check found him asleep on the couch and had to yell his name to wake him at 2:50 am, and he was fired. The Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board rejected the medication excuse, held that falling asleep while watching vulnerable residents was egregious and reckless, and disqualified him from benefits without the need for a prior warning.
Caso US-agedcare-08Informar de un error
Caso · ene 2017 · Pennsylvania, United States
A city transit agency's trolley struck a stopped trolley in a Pennsylvania city. The NTSB found the operator failed to slow and stop because he was impaired by fatigue and the sedating effects of repeated doses of an over-the-counter antihistamine. His fatigue followed recent illness and five nights of poor sleep.
Caso US-rail-08Informar de un error
Caso · nov 2016 · Texas, United States
An operations center specialist at a telecommunications company, who monitored network outages and dispatched repair technicians, often alone on shift, had narcolepsy. She admitted falling asleep while monitoring the network and during calls, even after supervisors gave her an extra nap break, excused her from night shifts and allowed monthly medical leave. Her doctors said she would keep falling asleep unpredictably. The federal appeals court held she was not a qualified individual and upheld summary judgment for the employer.
Caso US-telecommunication-01Informar de un error
Caso · nov 2016 · Massachusetts, United States
While serving as the attending surgeon for trauma emergencies overnight at a city hospital, a senior spine surgeon left the operating room to eat in his parked car and fell asleep, missing an emergency operation that the chief resident then performed without the required attending surgeon present. The state medical board found he had breached hospital policy requiring the surgeon's presence during critical parts of an operation; he admitted falling asleep in his car. The case shows how falling asleep while on call can turn directly into a supervision failure in theatre.
Caso US-healthcare-03Informar de un error
Caso · nov 2016 · Kansas, United States
A truck crossed the median of an interstate and hit a passenger vehicle head-on, killing three people. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration found the driver had been on duty and driving for a minimum of 21 hours before the crash, in violation of hours-of-service rules designed to prevent fatigued driving, and that 70 of his 160 duty records for the previous six months were missing. FMCSA declared him an imminent hazard and ordered him off interstate commercial driving.
Caso US-transport-38Informar de un error
Caso · oct 2016 · Nebraska, United States
A trucking company required drivers with a body mass index of 35 or more to undergo an in-laboratory sleep study for obstructive sleep apnea, and suspended a driver who refused. The federal appeals court held the screening program was job-related and consistent with business necessity under the Americans with Disabilities Act, accepting that untreated sleep apnea raises crash risk 1.2 to 4.9-fold. The ruling gives carriers clear legal footing for targeted, evidence-based sleep-disorder screening.
Caso US-transport-26Informar de un error
Caso · oct 2016 · Massachusetts, United States
A full-time day-shift residential counsellor at a treatment center for adolescents in Massachusetts began volunteering for overnight shifts to supplement his income, where staff had to keep close watch on high-risk residents. After a written warning for falling asleep on an overnight shift, staff and a client reported he fell asleep on duty again, and he resigned when told of his discharge. The Massachusetts Board of Review reversed an award of benefits, holding that alertness was a quintessential part of the job and that, once warned, he was obliged to combat fatigue or drowsiness with measures such as adequate rest; falling asleep on duty was deliberate misconduct.
Caso US-alliedhealth-02Informar de un error
Caso · oct 2016 · California, United States
Before dawn on an interstate highway, a truck driver failed to move off after a short police traffic break, most likely because he had fallen asleep, and a tour coach traveling at highway speed crashed into the back of the stopped truck, killing the coach driver and 12 passengers. The National Transportation Safety Board found the truck driver was at very high risk of obstructive sleep apnea and had never been tested, and that the coach driver failed to react because of fatigue after a disrupted sleep the previous day. It also faulted the road authority's traffic management plan for the traffic break.
Caso US-transport-10Informar de un error
Caso · sept 2016 · New Jersey, United States
A state commuter railroad's train failed to stop and struck the end of the track at a New Jersey terminal, killing a person on the platform and injuring more than 100. The NTSB found the engineer was fatigued from undiagnosed severe obstructive sleep apnea, and that he and two crew colleagues met the railroad's own criteria for sleep testing but had never been referred.
Caso US-rail-06Informar de un error
Caso · ago 2016 · California, United States
A motorcoach operated by a bus company on an overnight trip ran off a state highway at about 3:18 a.m. and struck a highway signpost, killing four passengers and injuring 19. The driver had worked daytime shifts for at least 30 days before switching to a night schedule and had a sleep opportunity of only 5 hours. The NTSB found the probable cause was driver fatigue from acute sleep loss and circadian factors, contributed to by the carrier's inadequate safety practices and FMCSA's lack of oversight.
Caso US-transport-37Informar de un error
Caso · ago 2016 · Maine, United States
A groundfish trawler off Maine capsized and sank around midnight after a suspended load dropped onto the deck and shifted the vessel's weight. Some of the crew had as little as 3 hours of sleep over three days of fishing, on top of heavy physical work. The National Transportation Safety Board found their sleep debt, physical workload and potential drug use contributed by affecting their ability to recognize the hazards. All four crew were rescued by helicopter.
Caso US-agriculture-15Informar de un error
Caso · jul 2016 · Florida, United States
A bus operated by a farm labor contractor, carrying migrant farmworkers home after a month of harvesting corn in Georgia, failed to stop at a rural intersection at about 5:16 a.m. and was struck by a truck; the truck driver and three bus passengers died. The bus driver had worked in the corn fields on 22 of the previous 28 days as well as driving the bus, and woke at about 1:30 a.m. that day. The NTSB found his inattention was likely caused by fatigue and that the contractor failed to exercise adequate safety oversight.
Caso US-agriculture-05Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2016 · Texas, United States
Two freight trains of a freight railroad collided head-on at about 8:21 am, starting a significant fire and killing the engineer and conductor of the striking train and the conductor of the other train. The NTSB found the striking crew failed to comply with signals, citing the engineer's disengagement possibly due to fatigue from untreated obstructive sleep apnea and insufficient sleep the night before, and the conductor's disengagement possibly due to two sedating medications. The engineer had been prescribed a breathing device in 2007 but reportedly stopped using it.
Caso US-rail-19Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2016 · Tennessee, United States
A navy flight demonstration team pilot was killed when his fighter jet crashed in Tennessee. The navy's command investigation found the primary cause was pilot error, with weather and fatigue as contributing causal factors, and found that other errors that day were likely due to tiredness. The navy changed the team's season schedule to allow more rest and moved to make pilots feel able to say when they were not physically or mentally ready to fly.
Caso US-defence-06Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2016 · Kansas, United States
A trucking company's truck rear-ended a slow-moving SUV on an interstate at about 2:15 a.m., killing six SUV passengers and seriously injuring five occupants. The driver had worked days the week before, then inverted his sleep-wake schedule on the trip and drove about 957 miles in the 21.5 hours before the crash with a maximum rest opportunity of about 5 hours. The NTSB found his fatigue and lack of expectancy of a slow vehicle caused the crash.
Caso US-transport-36Informar de un error
Caso · may 2016 · Texas, United States
A charter company's motorcoach drifted from its lane on a highway in south Texas and rolled over; eight passengers died. The NTSB found the driver's fatigue from an acute sleep deficit, combined with blurred vision from poorly controlled diabetes, caused the departure. He was driving beyond his maximum on-duty time, and phone records contradicted his reported rest.
Caso US-transport-09Informar de un error
Caso · mar 2016 · New York, United States
At about 5 am one of three tugboats moving a tow down a major river collided with a bridge and sank, killing three of its crew. The National Transportation Safety Board found the cause was inadequate manning, which left fatigued crew members navigating the three tugboats with obstructed visibility. Crew members had likely not had more than 4 to 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep in at least three days, and some had been awake for about 24 hours before the voyage.
Caso US-maritime-06Informar de un error
Caso · ene 2016 · New York, United States
During short staffing at a New York skilled nursing facility, an LPN worked consecutive double shifts over four days in 2016, the last running from 10:30 p.m. to 7:49 a.m. Tired and with a migraine that led to vomiting, she told a supervisor she was unwell and lay down in an empty room, and was fired for sleeping on duty. The Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board found she was not asleep, that the employer knew she was working multiple double shifts with little rest between, and that her illness and need to lie down were not unforeseen; it allowed benefits.
Caso US-agedcare-04Informar de un error
Caso · ene 2016 · California, United States
A commercial shrimp vessel ran aground on a California beach at 8:35 p.m. while heading for harbour. The National Transportation Safety Board found the captain fell asleep from acute fatigue: several nights of toothache pain had disrupted his sleep, and he was not fit for duty. His use of medication that may have been sedating contributed. The three crew were unhurt and the vessel was a constructive total loss.
Caso US-agriculture-14Informar de un error
Caso · dic 2015 · California, United States
Early one morning in 2015 a semi-trailer crossed into oncoming traffic on a California highway, killing one driver and injuring two other motorists. State highway patrol investigators found the truck driver had fallen asleep and had falsified his logbook to hide hours that meant he should have been out of service. He was convicted of felony vehicular manslaughter and ordered to pay more than $230,000 in restitution, with the local district attorney stating that knowingly driving a big rig while overly fatigued is criminal.
Caso US-transport-25Informar de un error
Caso · dic 2015 · Canada
A US-flagged fish-processing vessel operated by a seafood company, with 165 people aboard, ran aground in coastal waters of Canada. The National Transportation Safety Board found the master's cognitive performance was impaired by the combined effects of prescription pain medication, cold medication, alcohol and sleep deprivation from being woken repeatedly through the night. He failed to recognize he could not perform his duties. No one was hurt; damage was $583,376.
Caso US-agriculture-13Informar de un error
Caso · oct 2015 · Louisiana, United States
A loaded logging truck crossed the centerline of a highway and hit a pickup head-on, killing three people and seriously injuring one. FMCSA and state police found the driver had operated his truck beyond the 14-hour daily on-duty limit that day, with numerous further hours breaches in the previous seven days; he also tested positive for amphetamines and methamphetamine. FMCSA declared him an imminent hazard and ordered him off interstate commercial driving.
Caso US-forestry-01Informar de un error
Caso · sept 2015 · West Virginia, United States
A convenience store chain employee on her third day was seen dozing off twice during training videos and nodding off while changing trash bags, said she was just tired, agreed to work an extra hour, then drove off and crossed the center line, killing a motorcyclist. She tested positive for amphetamine, benzodiazepine and buprenorphine and pleaded guilty to driving under the influence causing death. Juries put 30% of the fault on the chain, which was ordered to pay $2,043,792.82, but the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia reversed: letting her work and drive was not affirmative conduct creating an unreasonable risk, so the chain owed no duty to stop her driving, and the estate pointed to no evidence that fatigue caused or contributed to the crash.
Caso US-retail-05Informar de un error
Caso · sept 2015 · New York, United States
Video surveillance showed a chief marine engineer asleep while on duty, alone in a ferry's engine control room during docking, in breach of a two-person safety rule. He accepted a 30-day unpaid suspension, after which the city also barred him from chief engineer posts and passenger work. An arbitrator ruled those extra restrictions breached the union agreement and awarded 339 hours of back overtime, and a New York state court confirmed the award despite the city's argument that it undermined passenger safety.
Caso US-maritime-13Informar de un error
Caso · ago 2015 · Massachusetts, United States
A hospital information coordinator in Massachusetts who helped visitors arriving at night was moved from a 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift to 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. in 2015. She sometimes nodded off on nights despite deep breathing, stretching and moving around, and was fired after video showed her asleep in her chair for several minutes. The Massachusetts Board of Review awarded benefits, finding nothing to show she fell asleep intentionally and distinguishing her job from a nurse monitoring life-sustaining equipment.
Caso US-healthcare-17Informar de un error
Caso · jul 2015 · Alaska, United States
The US Coast Guard reported that, in 2015, 16 uninspected commercial fishing vessels had grounded along Alaska's shorelines. In a number of the investigations, the captain or crew had fallen asleep at the wheel after working extensive hours over several days, and the Coast Guard said fatigue may have been a causal factor in many of the groundings. It noted that fishing crews are generally not assured rest at any set time, urged captains to ensure reliefs are rested, and warned that watch alarms should only be a backup to well-rested watchstanders.
Caso US-agriculture-04Informar de un error
Caso · jul 2015 · Oregon, United States
A truck driver with 25 years' experience was suspended without pay after declining to drive because he was ill. OSHA found the carrier's attendance policy encouraged drivers to operate while sick or exhausted, through negative file notes and threats of discipline - the second time it had found the company retaliating against drivers who invoked federal safety protections. It ordered $20,000 in punitive damages, lost pay and removal of the negative records.
Caso US-transport-24Informar de un error
Caso · jul 2015 · Connecticut, United States
A service technician for a fitness equipment distributor in Connecticut did about three hours of paid paperwork at home from about 6:00 a.m., then crashed the company van while driving to the employer's office, fracturing a vertebra. His sleep doctor said the crash was almost certainly from falling asleep at the wheel, and the parties agreed his sleep apnea was a substantial contributing factor. The employer argued a personal medical condition caused the crash, but the Compensation Review Board upheld the award because he was on paid company business in a company vehicle.
Caso US-retail-07Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2015 · Tennessee, United States
A trucking company's truck failed to slow for traffic in an interstate highway work zone in Tennessee and struck a line of vehicles, killing six people. The NTSB found the driver's failure to respond was due to performance decrements likely associated with fatigue and methamphetamine use. He had been on duty or driving for more than 14 hours.
Caso US-transport-08Informar de un error
Caso · may 2015 · Alabama, United States
A truck driver taking an eighteen-wheeler from Texas to Maryland fell asleep and crashed into another tractor-trailer, spending about a month in hospital. He and his wife alleged he was driving in breach of federal hours-of-service rules, had warned the owner, was told to falsify his logbook, and was pressured to drive without required rest. A county jury awarded actual damages plus $75 million in exemplary damages against three related companies; the trial court capped the exemplary damages, leaving a judgment of over $13.7 million. In 2024 the Supreme Court of Texas reversed in part on employment-status and corporate-veil issues and sent the case back to the court of appeals.
Caso US-transport-23Informar de un error
Caso · abr 2015 · New Mexico, United States
Two trains on a short-line railroad collided in New Mexico after a switch was left set for a siding. The NTSB found the conductor of the earlier local train failed to return the switch for main-track movement because he was fatigued. He reported feeling tired on the drive from the work site.
Caso US-rail-05Informar de un error
Caso · feb 2015 · New York, United States
A security officer with a security contractor in New York, whose request for daytime hours had always been accommodated, returned from leave and was told the only shift available was overnight, 11 pm to 7:45 am. His medication for a chronic condition, taken late in the evening, left him light-headed, dizzy and drowsy for hours, and he was photographed dozing at 4:45 am and fired. The Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board found he was asleep on the job, but given the limited shift options it held that falling asleep was not misconduct and allowed benefits.
Caso US-security-10Informar de un error
Caso · feb 2015 · California, United States
A truck driver for an Arizona-based farming operation had been on duty about 24 hours on a delayed trip to California when he turned his service truck and trailer onto the railroad right-of-way instead of the street. A commuter train struck the truck; the train engineer died seven days later and 32 people on the train were injured. The National Transportation Safety Board found acute fatigue and unfamiliarity with the area caused the wrong turn, and that the companies had not realised their mechanics' heavy service vehicles made them commercial drivers subject to hours-of-service rules.
Caso US-agriculture-12Informar de un error
Caso · feb 2015 · Alaska, United States
A commercial pot fishing and tendering vessel ran aground in Alaska at 0048 after the captain fell asleep while navigating. The crew's schedule allowed at most 4.5 hours of uninterrupted sleep a day, and an early call left the captain with only 2 hours' sleep before his 1.5-hour helm watch. The four crew were rescued by helicopter; one had a minor injury, and the $800,000 vessel was a constructive total loss.
Caso US-agriculture-11Informar de un error
Caso · ene 2015 · Virginia, United States
A corrections officer with 13 years' service had to be woken three times while posted in a visitation area and admitted barely keeping his eyes open on kitchen duty, while already under a written warning for similar conduct. He argued his documented sleep apnea should have been accommodated and a fitness-for-duty evaluation offered. The state hearing officer upheld his dismissal, finding he had not sought accommodation before the misconduct and an employer need not rescind discipline already warranted.
Caso US-corrections-01Informar de un error
Caso · dic 2014 · Washington, United States
A commercial crabber ran onto a jetty at a river mouth in Washington at about 2:15 a.m. and sank after the captain, alone in the wheelhouse, likely fell asleep. He estimated he had about 9 to 12 hours of sleep in total from the season opening to the grounding four days later, and crew worked an average of 16 hours a day, some days up to 20. The National Transportation Safety Board found the owners had no measures to manage crew fatigue and that the derby-style crab fishery drives continuous operations. The vessel was a total loss and fuel and oil were released.
Caso US-agriculture-10Informar de un error
Caso · sept 2014 · Puerto Rico, United States
A federal maritime patrol cutter collided with a fishing vessel at dawn off Puerto Rico; the two fishermen jumped overboard and were recovered, and the fishing vessel sank. The officer of the deck had slept about 3.5 hours in the previous 24 and had not told his commanding officer he was unfit for duty. The National Transportation Safety Board concluded he most likely fell asleep before the collision and recommended the cutter's service apply its crew endurance management program in all operational units.
Caso US-defence-14Informar de un error
Caso · ago 2014 · Arkansas, United States
At 2:28 am a southbound freight train failed to slow and stop for signals and collided with a northbound freight train, killing the southbound engineer and conductor and seriously injuring the other crew. The National Transportation Safety Board found both southbound crew members were fatigued and had fallen asleep: the engineer because of diagnosed but inadequately treated moderate obstructive sleep apnea, and the conductor because of highly variable shift start times. It also found the railroad's medical rules did not require employees to report a sleep disorder or ensure treatment was working.
Caso US-rail-10Informar de un error
Caso · jul 2014 · New Hampshire, United States
A long-serving specialty gas filler analyst at an industrial gas supplier's facility in New Hampshire, working a 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. shift, had sleep apnea and fell asleep during safety meetings; in 2014 he was drowsy and fell asleep while working, and the employer, treating the job as safety-sensitive, required a fitness-for-duty examination. His sleep doctor found he had used his CPAP machine an average of thirty minutes on only 65 of 365 days and advised him not to drive a forklift because of drowsiness; he was placed on a month's paid leave and cleared to return once CPAP use reached 70%, with continued usage monitoring. He resigned in 2015, and the federal court dismissed his discharge and retaliation claims but let his failure-to-accommodate (forklift) and whistleblower claims go forward.
Caso US-manufacturing-11Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2014 · New Jersey, United States
A truck driver for a large retailer, who had been awake for more than 24 hours after a long commute before his shift, ploughed into slowed traffic on a major toll highway, killing one passenger in a limousine van and seriously injuring others. The retailer settled with the family of the man who died (reported at $10 million) and, in 2015, with the injured passengers in federal court. Court filings in a later insurance dispute suggested the retailer's total payout may have exceeded $90 million, and the driver was dealt with in the state criminal court.
Caso US-transport-22Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2014 · New York, United States
An emergency medical technician for a private ambulance company in New York, who generally worked 6 pm to 6 am, closed his eyes while his paramedic partner finished paperwork at a hospital and fell asleep because he was tired from daytime nursing school. He was woken by a radio call at about 1:50 am, some 40 minutes after the crew arrived, after the hospital reported the pickup was late, and was fired. The Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board noted the delay caused no adverse outcome, he had an unblemished four-year record and the employer had no policy specifically prohibiting sleep on duty, and held it was an isolated lapse rather than misconduct.
Caso US-emergency-15Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2014 · New Jersey, United States
A large retailer's truck failed to slow for traffic in a work zone on a major toll highway in New Jersey and struck a limousine van, killing one passenger and injuring others. The NTSB found the cause was the truck driver's fatigue: he had driven overnight from home to his workplace before his shift and had about 4 hours of sleep opportunity in the 33 hours before the crash.
Caso US-transport-07Informar de un error
Caso · abr 2014 · Virginia, United States
A web application analyst at a Virginia state social services agency was photographed asleep at his desk for several minutes one afternoon, after taking a non-prescription medication with a drowsiness side effect the night before because he could not sleep. A sleep study afterwards found sleep apnea and he began CPAP treatment. The hearing officer cut his removal to a 10-workday suspension because the agency had given a colleague in the same division who also slept at work a lesser penalty first, and ordered reinstatement with back pay; $5,855.70 in attorneys' fees followed.
Caso US-government-07Informar de un error
Caso · mar 2014 · Illinois, United States
A city transit agency train failed to stop at an airport station at about 2:49 am, struck the bumping post and climbed an escalator. The NTSB found the operator fell asleep as a result of fatigue from shiftwork, circadian factors and acute sleep loss, and that the transit agency failed to manage her work schedule to mitigate fatigue risk; it had not limited weekly overtime and allowed returns to work after 8 or fewer hours off. Thirty-three passengers and the operator were taken to hospital.
Caso US-rail-18Informar de un error
Caso · ene 2014 · Illinois, United States
A trucking company's truck struck stopped vehicles at a disabled-truck scene on an interstate highway in Illinois, including a tollway assistance truck and a state trooper's car; the tollway worker was killed. The NTSB found the driver was fatigued from inadequate sleep, having slept less than 4.5 hours in the 37 hours before the crash, and had a history of falsifying his logbook.
Caso US-transport-06Informar de un error
Caso · ene 2014 · Illinois, United States
A truck driver who had worked 37 hours straight on just 3.5 hours of rest admitted he dozed off before his truck slammed into emergency vehicles assisting a disabled truck on an Illinois tollway. A tollway worker was killed and a state trooper was critically burned. After a bench trial the driver was convicted of driving a commercial vehicle while impaired by fatigue and hours-of-service offences, and received the maximum three-year prison sentence.
Caso US-transport-21Informar de un error
Caso · 2014 · Texas, United States
A couple's car was stopped in a highway construction zone when an 18-wheeler traveling about 65 mph on cruise control rear-ended it, killing the husband. The truck driver had severe, uncontrolled sleep apnea, had been fired from a previous job for refusing sleep apnea testing and had been turned down by about 30 companies before being hired. The widow was awarded $3.25 million, described by her lawyer as the first time a trucking company acknowledged that sleep apnea might have contributed to a fatal crash.
Caso US-transport-32Informar de un error
Caso · dic 2013 · New York, United States
A commuter railroad's passenger train entered a 30-mph curve at 82 mph and derailed, killing four passengers and injuring 61. The NTSB found the engineer had fallen asleep because of undiagnosed severe obstructive sleep apnea, made worse by a recent shift change in his work schedule. No screening for sleep disorders was required at the time.
Caso US-rail-04Informar de un error
Caso · dic 2013 · New York, United States
A commuter train entered a 30 mph curve at 82 mph and derailed after its engineer nodded off, killing four people and injuring more than 70. Safety investigators found his sleepiness came from undiagnosed obstructive sleep apnea combined with a recent sharp change in his work schedule, and that the railroad had no sleep-disorder screening. The local district attorney decided not to bring criminal charges, finding no criminality, leaving the legal and financial consequences to the railroad and civil claims.
Caso US-rail-13Informar de un error
Caso · nov 2013 · Georgia, United States
A haul truck operator at a quarry operator's granite quarry was found asleep in a chair during his evening shift, was allowed to continue working, and later drove off the haul road, through a berm and into a settling pond, where he drowned. MSHA found the root cause was management's failure to ensure that persons could safely operate mobile equipment. The operator then set rules for handling employees suspected of being impaired on the job.
Caso US-mining-03Informar de un error
Caso · sept 2013 · Ohio, United States (case heard in Texas)
An intercity bus rolled over after its driver allegedly fell asleep at the wheel, seriously injuring passengers. A medical examiner had flagged the driver as at risk of sleep apnea a month earlier and recommended an overnight sleep study, but the company had not had him tested and argued he had choked on coffee. In a reported first, the trial court ordered the driver to undergo an overnight sleep study, upheld on appeal, which found moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea, and the bus company settled with five passengers for $6 million.
Caso US-transport-20Informar de un error
Caso · sept 2013 · Ohio, United States
A long-haul truck driver rear-ended a stopped passenger vehicle, killing one person. Federal investigators found he had repeatedly and excessively falsified his duty records for the five weeks before the crash, significantly exceeding the on-duty limits designed to prevent fatigued driving. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration declared him an imminent hazard to public safety and barred him from driving any commercial vehicle in interstate commerce.
Caso US-transport-19Informar de un error
Caso · ago 2013 · Alabama, United States
A cargo airline's wide-body freighter struck terrain short of the runway at an Alabama airport on a pre-dawn approach, killing both pilots. The NTSB found the first officer's fatigue from acute sleep loss, poor use of off-duty time and circadian factors contributed, and that the captain's performance deficiencies were likely due to factors including fatigue.
Caso US-aviation-06Informar de un error
Caso · ago 2013 · Alaska, United States
A wooden commercial fishing vessel carrying salmon in a seasonal operation in Alaska ran aground and sank at about 1 a.m. The captain had been awake for about 13 hours, including 6 hours unloading cargo, after days of irregular sleep, and left the bridge before the deckhand relieving him reached it. The vessel carried on with no one at the controls and grounded; the three crew were unhurt and the $225,000 vessel was lost.
Caso US-agriculture-09Informar de un error
Caso · jul 2013 · New Hampshire, United States
A fill-in security guard was sent for one night to an electric company's site in New Hampshire, about 60 miles from his home, to work 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. checking credentials at the security booth. He was woken by a car horn at about 2 a.m. and fired; he had an earlier verbal warning for falling asleep during a double shift. The Massachusetts Board of Review reversed the denial of benefits, finding the unusual night assignment with a long commute, and his efforts to stay awake by getting food and a drink, sufficiently mitigating to rule out deliberate misconduct.
Caso US-security-06Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2013 · South Dakota, United States
An agricultural pilot spraying fields lost control while maneuvering and stalled, and was killed. He had started flying at about 9:30 a.m., took a 10 to 15 minute lunch break, and had flown at least 9 hours by the time of the accident at about 7:30 p.m. The NTSB found task- and/or work-related fatigue contributed.
Caso US-agriculture-03Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2013 · Kansas, United States
A delivery driver for an auto-parts company, taking parts to body and repair shops, was severely injured in a single-vehicle crash in the early afternoon. He believed he fell asleep or passed out, and the employer argued that undiagnosed obstructive sleep apnea, a personal risk, caused the crash. The Kansas Court of Appeals upheld his workers compensation award, agreeing with the Board that the employer's expert opinion was speculation and that an unexplained crash during deliveries still arose out of the employment.
Caso US-automotive-02Informar de un error
Caso · may 2013 · Missouri, United States
A freight train struck another railroad's freight train at an interlocking at about 2:30 am, and the wreckage brought down a highway overpass that two vehicles then drove into. The NTSB found the crew failed to comply with signals because of fatigue-induced disengagement, citing variable work schedules, the circadian low and the engineer's likely undiagnosed obstructive sleep apnea, which had been missed at at least a dozen screening opportunities. The FRA's own investigation also found fatigue probable for both crew members and recorded it as a contributing cause.
Caso US-rail-17Informar de un error
Caso · abr 2013 · New York, United States
An overnight direct support professional at a disability services provider in New York, already warned for falling asleep on an earlier shift, went to work exhausted because she could not find child care for her infant during the day and asked co-workers to help keep her awake. A manager saw her asleep through a window and stood beside her for a few minutes before she woke. The Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board held that her act of falling asleep was intentional because she knew she was exhausted, given residents' care needs including bed checks, and disqualified her from benefits.
Caso US-agedcare-07Informar de un error
Caso · mar 2013 · New York, United States
A patient care associate working 7 p.m. to 7:20 a.m. at a New York hospital was assigned to a cluster of four elderly patients at high risk of injury. At about 3 a.m. she was found motionless in a chair wrapped in a blanket and said she had nodded off, explaining that a day job made it hard to rest during the day. The Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board reversed an award of benefits, holding that in the totality of circumstances her actions were misconduct, and distinguished an earlier case where the employer knew of drowsy medication and overtime.
Caso US-healthcare-16Informar de un error
Caso · feb 2013 · Virginia, United States
An inventory analyst at a Virginia state distribution center had sleep apnea and was adjusting to a new CPAP mask, with her provider warning she might have daytime fatigue and sleepiness. Over more than a year she was repeatedly warned about falling asleep at her desk, encouraged to see her provider, and offered active duties in the warehouse to stay awake. After she was seen asleep for 1 to 5 minutes after lunch, she was removed, and the hearing officer upheld the removal, holding that agencies are not obliged to let employees sleep as an accommodation for sleep apnea.
Caso US-warehousing-01Informar de un error
Caso · feb 2013 · New York, United States
A security guard of nine years at a medical college's medical center in New York, who had sleep apnea and slept with a breathing mask every night, was found asleep at his post on a 4 p.m. to midnight shift and had to be shaken awake; he was fired two days later. The Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board accepted that his medical condition could cause him to fall asleep at his post, found he did not deliberately fall asleep, and allowed benefits under its rule that there is no misconduct where a condition causes a worker to fall asleep on the job.
Caso US-security-05Informar de un error
Caso · dic 2012 · New York, United States
A security agent at a New York airport fell asleep while driving and crashed in 2012, then told his employer he had sleep apnea; his doctor said he should not drive but could keep working nights. Later in 2012 airport authority personnel saw him asleep on post twice in one shift, and he was fired. Reopening its own earlier ruling, the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board held that workers in high-risk roles can be held to a particularly high degree of care and that falling asleep on shift was misconduct; benefits were denied.
Caso US-security-04Informar de un error
Caso · oct 2012 · New York, United States
A night-shift telephone operator at a New York hospital, whose duties included 'code' calls for patients in distress, had been suspended in 2011 for sleeping on duty on multiple occasions. One night in 2012 a doctor tried calling four times over 15 to 20 minutes while she was asleep, until a co-worker woke her, and she was fired. The Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board held that a cold did not excuse falling asleep, that her later claim of sleep apnea would not excuse it either, and that it was misconduct; benefits were denied.
Caso US-healthcare-15Informar de un error
Caso · ago 2012 · Massachusetts and New Jersey, United States
Severe weather, flooding and traffic meant a delivery could not be finished within federal hours-of-service limits, so the driver delivered to a closer depot and another driver completed the run - an arrangement the carrier and customer approved. The carrier fired him the next day for insubordination. The Department of Labor found unlawful retaliation and ordered about $126,870 in back pay and interest, $50,000 compensatory and $100,000 punitive damages plus attorney fees.
Caso US-transport-18Informar de un error
Caso · ago 2012 · New York, United States
A security guard with a security contractor in New York was moved from day shifts to an 11 pm to 7 am shift after an incident at one of the facilities. Months later a supervisor found her leaning back with her eyes closed at 2:17 am, photographed her and waited several minutes before waking her, and she was fired. She said her body was tired because she was not yet used to nights, but the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board held she had ample time to adjust and that, in a safety-sensitive post, falling asleep was misconduct without any prior warning.
Caso US-security-09Informar de un error
Caso · jul 2012 · Kansas, United States
A city police officer was suspended for repeatedly sleeping on the third shift and was later found asleep in his patrol car. He was then diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea, treated, and had no further incidents, but in 2012 he was terminated with 'sleeping on duty' among the reasons listed. The federal court refused the city summary judgment on his disability claim because a jury could infer the firing was linked to his sleep apnea, and a jury later found the city discriminated against him on account of a disability of sleep apnea.
Caso US-emergency-06Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2012 · Ohio, United States
An IT support worker at a family services agency in Ohio was criticised for slow response times and "almost daily falling asleep at work", and told supervisors he had a sleeping disorder causing fatigue and micro sleeps, but did not seek treatment while employed. A sleep specialist had earlier noted very poor sleep habits and a probable sleep apnea that was never confirmed because he declined testing. After a reprimand noting he "continually [fell] asleep during the workday, trainings and meetings" and a demotion, he was fired in 2012, and the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld judgment for the employer because he had not shown a disability.
Caso US-tech-01Informar de un error
Caso · may 2012 · New York, United States
A long-serving night-shift security officer at a hospital in New York was photographed with his head down and eyes closed after working twelve days in a row of overtime, and was fired for sleeping on duty. He had earlier told the employer he was diabetic and took medication that made him drowsy. The Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board accepted that sleeping on the job can be misconduct, but held that because the employer knew about the drowsy medication and the overtime, and the photo did not show how long he had been that way, his conduct was not misconduct and he could receive benefits.
Caso US-security-08Informar de un error
Caso · mar 2012 · United States
A worker for a sheet metal company whose job involved traveling to job sites in a company truck was driving back to the company shop in New Hampshire after a day at a Massachusetts job site when he fell asleep and hit a utility pole; his lower leg was amputated. The Compensation Appeals Board denied benefits because he had not proved his weariness was caused by work. In 2015 the New Hampshire Supreme Court reversed, holding that driving the truck increased the harm from falling asleep, so employment was a substantial contributing factor, and that any negligence in driving while tired could not bar recovery.
Caso US-construction-07Informar de un error
Caso · feb 2012 · Pennsylvania, United States
A CT scan technician at a Pennsylvania hospital, already suspended within the previous year for sleeping on duty, was found asleep one night in 2012 when a child and his grandfather were brought to the imaging department for a scan, and the grandfather remarked that this might be why the scan had taken so long. The hospital fired her two days later, but an arbitrator ordered reinstatement without back pay because she had not been given the disciplinary interview the union contract required. The federal court rejected the hospital's argument that reinstating a technician who twice fell asleep on the job breached Pennsylvania public policy and enforced the award.
Caso US-healthcare-14Informar de un error
Caso · feb 2012 · New Jersey, United States
A school bus operated by a private contractor pulled into the path of a roll-off truck at a rural intersection in New Jersey; a student on board was killed. The NTSB found the bus driver failed to see the truck, and that his reduced vigilance came from fatigue due to acute sleep loss, chronic sleep debt and poor sleep quality, made worse by sedating prescription medications.
Caso US-transport-05Informar de un error
Caso · dic 2011 · Nevada, United States
An air tour helicopter operated by an air tour company lost control and crashed after a flight-control input rod separated in flight, killing the pilot and four passengers. The NTSB found that the rod came loose because of inadequate maintenance and postmaintenance inspection the day before. Both the mechanic and the quality control inspector had been moved to a shift starting about 6 hours earlier than normal, and the NTSB found their fatigue contributed to the errors.
Caso US-aviation-17Informar de un error
Caso · ago 2011 · Missouri, United States
An emergency medical services helicopter ran out of fuel and crashed during a patient transfer flight, killing the pilot, flight nurse, flight paramedic and patient. The National Transportation Safety Board found the pilot had failed to confirm adequate fuel and continued after learning fuel was critically low, and that his degraded performance due to fatigue contributed. He had had only about five hours of sleep opportunity the night before and had been active for more than 12 hours, and his errors were consistent with the known effects of fatigue.
Caso US-emergency-01Informar de un error
Caso · ago 2011 · California, United States
A civilian role player hired by a defense support contractor for military pre-deployment exercises in California logged 17- and 19-hour paid days, then set off on a roughly 500-mile drive home. Almost 100 miles from the base he crossed into oncoming traffic, killing a motorist and himself and injuring the motorist's wife. The family argued work fatigue made the crash a foreseeable risk of the job. The California Court of Appeal held that whether he missed the curve because of fatigue was 'pure speculation', noting no evidence of his sleep the night before, his 0.06 percent blood alcohol, and the contractor's rules requiring at least five hours' uninterrupted sleep. Summary judgment for the employer was affirmed.
Caso US-defence-13Informar de un error
Caso · may 2011 · Virginia, United States
A budget bus company's motorcoach drifted off an interstate highway in Virginia and overturned, killing four passengers. The NTSB found the driver fell asleep because of fatigue from acute sleep loss, poor sleep quality and circadian disruption, and that company management failed to exercise safety oversight. Oversight by the federal motor carrier regulator was also found inadequate.
Caso US-transport-04Informar de un error
Caso · abr 2011 · Iowa, United States
A coal train ran into the rear of a stopped train in Iowa, killing both crew members of the striking train. The NTSB found the crew had fallen asleep because of fatigue from their irregular work schedules and their medical conditions. The crash happened at 6.55am, in the circadian low.
Caso US-rail-03Informar de un error
Caso · mar 2011 · New York, United States
A tour bus returning from a casino overnight crashed on an interstate in New York, killing 15 passengers and injuring 15 more. Prosecutors charged the driver with manslaughter, arguing he was sleep-deprived and should have known he was too fatigued to drive safely; the defense denied he was fatigued. A jury acquitted him of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and assault, convicting him only of unlicensed operation, showing how hard fatigue can be to prove to a criminal standard even where safety investigators find it.
Caso US-transport-17Informar de un error
Caso · mar 2011 · Virginia, United States
During a midnight shift a lone air traffic controller in the control tower at a major city airport could not be raised, and two airliners landed without contact with the tower. The National Transportation Safety Board found the controller had lost consciousness because of lack of sleep and fatigue from working successive midnight shifts, and named the federal aviation agency's scheduling practices as part of the cause. The agency added a second person to midnight shifts and lengthened the minimum time off between shifts.
Caso US-aviation-10Informar de un error
Caso · mar 2011 · New York, United States
A tour company's motorcoach returning from a casino overnight ran off an interstate highway in New York and struck a signpost; 15 passengers died. The NTSB found the cause was the driver's fatigue from failure to obtain adequate sleep, poor sleep quality and the time of day, and that the company's safety oversight of the driver was inadequate.
Caso US-transport-03Informar de un error
Caso · ene 2011 · Indiana, United States
A labor team leader at a steel company's mill worked a roughly 11-hour night shift (7:04 pm to 5:51 am), typical of hours he had worked five to six days a week for about three years, after about four and a half hours' sleep. At about 6:10 am, driving home, his car crossed the center line and hit an oncoming car head-on; he has no memory of the crash and assumes he fell asleep. The motorist suffered severe, permanent injuries, and her guardian argued the company owed a duty because it let him work long hours on consecutive days without a fatigue policy or training. The Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for the company, holding it owed no duty: the harm was foreseeable, but the relationship and public policy factors favored the employer, and limits on working hours were a matter for employers or the legislature.
Caso US-manufacturing-06Informar de un error
Caso · sept 2010 · Pennsylvania, United States
A tractor-trailer drifted from its lane on an interstate and hit a lawfully parked tractor-trailer, killing its driver, who was outside his vehicle. The stipulated trial record included the driver's statement to a trooper that he must have fallen asleep; on appeal he argued that 'blacking out' was different from falling asleep. Pennsylvania's Superior Court agreed with the trial court that the distinction was unsupported and illusory, and held that falling asleep while driving an eighteen-wheeler on a busy interstate supplied the gross negligence or recklessness needed to convict, with the burden then shifting to the driver to show he had no warning signs and no opportunity to act on them.
Caso US-transport-35Informar de un error
Caso · sept 2010 · Minnesota, United States
Two freight trains of the same railroad collided in Minnesota after the southbound crew left a siding before the northbound train had passed. The National Transportation Safety Board found crew fatigue contributed: the conductor had about 3 hours 45 minutes of sleep opportunity the day before, the crew had been awake 13 to 14 hours, and the engineer's start times had shifted, disrupting his circadian rhythm. All five crew members were injured and damage was estimated at $8.1 million.
Caso US-rail-22Informar de un error
Caso · abr 2010 · Indiana, United States
A forming inspector and packer on the night shift at a manufacturing plant showed a pattern of decreased alertness and was found asleep at work, including completely asleep while packing parts. After a final warning she told the employer her problems might be medical, and her doctor's form marked a disability covered by federal disability law and noted excessive drowsiness, but she was terminated before narcolepsy was diagnosed. The federal appeals court held the employer knew of the possible disability before it fired her and had begun but not completed the interactive process required by that law, reversed summary judgment on the disability claim and sent it back to the district court.
Caso US-manufacturing-05Informar de un error
Caso · ene 2010 · Texas, United States
A federal border protection officer at a land port of entry had severe sleep apnea and was medically advised not to work the midnight-to-8 a.m. graveyard shift or heavy overtime. The agency decided rotating shifts and substantial overtime were essential functions and removed him for physical inability to perform. After the Merit Systems Protection Board and the EEOC disagreed, a Special Panel adopted the EEOC's view that the agency had not shown undue hardship in excusing him from graveyard shifts and that the removal was improper. The case shows that excusing a worker with a sleep disorder from overnight shifts can be a legally required accommodation even in a 24-hour safety role.
Caso US-government-04Informar de un error
Caso · ene 2010 · Texas, United States
A loaded crude oil tanker under the control of a state-licensed harbour pilot began to sheer after a late turn at a mild bend in a narrow ship canal, collided with a cargo ship and then a barge tow, and spilled about 462,000 gallons of crude oil. The National Transportation Safety Board found the pilot's fatigue contributed, caused by obstructive sleep apnea that had been diagnosed but was not being treated, and by a work schedule that did not allow adequate sleep. Distraction by a radio call and poor teamwork between the two pilots on the bridge also contributed.
Caso US-maritime-05Informar de un error
Caso · nov 2009 · United States
A seaman on a seafood company's factory trawler lifted and flipped 70-pound trays of frozen fish on 16-hour shifts, seven days a week, for months at a time, and had complained that the shifts left him exhausted. In the final hour of a 16-hour shift his legs gave out as the boat rolled and he fell. The U.S. Court of Appeals reversed summary judgment for the employer, holding that a jury could find the 16-hour shifts negligent and the vessel unseaworthy, and that an industry custom of long shifts was no defense as a matter of law.
Caso US-food-02Informar de un error
Caso · ago 2009 · Ohio, United States
After a long-serving hospital employee was diagnosed with narcolepsy, her doctors restricted her to day-shift work and she asked to be reassigned to vacant day positions she was qualified for. The hospital instead put her on medical leave and then dismissed her. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued under the Americans with Disabilities Act, calling the refusal of a reasonable shift-change accommodation unlawful; the case was resolved in 2016. Shift reassignment is a recognized reasonable accommodation for sleep disorders.
Caso US-healthcare-06Informar de un error
Caso · jul 2009 · New York, United States
An emergency dispatcher in New York with almost 25 years' service, who got no meal breaks, was found by a 2007 sleep study to have obstructive sleep apnea; he was moved to days pending the results and then returned to nights. On a last chance agreement after earlier sleeping incidents, he finished a shift at 11 a.m. one day in 2009, returned at 11 p.m. for an overnight shift and dozed off at about 1 a.m., and was fired. The Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board found he did not deliberately fall asleep and was not shown to be in control of his actions, and allowed benefits; his grievance was also resolved in his favor with a return to work set for later in 2009.
Caso US-emergency-13Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2009 · Alabama, United States
An assembler at a surgical-equipment plant had a long history of daytime sleepiness and dozed off at work many times, including at plant-wide meetings. He was found asleep at his workstation, confirmed by two supervisors, and fired the next day under a first-offense policy. Obstructive sleep apnea was diagnosed only after the firing. The federal appeals court held the disability discrimination claim failed because the company had no actual knowledge of a sleep disorder when it acted.
Caso US-manufacturing-04Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2009 · Oklahoma, United States
A tractor-semitrailer struck a queue of slowing and stopped vehicles on an interstate highway in Oklahoma, killing 10 people. The NTSB found the truck driver's fatigue, caused by acute sleep loss, circadian disruption from his shift-work schedule and mild sleep apnea, led to his failure to brake or steer.
Caso US-transport-02Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2009 · Texas, United States
A drilling-rig worker on rotating 12-hour day and night shifts drove home after a 6 pm to 6 am night shift, having been awake about 20 hours, crossed onto the wrong side of the road and collided with another vehicle; he and four others died. Families sued the drilling company, alleging extreme work fatigue caused the crash and that the company should have trained workers on fatigue. A lower appeals court found a duty, but the Supreme Court of Texas reversed, holding the employer owed no duty to prevent injuries from post-shift fatigue or to train employees about fatigue.
Caso US-oilgas-04Informar de un error
Caso · abr 2009 · New York, United States
A city police department in New York found a police officer candidate medically unsuitable because of sleep apnea with blood oxygen desaturation, but the city's Civil Service Commission reversed that decision in 2007. The Appellate Division annulled the Commission's ruling and reinstated the disqualification, finding that the department did have a written standard on the disorder, that the medical evidence showed its risks for police duties, and that the Commission wrongly relied on a brief, conclusory letter from the candidate's own doctor.
Caso US-emergency-12Informar de un error
Caso · abr 2009 · New York, United States
A sleep technician trainee at a cardiovascular practice's sleep clinic in New York, normally working three overnight 12-hour shifts a week, was assigned to monitor two patients, one undergoing a CPAP test, and had to log the patient's status every 15 to 20 minutes. He fell asleep and made no entries for 2 hours and 16 minutes, and was fired. The Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board rejected his claim that he only nodded off and held that sleeping by a health care worker responsible for patient safety was misconduct.
Caso US-healthcare-20Informar de un error
Caso · feb 2009 · Hawaii, United States
A navy guided-missile cruiser ran aground on a reef shortly after leaving shipyard repairs, causing an estimated US$25 to 40 million in damage and reef destruction. The navy safety investigation found the commanding officer had slept only about four and a half hours in the previous 24 hours and about 15 hours over three days while pushing to get the ship under way, and that he acknowledged being tired. The board recommended an operational pause of at least 96 hours between shipyard periods and sea trials so crews are adequately rested.
Caso US-defence-04Informar de un error
Caso · feb 2009 · Massachusetts, United States
A licensed practical nurse placed by a nursing agency in Massachusetts worked 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. shifts monitoring a ventilator-dependent boy by closed-circuit television. She fell asleep on duty in 2008 and again in 2009, and was forced out. The unemployment agency awarded benefits, reasoning that falling asleep is inadvertent and that the boy's mother had condoned it. The Massachusetts Appeals Court reversed: given the life-sustaining nature of the post, the nurse had a duty to 'preempt or to combat fatigue or drowsiness' and had warning from the first episode, so her lapses were knowing violations of the employer's no-sleeping rule.
Caso US-healthcare-13Informar de un error
Caso · ene 2009 · Pennsylvania, United States
A parking authority money room technician in Pennsylvania on a 3:30 p.m. to midnight shift often sat for hours with nothing to do and became drowsy. She had been diagnosed with sleep apnea, told her employer, and asked for more work to keep her awake, but was given extra tasks only twice. After she fell asleep on four nights in 2009 she was fired under a rule against sleeping on duty; the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania affirmed her benefits, holding the employer had not proved a deliberate violation and that she had tried to resolve her drowsiness responsibly.
Caso US-government-06Informar de un error
Caso · ene 2009 · Pennsylvania, United States
A truck driver caused a multi-vehicle rush-hour collision that killed one person and seriously injured a passenger. Federal prosecutors showed he had falsified his logbooks over the preceding weeks to hide that he was driving beyond the legal daily limit without the required rest. He was convicted of 15 counts of false statements and sentenced to 18 months in prison and barred from driving commercial vehicles without court permission.
Caso US-transport-16Informar de un error
Caso · dic 2008 · West Virginia, United States
A drilling company supervisor who had worked an extra shift on top of his five regular eight-hour shifts that week drove a crew member home from a worksite and lost control on a highway; the crew member was fatally injured. The estate alleged the supervisor fell asleep because the company overworked him and that it required employees to consistently work excessive hours without adequate rest or sleep. The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia held that working the double shift was a 'special circumstance' that brought the journey home within the course of employment, so the employer and co-employees were immune from the common-law negligence claims under the state workers' compensation law. A separate deliberate intent claim remained pending in the lower court.
Caso US-oilgas-05Informar de un error
Caso · nov 2008 · New York, United States
A full-time third-shift cashier at a convenience store in New York, who also drove for a second job from 7 am to 1 pm, was seen asleep by a new supervisor, who made several attempts to wake him; there was a customer complaint, and he was discharged for sleeping on the job. He had diabetes, and changes to his medication left him dizzy and fatigued; his supervisors knew and had told him he could sit down and have something to eat or drink when that happened. The Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board found he was asleep but held that management's failure to address earlier known episodes amounted to condonation, so it was not misconduct.
Caso US-retail-09Informar de un error
Caso · oct 2008 · Florida, United States
A county sheriff's deputy driving home in his cruiser after his shift fell asleep at the wheel just before sunrise, crossed the median and hit oncoming traffic, killing a man on his way to work and injuring two others. The sheriff's office admitted liability and agreed a $500,000 mediated settlement with the estate, paying part of it along with smaller settlements to other people involved. Florida Senate special masters found the sheriff's office vicariously liable and recommended a claim bill for the remaining $371,850.98, which passed through an identical House bill in 2015.
Caso US-emergency-08Informar de un error
Caso · sept 2008 · Michigan, United States
A prototype seat builder at an automotive seating plant in Michigan had medication-treated narcolepsy and a commute of two to four hours. When her department's 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. hours were moved one hour later, she said heavier traffic would tire her more quickly on the drive and asked to keep the earlier start, and she resigned when that was not granted. The U.S. Court of Appeals, even assuming she was disabled, held that a changed schedule to commute in lighter traffic was not a reasonable accommodation that federal disability law required, and upheld judgment for the employer.
Caso US-manufacturing-10Informar de un error
Caso · ago 2008 · West Virginia, United States
A runaway chemical reaction caused a pressure vessel to explode during the restart of a pesticide production unit at a chemical manufacturer's plant in West Virginia, and two employees sent to check the vessel died. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board found that many operators and key staff had been working 60 to 70 hours a week before the startup, some reporting 18-hour shifts with 6 hours off, and judged the control panel operator likely fatigued after an 84-hour week. The Board could not determine whether fatigue specifically contributed, but recommended an independent human factors study of operator fatigue in the site's control rooms.
Caso US-manufacturing-09Informar de un error
Caso · jul 2008 · Louisiana, United States
A tank barge pushed by a towing company's towboat collided with a tanker on a river, spilling about 282,686 gallons of fuel oil. The towing company pleaded guilty to a federal waterways safety law violation, including paying licensed captains to operate a vessel 24 hours a day without a relief captain despite a 12-hours-in-24 limit, and to assigning unlicensed employees, plus a federal water pollution misdemeanor. The federal court sentenced the company to two years' probation and a $200,000 fine.
Caso US-maritime-16Informar de un error
Caso · may 2008 · Massachusetts, United States
A city transit agency's light-rail train ran a red signal and struck a stopped train in Massachusetts, killing the operator and injuring others. The NTSB found the operator most likely had a micro-sleep episode, noted she was at high risk of undiagnosed sleep apnea, and named the lack of OSA screening for rail transit operators as a safety issue.
Caso US-rail-02Informar de un error
Caso · feb 2008 · Hawaii, United States
On a short inter-island flight with 40 passengers, both pilots of a regional jet fell asleep during cruise and the aircraft flew about 26 miles past its destination before they woke and returned to land safely. The National Transportation Safety Board found the cause was the pilots inadvertently falling asleep, with the captain's undiagnosed obstructive sleep apnea and the crew's recent schedules of repeated early-morning starts as contributing factors. The captain was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea three months later, and the first officer had built up a sleep debt over the previous three days.
Caso US-aviation-08Informar de un error
Caso · ene 2008 · Utah, United States
A charter motorcoach carrying a ski group ran off a highway in Utah and rolled over; nine of 53 occupants died. The NTSB found the driver's alertness was diminished by inadequate sleep, because a head cold and altitude stopped him using his CPAP device for his treated sleep apnea during the trip.
Caso US-transport-01Informar de un error
Caso · ene 2008 · Texas, United States
A motorcoach operated by a coach company on a scheduled cross-border overnight route from Mexico to Texas drifted off a highway at about 4:13 a.m. and overturned after the driver overcorrected. The National Transportation Safety Board found the driver fell asleep and was most likely fatigued. For three months he had worked overnight shifts apart from three daytime shifts, and his actual sleep before the trip was unknown. One passenger died and 17 were seriously injured.
Caso US-transport-59Informar de un error
Caso · sept 2007 · Pennsylvania, United States
A registered nurse at a residential facility for developmentally disabled young people and adults in Pennsylvania was late to work consistently, told his supervisors he had trouble sleeping and suspected sleep apnea, and received warnings and a two-day suspension for tardiness. A later sleep study found severe sleep-disordered breathing, which a CPAP machine cured, and his employment ended in 2007 after a dispute with a co-worker. The U.S. Court of Appeals upheld summary judgment for the facility because his treated sleep apnea did not substantially limit his breathing or sleeping.
Caso US-agedcare-03Informar de un error
Caso · jul 2007 · United States
A worker who maintained and operated cranes for a crane contractor for 15 years worked 10 to 12 hour shifts that rotated weekly between day, mid and night shifts. He reported excessive daytime drowsiness and in 2005 ran his car off the road because of sleepiness; in 2007 he was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea and shift work sleep disorder, and a specialist warned he was hypersomnolent during working hours and might be a risk to himself and others. A federal administrative law judge found the rotating shift work contributed to the sleep disorder and awarded permanent total disability, and the federal review board affirmed the award.
Caso US-ports-02Informar de un error
Caso · jul 2007 · United States (national trucking rules)
Safety groups challenged federal hours-of-service rules that allowed truck drivers 11 hours of driving a day and a 34-hour weekly restart. The federal appeals court vacated both provisions, finding the regulator had not properly explained its fatigue crash-risk modeling, which played down the sharp rise in risk late in the driving day and ignored cumulative fatigue from longer weeks. The court noted the agency's own data showing fatal-crash risk more than doubled from the 10th to the 11th hour.
Caso US-transport-15Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2007 · New York, United States
A staff nurse with a home care agency in New York, working a 40-hour 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. assignment plus an eight-hour shift one day a week, cared for a severely disabled young adult at the family home. Already warned after an earlier incident in 2007, she fell asleep on duty again later in 2007 and was removed from the assignment. The Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board held that staying awake was especially critical for a nurse caring for a severely disabled person, and that drowsiness from medication did not excuse her because she knew she was becoming drowsy and did not call for a replacement; benefits were denied and a $1,215 overpayment charged.
Caso US-healthcare-12Informar de un error
Caso · may 2007 · Illinois, United States
A tractor operator at a metal manufacturing plant in Illinois had fibromyalgia and obstructive sleep apnea, with a 2007 sleep study rating his sleep efficiency "very poor at 48%", and his doctors had him on straight day shifts without overtime. When a 2007 reorganisation moved his job to rotating day, evening and night shifts, he tried it for two weeks, then presented a doctor's note restricting him from the rotation and was laid off that day; he was not placed in another job until a straight-day post opened later in 2007. The U.S. Court of Appeals reversed summary judgment for the employer on his federal disability discrimination claim, holding that a jury could find his sleep problems a disability and that there was a genuine dispute over whether overtime was an essential function of the open straight-day jobs he was not offered.
Caso US-manufacturing-08Informar de un error
Caso · abr 2007 · Michigan, United States
Shortly after midnight, at the end of a long, demanding duty day, a regional jet carrying 49 passengers landed on a snow-contaminated runway without the crew carrying out the landing-distance assessment required by company policy, and ran off the end of the runway. The National Transportation Safety Board found this poor decision-making likely reflected the effects of fatigue from the long duty day, and the cockpit voice recorder captured both pilots saying they were tired. Flight and duty time rules that permitted such a duty day were cited as contributing.
Caso US-aviation-09Informar de un error
Caso · mar 2007 · Pennsylvania, United States
Security officers at a nuclear plant were videotaped inattentive to duty on four occasions in 2007 while posted in a dim, noisy, poorly ventilated 'ready room'. A special inspection by the regulator found some officers did not regard closing their eyes or putting their heads down as inattentiveness, and that management had not considered the human-factors effect of 12-hour shifts spent largely at a low-activity post. Hours were within the regulator's limits, showing that compliant rosters alone did not keep officers alert. The regulator later fined the plant operator.
Caso US-utilities-04Informar de un error
Caso · feb 2007 · Ohio, United States
A regional jet operating a commuter flight ran off the end of a snow-covered runway at an Ohio airport. The NTSB found the captain's fatigue contributed, and so did the airline's failure to administer its attendance policy so pilots could call in fatigued without fear of reprisal. He had been awake for all but about one hour of the previous 32 hours.
Caso US-aviation-05Informar de un error
Caso · ene 2007 · Nevada, United States
A federal postal employee whose shift was moved from afternoons to 7:50 p.m.-4:00 a.m. said she could only sleep three or four hours a night and claimed compensation for a sleep disorder. The compensation office treated the move as an administrative decision and denied the claim. The Employees' Compensation Appeals Board held in 2007 that the shift change was an established employment factor, comparable to moving from day to night work, which may disrupt circadian rhythms and sleep, but affirmed the denial because her doctor attributed the insomnia mainly to shoulder pain and did not explain how the shift change caused a diagnosed condition.
Caso US-government-03Informar de un error
Caso · nov 2006 · California, United States
A truck driver for a national trucking company who had driven past the 70-hour limit in a seven-day period cut across two lanes of an interstate while slowing for a weigh station and struck a family's car, killing the father and a young daughter. A California jury awarded the surviving mother and son $11.3 million, with driver fatigue from excess hours presented as a contributing factor.
Caso US-transport-33Informar de un error
Caso · jul 2006 · Wisconsin, United States
A labor and delivery nurse at a hospital worked two consecutive 8-hour shifts ending at midnight, slept at the hospital, and began another 8-hour shift at 7:00 am. That day she infused an epidural medication intravenously instead of penicillin to a teenage patient, without scanning the barcodes or reading the label, and the patient could not be resuscitated. The state Board of Nursing suspended her license for nine months and, for two years afterwards, limited her to 12 hours in any 24 and 60 hours in any 7 days.
Caso US-healthcare-05Informar de un error
Caso · abr 2006 · Florida, United States
Between 2004 and 2006 contract security officers at a nuclear plant slept on duty, with some acting as lookouts for colleagues who were sleeping. A regulator inspector personally saw an officer asleep at a post in a vital area of the plant in 2006. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission found the inattentiveness was wilful and meant officers could not maintain the continuous communication the security rules require, and fined the plant operator.
Caso US-utilities-03Informar de un error
Caso · mar 2006 · Illinois, United States
A tower controller at a major airport cleared an airliner to cross a runway and, less than 15 seconds later, cleared another airliner to take off on the same runway; the departing crew rejected the takeoff and stopped before reaching the crossing point. The controller had worked an 8-hour shift ending at 9:30 p.m. the previous day, had 9 hours off and slept only about 4 hours before returning. The NTSB concluded controller fatigue was most likely a significant factor in this and three other runway incursions and recommended changes to controller scheduling and fatigue training.
Caso US-aviation-16Informar de un error
Caso · ene 2006 · Maryland, United States
A longshoreman employed at a major Maryland port fell asleep at the wheel driving home after a 22-hour shift, crossed the center line and caused a head-on collision with another driver. Maryland's highest court accepted those facts but held the stevedoring employer was not liable: foreseeable fatigue alone did not create a duty to the other driver.
Caso US-ports-01Informar de un error
Caso · ene 2006 · Florida, United States
A trucking company's tractor-trailer struck a car stopped behind a county school bus that was dropping off students in Florida, pushing the car and bus off the road. The National Transportation Safety Board found the truck driver failed to stay alert because of fatigue from inadequate rest, having gone 34 hours since his last substantial off-duty period, and that the carrier's failure to oversee his hours of service contributed. All seven occupants of the car were killed and 11 people were injured.
Caso US-transport-50Informar de un error
Caso · oct 2005 · Wisconsin, United States
A grocery retailer's tractor-trailer drifted off an interstate highway in Wisconsin at about 2 a.m. and overturned across the road, and a motorcoach carrying a high school marching band struck it. The National Transportation Safety Board found the truck driver fell asleep at the wheel, most likely fatigued because he did not use his off-duty rest opportunities and got inadequate, disrupted sleep. The motorcoach driver and four passengers were killed and 35 passengers were injured.
Caso US-transport-49Informar de un error
Caso · oct 2005 · Iraq
A security guard employed by a private security contractor in a secure compound in Iraq worked 12-hour night shifts, 72 to 84 hours a week, and developed sleeping problems; his employer knew he had trouble waking, he was late twice and he fell asleep on the job in 2006. An administrative law judge found a work-related sleep disorder and awarded medical benefits but held his disability claim was filed too late. In 2020 the Benefits Review Board upheld the time bar but vacated the sleep-disorder finding as inadequately explained and sent it back; one member would have upheld the medical award.
Caso US-security-02Informar de un error
Caso · sept 2005 · South Dakota, United States
A trucking company caused a driver to falsify logbook entries to conceal breaches of the federal hours-of-service rules, which exist to prevent fatigue-related crashes. Following an FBI investigation with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the company was fined $200,000 and put on five years' probation, and its president was ordered to pay $126,488 restitution and a $2,000 fine and served home confinement.
Caso US-transport-14Informar de un error
Caso · jul 2005 · Mississippi, United States
At about 4:15 am a northbound freight train failed to stop at a signal and collided head-on with a southbound freight train, killing all four crew members in the collision and fire; the southbound train carried tank cars of hydrogen cyanide. The National Transportation Safety Board found the northbound crew had been working about 11.5-hour night shifts and sleeping only about 5.5 hours a night for at least three days, building a sleep debt that most likely reduced their attention to the signals.
Caso US-rail-09Informar de un error
Caso · may 2005 · Connecticut, United States
A lead screener with a federal airport security agency in Connecticut worked a split shift, 5:00 to 7:30 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and went home between the two parts. Driving back for the second part, he lost control on an interstate highway about five miles from the worksite and was injured; he testified he fell asleep because he was exhausted from working a split shift. The Employees' Compensation Appeals Board held he was not in the performance of duty because ordinary commuting is not covered and no exception applied, and that his earlier email asking to be taken off the split shift (citing a medical condition) did not change that.
Caso US-security-03Informar de un error
Caso · mar 2005 · Texas, United States
Explosions during restart of the isomerization unit at an oil refinery in Texas killed 15 workers and injured 180. The US Chemical Safety Board found the operators were likely fatigued from working 12-hour shifts for 29 or more consecutive days, and that the oil company had no fatigue prevention policy. It treated fatigue as a contributing factor within wider organizational failures.
Caso US-oilgas-01Informar de un error
Caso · feb 2005 · Virginia, United States
A Virginia corrections officer assigned with a colleague, both armed, to guard a female inmate in a public hospital was seen reclining his chair, falling asleep and snoring five to six times on one shift and falling asleep several times the next day. He had been diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea and was also working a second job of 8 to 24 hours each fortnight. The hearing officer believed the two eyewitnesses over his denial and upheld two Group III written notices and his removal.
Caso US-corrections-09Informar de un error
Caso · oct 2004 · California, United States
Shortly after midnight an air ambulance business jet departing a southern California airport under visual flight rules flew into mountainous terrain, killing both pilots and three medical crew members. The National Transportation Safety Board found the crew failed to maintain terrain clearance, with air traffic control failures also part of the cause, and that the pilots' fatigue contributed by degrading their decision-making. Both pilots had been awake about 16 to 17.5 hours, were about three hours past their normal bedtimes, and the copilot was recorded yawning five times in six minutes while preparing for departure.
Caso US-emergency-05Informar de un error
Caso · oct 2004 · Arkansas, United States
A motorcoach operated by a coach company, carrying 29 passengers overnight from Illinois to a casino in Mississippi, drifted off an interstate in Arkansas at about 5:00 a.m. and the roof detached. The National Transportation Safety Board found the probable cause was the driver's fatigued condition: he had been awake nearly 19 hours, the last 8 of them driving, because the trip schedule took him through his normal nighttime sleep period, and two restroom breaks were unlikely to have helped. The driver and 14 passengers died.
Caso US-transport-58Informar de un error
Caso · oct 2004 · Missouri, United States
A twin-turboprop regional aircraft operating a commuter flight struck trees on a night approach to a Missouri airport; 13 of 15 on board died. The NTSB found the pilots descended below minimums without the runway in sight, and that their fatigue likely contributed to their degraded performance after about 14.5 hours on duty and six flights that day.
Caso US-aviation-04Informar de un error
Caso · oct 2004 · Louisiana, United States
A crew boat captain carrying supplies to oil rigs off southern Louisiana made a night run alone, ran aground, kept watch overnight and then slipped and hurt his back. He blamed fatigue from working more than twelve hours and sued under federal maritime law, arguing the employer broke the federal limit on seamen's hours. The U.S. Court of Appeals upheld summary judgment for the employer because the statute bars employers from requiring more than twelve hours' work, and there was no evidence the company required it or knew of the night run.
Caso US-maritime-18Informar de un error
Caso · sept 2004 · Texas, United States
A tractor-semitrailer hauling mail for a freight carrier made a sudden, sharp steering move to the left on a highway in Texas, crossed the median and struck an SUV and a pickup, killing 10 people. The National Transportation Safety Board found the startle response was caused either by the driver's significant lack of sleep, which resulted in a brief period of sleep or attention loss, or by the attempted or imminent use of a wireless device. Based on his cell phone records, it estimated he had been awake for most of the 34.5 hours before the crash, with only about 2 hours to rest the day before and at best about 3 hours on the morning of the crash.
Caso US-transport-57Informar de un error
Caso · sept 2004 · Georgia, United States
A long-haul truck driver fell asleep at the wheel after driving 19 hours without rest, veered off the interstate and struck a parked vehicle, killing a child. Investigators found he had falsified his logbook on several earlier occasions to conceal hours-of-service violations. He was jailed in federal court for making false statements in his logbooks, with a state vehicular homicide charge pending.
Caso US-transport-13Informar de un error
Caso · ago 2004 · Massachusetts, United States
A correction officer at a state prison was found at about 5 a.m. during an overnight shift leaning back with his eyes closed in the outer control room, and did not respond when the director of security shouted, banged on the windows and tapped keys on the glass. He denied being asleep. The Massachusetts Civil Service Commission found it proven that he was asleep and that the state department of correction had just cause for a five-day suspension.
Caso US-corrections-03Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2004 · Texas, United States
An auto-transporter truck failed to slow for traffic queued behind an earlier crash on an interstate in Texas and set off a five-vehicle chain-reaction collision and fire. The National Transportation Safety Board found the driver failed to identify and react to the stopped traffic in time due to acute fatigue. Satellite tracking showed he had driven 954 miles in about 18 hours with only one 3-hour break, while his logbook showed a sleeper-berth rest, and the carrier was found to have failed to oversee the driver's fitness for duty and hours-of-service compliance.
Caso US-transport-56Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2004 · Texas, United States
A freight train ran past signals and struck another railroad's train in Texas, rupturing a chlorine tank car; three people died. The NTSB found the cause was train crew fatigue, and that the crew's sleep before duty was cut short by ineffective use of off-duty time and the railroad's crew-scheduling practices, which inverted their work and rest periods.
Caso US-rail-01Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2004 · Massachusetts, United States
A senior reactor operator supervising the control room of a nuclear plant fell asleep in a chair for about four minutes while on duty. A reactor operator who saw this did not wake the supervisor or report it, and the shift manager did not relieve the supervisor or send him for fitness-for-duty testing. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission treated the sleeping, the failure to report and the missing fitness-for-duty check as violations and fined the operator.
Caso US-utilities-02Informar de un error
Caso · may 2004 · Tennessee, United States
A trucking company linehaul driver was woken at home at 3:53 a.m. by a dispatcher about a delayed run and later called in to say he would become too fatigued to take it. The company issued a warning letter for using fatigue as a subterfuge to avoid work. The judge and the Department of Labor's Administrative Review Board accepted that his refusal was protected, but the Board denied his complaint because the letter, later removed from his file with no effect on pay or assignments, was not materially adverse.
Caso US-transport-34Informar de un error
Caso · mar 2004 · Texas, United States
A state National Guard tank maintenance soldier in Texas worked all day, went on an all-night recovery mission with perhaps 20 minutes' sleep, was up again at 6:45 a.m. and worked all the next day before being dismissed. Eighteen miles into his drive home he fell asleep, crossed into oncoming traffic and hit a car, killing a father and son; he later died of his injuries. The Guard had sleep rules, including an unwritten plan of at least four hours' sleep a night, and an officer said he would have ordered the soldier to stay and sleep had he known. The federal court still found the United States owed no duty, because no superior took an affirmative act of control over him because of his fatigue.
Caso US-defence-12Informar de un error
Caso · feb 2004 · Kansas, United States
A twin-turboprop air ambulance operated by an air ambulance company, repositioning back to its home base, struck terrain at about 2:57 a.m. about 7 nautical miles west of the airport, killing the pilot, flight nurse and flight paramedic. The pilot had been on duty for 14 hours 32 minutes and awake for 20 hours 57 minutes. The NTSB found the pilot failed to maintain clearance with terrain due to fatigue from lack of sleep.
Caso US-emergency-07Informar de un error
Caso · ene 2004 · Wyoming, United States
An insulation worker on an expansion project at a remote gas processing plant worked 7 am to 5:30 pm shifts, drove about 90 miles each way from his home town, and also washed dishes at night in a second job his employer did not know about; he usually slept five to six hours a night. He fell asleep at the wheel on a highway, crossed the center line and hit another vehicle, killing a man in it. The Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed summary judgment for the employer, an insulation contractor, holding that a ten-hour shift was not objectively unreasonable, there was no evidence the company knew he was fatigued, and his long commute and second job were his own voluntary decisions.
Caso US-construction-06Informar de un error
Caso · ene 2004 · Michigan, United States
A railroad yardmaster worked a 16-hour double shift and then allegedly fell asleep at the wheel driving home, suffering back injuries in the crash. He sued the railroad under the Federal Employers' Liability Act, alleging negligence. A federal court refused the railroad's request to dismiss the claim, holding that following the hours allowed by a union agreement does not by itself show the employer took reasonable care to provide a safe workplace.
Caso US-rail-12Informar de un error
Caso · oct 2003 · New York, United States
A city-run passenger ferry in New York hit a concrete maintenance pier at full speed after its assistant captain, who had slept poorly and taken prescription painkillers, lost awareness at the controls; 11 people died and about 70 were injured. The pilot admitted he had been too exhausted to work that day and was jailed, as was the ferry director who failed to enforce a two-pilot rule. Federal courts refused to let the city limit its liability, finding that a second pilot or a reasonable practice for pilot incapacitation would have prevented the disaster, and the city's settlements exceeded $90 million.
Caso US-maritime-12Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2003 · Missouri, United States
A licensed practical nurse at a skilled nursing center left work at about 10.25 pm after a double shift, nodded off several times on the 22-mile drive home and crashed into a ditch, suffering serious injuries with more than US$85,000 in medical costs. She had worked about 100 hours over the previous 15 days, and a sleep medicine expert testified her schedule produced excessive exhaustion and uncontrollable sleepiness. The state appeals court accepted that she fell asleep at the wheel but upheld the denial of workers' compensation, finding drowsy driving home was a risk shared by the general public.
Caso US-healthcare-02Informar de un error
Caso · abr 2003 · Pennsylvania, United States
A motor vehicle driver for a federal defense agency lost consciousness for one or two seconds while driving between lots early in his shift and hit a post, injuring his stomach and leg. Doctors found he had sleep apnea, which one said could have caused him to fall asleep. The compensation office denied the claim as caused by a personal condition, but in 2005 the Employees' Compensation Appeals Board held he had inadvertently fallen asleep while performing his duties, so the crash occurred in the performance of duty, and sent the case back to assess his injuries.
Caso US-defence-07Informar de un error
Caso · abr 2003 · Kansas, United States
A semitrailer driver for a paving and construction company, returning after delivering two backhoes to a work site, drove erratically for almost 10 miles before crashing into a highway construction zone and killing a road crew member. He told witnesses he had fallen asleep and admitted feeling tired; months later he was diagnosed with sleep apnea and accepted that he had excessive daytime sleepiness before the crash. The Kansas Court of Appeals upheld his involuntary manslaughter conviction, holding that the long stretch of erratic driving plus his admitted drowsiness showed conscious disregard of a known danger.
Caso US-construction-05Informar de un error
Caso · mar 2003 · Iraq
An army maintenance company convoy, at the tail of the advance into Iraq, made a navigation error and drove into a city, where it was ambushed; 11 soldiers were killed and seven captured. The army's report found the unit had spent more than two days on the move with little rest, and that acute fatigue, isolation and harsh environmental conditions contributed to the navigational error. It is one of the clearest military examples of extended wakefulness degrading route-finding and decision-making.
Caso US-defence-05Informar de un error
Caso · feb 2003 · Virginia, United States
A state transportation department bridge safety inspector in Virginia was found asleep at his desk in the early afternoon, after his supervisor had seen him sleeping during work hours on two earlier occasions. He said medication for a heart condition made him fall asleep and that adjusting it would keep him awake. The hearing officer upheld a Group III written notice with removal, noting that falling asleep during bridge inspections could endanger him and other employees and that he should have sought a solution before discipline was needed.
Caso US-government-05Informar de un error
Caso · jul 2002 · Florida, United States
A cargo airline's three-engine jet freighter struck trees and landed short of the runway on a night visual approach to a Florida airport; the three crew were injured and the aircraft destroyed. The NTSB found the crew failed to maintain a proper glidepath, and that a combination of the captain's and first officer's fatigue contributed. The first officer had a reversed day/night reserve schedule.
Caso US-aviation-03Informar de un error
Caso · jul 2002 · Indiana, United States
A twin-engine aircraft operated by an air cargo company on a night cargo flight crashed during a missed approach at a municipal airport at 3:45 a.m., killing the pilot. His crew day had started at 1:00 p.m. the previous day, and the operator reported he exceeded his 14-hour crew day by 45 minutes because of a freight delay. The NTSB named conditions conducive to pilot fatigue and the operator's inadequate oversight among the factors.
Caso US-aviation-15Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2002 · Virginia, United States
A senior corrections officer at a supermax prison had twice reported sleepiness at work and been moved to more active posts. He had stopped using his CPAP device after medical insurance problems, without telling the agency, and was found asleep in his chair at 6:21 am. The hearing officer accepted his specialist's evidence that daytime sleepiness is common with sleep apnea but upheld the disciplinary notice and suspension, given the prison's need for alert staff.
Caso US-corrections-02Informar de un error
Caso · may 2002 · United States
Airline industry groups challenged an FAA interpretation that the minimum rest airline crews must get in the 24 hours before completing a flight segment has to be checked against actual expected flight times on the day, not just the original schedule. The U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the FAA, noting that protecting crews against acute short-term fatigue was one of the rule's goals and that the FAA must balance flexibility against safety. Under the FAA's interpretation, if a carrier knows or reasonably should know that a segment will leave a crew with less than eight hours of look-back rest, the flight may not leave the gate.
Caso US-aviation-19Informar de un error
Caso · abr 2002 · Tennessee, United States
A driver for a Tennessee child care center was taking six children to school in a 15-passenger van when it left an interstate highway. The National Transportation Safety Board found he fell asleep at the wheel, quite likely because of an undiagnosed sleep disorder, and named the absence of oversight by the child care operator in the probable cause. Four children and the driver were killed and two children were seriously injured.
Caso US-childcare-01Informar de un error
Caso · mar 2002 · Wisconsin, United States
A registered nurse employed by a healthcare company and two other healthcare facilities frequently worked 72-hour stretches between her three employers without breaks. She fell asleep several times on duty, which the state Board of Nursing found exposed patients in her care to harm and neglect. The Board reprimanded her and limited her license to 60 hours a week and 16 hours a day, with no night shifts, no pool or home health work, and supervised practice.
Caso US-healthcare-08Informar de un error
Caso · feb 2002 · New York, United States
A part-time staff nurse at a New York hospital, also working there as a private duty nurse, was engaged for a midnight to 8 a.m. shift to supervise a patient recovering from neck surgery who had a tracheotomy and could communicate only by gesture or notes. The patient's family complained that she had fallen asleep and failed to respond to the patient's needs, and after investigating the hospital fired her for compromising patient care. An arbitrator found she had been sleeping and that the hospital had just cause, and the federal court confirmed the award and dismissed her challenge.
Caso US-healthcare-11Informar de un error
Caso · oct 2001 · Virginia, United States
A Virginia corrections officer was found asleep in his perimeter patrol vehicle while carrying a loaded pistol, about six weeks after he was found dozing in a chair in the prison kitchen with two inmates present. He said he had been up late the night before and was tired, and he was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea the day after the second incident. The hearing officer upheld his discharge, ruling that the conduct policy does not distinguish voluntary from involuntary sleep and that he should have told his supervisor before the shift that he had been up late.
Caso US-corrections-08Informar de un error
Caso · sept 2001 · Colorado, United States
A cargo jet took off at a major airport from a runway that was closed for construction, after the night-shift controller approved the closed runway on the crew's request. The aircraft passed within 32 feet of construction lights. The controller had worked a morning shift the day before and, in the 9-hour break before her overnight shift, got between 60 and 90 minutes of sleep; the NTSB concluded controller fatigue was most likely a significant factor in this and three other runway incursions.
Caso US-aviation-14Informar de un error
Caso · ago 2001 · New Jersey, United States
A tri-axle dump truck driver for a truck hauling contractor in New Jersey, who said he had been working seven days a week at 120 to 130 hours, apparently fell asleep at the wheel at about 8:45 p.m. and crashed into a car, leaving its driver permanently disabled. He had left work about seven hours earlier and had been drinking, with a blood alcohol level of .178 when tested after the crash. The New Jersey Appellate Division held the employer owed no duty to the injured motorists: drivers had at least a fourteen-hour break between driving shifts, extra mechanic work was not required, and nothing showed company officials knew how much he was sleeping or that he was fatigued. The court upheld the exclusion of the plaintiffs' fatigue expert, but vacated the judgment against one of the two taverns held liable and sent the allocation of fault back for retrial.
Caso US-transport-48Informar de un error
Caso · ago 2001 · Massachusetts, United States
A foreman supervising carpenters building forms on a major highway construction project stayed on the job for about 27 hours without sleep when a concrete pour was delayed, then fell asleep after 30 minutes driving home and crashed into a utility pole. An administrative judge and a divided reviewing board awarded workers' compensation, finding his exhaustion was work-caused. In 2008 the Supreme Judicial Court reversed: fatigue injuries on the way home may be compensable where an employer makes 'extraordinary demands', but this employee had not shown he was required to stay beyond his shift.
Caso US-construction-01Informar de un error
Caso · jul 2001 · Washington, United States
An airport tower controller cleared a jet to cross a runway while a widebody airliner was on short final; the landing airliner stopped only 810 feet short of the crossing jet after maximum braking. It was the controller's third shift in 2 days, and he had slept 4 to 5 hours after one shift and 3 hours after another before starting the incident shift at 2245. He had not done the required visual scan of the runway, and the NTSB concluded controller fatigue was most likely a significant factor in this and three other runway incursions.
Caso US-aviation-13Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2001 · New Jersey, United States
During a 2001 investigation, officers using night-vision binoculars watched a township police officer in New Jersey asleep in his parked patrol car beside a state highway on three successive midnight shifts, once for more than two hours and for more than five hours in total. He did not react to high-speed drive-bys and was slow to answer another officer's call for assistance. The Merit System Board upheld his removal, the Appellate Division ordered a lesser penalty under progressive discipline, and the New Jersey Supreme Court reversed and reinstated the dismissal.
Caso US-emergency-11Informar de un error
Caso · mar 2001 · Kentucky, United States
A mine electrician-mechanic driving in to start a third (night) shift fell asleep at the wheel on the mine's private access road, ran off a curve into trees and a ditch, and suffered a disabling neck injury. The Supreme Court of Kentucky held the injury was work-related under the 'operating premises' exception to the going and coming rule, and that falling asleep was not a substantial deviation from normal travel to work. The mine operator bore the compensation cost of a fatigue crash on its own road.
Caso US-mining-01Informar de un error
Caso · nov 2000 · Ohio, United States
In 2000 a power company's plant in Ohio ran so much overtime that employees able to work it became burned out, and management re-examined medical overtime restrictions. A storeroom power plant attendant's doctor confirmed he had permanent sleep apnea and could work no overtime, and the company ended his employment later in 2000. The Ohio Court of Appeals found a real question whether his sleep apnea was a disability, citing evidence of lunchtime naps and slurred speech from tiredness, but held overtime was an essential function of the job, so his discrimination claim failed.
Caso US-utilities-07Informar de un error
Caso · oct 2000 · Virginia, United States
A supervisor with nearly 29 years' service, responsible for staff caring for about 170 residents with intellectual and physical disabilities at a Virginia state facility, was found asleep and snoring loudly in a staff bathroom near the end of an overnight third shift. He had obstructive sleep apnea treated with CPAP and said he had given his supervisor a 1999 physician's letter recommending he not work third shift (the supervisor recalled receiving it only after the incident). He had declined an offered first-shift post, and the agency already let him take leave without notice whenever he was too tired. The hearing officer upheld a Group III written notice and 10-day suspension, finding that letting him sleep at work would be unreasonable and an undue hardship.
Caso US-agedcare-02Informar de un error
Caso · jul 2000 · United States
A trade group of about fifty on-demand air charter companies challenged an FAA enforcement notice saying that time when an off-duty pilot must stay reachable and report if called does not count toward the required 10 consecutive hours of rest. The U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the FAA on this point, describing such a pilot as effectively on a leash and accepting the FAA's reasoning that a pilot who may be called at any time is less likely to be refreshed and alert. A second scenario, where the pilot may decline a call, was left undecided as unripe.
Caso US-aviation-18Informar de un error
Caso · jul 2000 · Tennessee, United States
A tractor-semitrailer driver struck a state highway patrol car positioned to steer traffic away from a rumble-strip milling work zone on an interstate in Tennessee, killing the trooper and seriously injuring another driver. The National Transportation Safety Board found the driver's obstructive sleep apnea, untreated hypothyroidism or their complications predisposed him to impairment or incapacitation, including falling asleep at the wheel, and that the medical certification process failed to remove a medically unfit driver. The driver had been diagnosed with sleep apnea in 1997 after an earlier crash into a stopped patrol car, could not tolerate CPAP, and did not disclose the condition at his 1999 medical exam.
Caso US-transport-55Informar de un error
Caso · jun 2000 · Pennsylvania, United States
A truck driver and dispatcher for a freight carrier in Pennsylvania returned to the terminal after a run and, shortly after midnight, drove his own car home to sleep and change before his next run. He fell asleep at the wheel, hit a tree and suffered serious pelvic injuries. The compensation judge found he could have slept in his tractor-trailer, which had a bed, and did not find him credible, and the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court affirmed the denial of benefits and declined, on public policy grounds, to compensate injuries from self-induced exhaustion.
Caso US-transport-54Informar de un error
Caso · ene 2000 · California, United States
A 135-foot, 226,000-pound tractor-semitrailer combination carrying an oil refinery condenser unit, escorted by two pilot cars and three state highway patrol officers, became lodged on a grade crossing in California before dawn and was struck by a commuter train. The National Transportation Safety Board found the move was poorly prepared, planned and coordinated, and that the fatigue of the pilot car drivers and the truck driver contributed. The truck driver was at least 9 hours beyond his 10-hour driving limit, and neither he nor the pilot car drivers slept during a long evening stop before the night move. Six people on the train had minor injuries.
Caso US-transport-53Informar de un error
Caso · 2000 · At sea (United States container shipping)
A container-ship chief mate regularly worked 90 to 105 hours a week for 70 to 84 consecutive days, and his cardiologist attributed his thickened heart wall to job stress and sleep deprivation. A jury awarded him about $2.36 million (reduced to about $590,000 for his own share of fault). The federal appeals court reversed, holding that injury from overwork and work-related stress is not a 'physical peril' compensable under the Jones Act - a split from other courts that shows how uncertain the legal exposure for fatigue-driven ill health can be.
Caso US-maritime-11Informar de un error
Caso · jun 1999 · Arkansas, United States
A twin-jet airliner operated by a major airline overran the runway while landing in a thunderstorm; 11 people died. The NTSB found the crew should have discontinued the approach, and that their impaired performance from fatigue and situational stress contributed. The landing came late at night at the end of a long duty day.
Caso US-aviation-02Informar de un error
Caso · jun 1999 · South Dakota, United States
A flagger and laborer for a road construction company arrived at the company's quarry at about 5:30 a.m., found her crew had already left, and drove alone towards a road construction project about 125 miles away. She fell asleep at the wheel and her car left the road and rolled twice, leaving her with serious injuries. The South Dakota Supreme Court upheld her workers' compensation award in 2005, holding the trip was part of her employment and that falling asleep, even with speeding, no seat belt and a sedative taken the evening before, was not willful misconduct.
Caso US-construction-04Informar de un error
Caso · may 1999 · Inland rivers, United States
A towboat chief engineer spent around 40 consecutive days per trip maintaining the engine room largely alone, with constant alarms and emergencies making adequate sleep impossible, and worked his last 15 days as the only engineer before dying of cardiac arrest. Medical experts linked years of inadequate sleep, excessive fatigue and work stress to his coronary disease and sudden death. A Missouri jury awarded his estate $950,000 against the barge line for failing to provide safe working conditions, and the state appeals court upheld the verdict.
Caso US-maritime-10Informar de un error
Caso · feb 1999 · Texas, United States
A tire alignment technician for a tire company who regularly commuted about two hours each way between his home city and the company's shop, working eight- to ten-hour shifts, fell asleep at the wheel of a company truck a little before 3 am and struck an oncoming truck head-on, injuring both drivers. The injured driver sued the company for vicarious liability and negligent entrustment. The Supreme Court of Texas held the crash happened on a personal errand, so the company was not vicariously liable, and that its knowledge of the technician's work schedule and commute, without more, did not raise a fact issue that he was an incompetent driver because of insufficient sleep. It rendered judgment that the injured driver take nothing from the company.
Caso US-automotive-01Informar de un error
Caso · 1999 · Virginia, United States
For years a Virginia trucking company had its drivers run routes so long that they barely slept between trips for weeks at a time, while falsifying their logs to hide hours-of-service breaches. Drivers reported nearly falling asleep at the wheel and one needed medical rescue after using drugs to stay awake. The companies were fined, forfeited $2 million and paid restitution to drivers, and four executives were sentenced to home confinement.
Caso US-transport-12Informar de un error
Caso · oct 1998 · Illinois, United States
A salaried casino employee worked consecutive 12 to 13-hour shifts under an overtime policy and, driving home early in the morning, fell asleep at the wheel; her car left the road, flipped and struck an electrical pole. She sued the casino operator for requiring hours that left her unable to drive safely. The state appeals court upheld dismissal, ruling that employers owe no duty to ensure off-duty employees are rested enough to drive home and that individual employees are best placed to judge their own fitness to drive.
Caso US-retail-01Informar de un error
Caso · ago 1998 · Louisiana, United States
A paramedic and ambulance driver employed by a Louisiana hospital service district was sent to an EMT instructor seminar and, on the way home, spent the night socialising and drinking in a nearby city until about 4 a.m. He set off at about 5:30 a.m., stopped once because he was falling asleep and walked around his car, then fell asleep at the wheel at about 6:30 a.m., crossed the center line and collided head-on with a motorist, who was seriously injured; his blood alcohol content was 0.111 after the crash. The Louisiana Court of Appeal upheld summary judgment for the employer because his decision to socialise, drink and drive sleep deprived took him outside the course and scope of his employment.
Caso US-emergency-10Informar de un error
Caso · jun 1998 · Pennsylvania, United States
At about 4:05 a.m. a coach company's motorcoach carrying 23 people left a turnpike in Pennsylvania and struck tractor-semitrailers parked in a pull-off area; the driver and six passengers died and 16 passengers were injured. In the days before, the driver's work had moved from early-morning driving to overnight runs. The National Transportation Safety Board found the probable cause was the driver's reduced alertness from a sedating antihistamine and from fatigue resulting from the coach company's scheduling of irregular work-rest periods.
Caso US-transport-47Informar de un error
Caso · mar 1998 · United States
A yard load operator at a rock quarry, who ran heavy machinery to load rock onto trucks and had sleep apnea, was repeatedly seen sleeping or nodding off on the job, including while a front loader was in operation. The employer gave him medical leave to seek treatment, and fired him when he did not return with a doctor's release once his leave ran out. The federal appeals court upheld summary judgment for the employer, finding no evidence that its stated reason was a pretext, and noted the risks of a sleepy operator of heavy equipment.
Caso US-mining-02Informar de un error
Caso · sept 1997 · Texas, United States
A motorman on a land drilling rig working 6 pm to 6 am shifts slept only briefly during his first three shifts, although the company provided bunk-bed sleeping quarters at the rig. Exhausted, he chose to drive home and, about four hours after leaving the rig, fell asleep at the wheel and crashed head-on into another driver, injuring her. The state appeals court accepted that he fell asleep but held that the drilling company did not owe a duty to the injured motorist simply because it had provided sleeping quarters.
Caso US-oilgas-03Informar de un error
Caso · ago 1997 · Guam, United States (territory)
A foreign airline's wide-body jet struck high terrain on a night approach to an island airport in a US territory; 228 of 254 on board died. The NTSB found the captain failed to brief and fly the non-precision approach properly and the other crew failed to cross-check him, with the captain's fatigue named as a contributing factor.
Caso US-aviation-01Informar de un error
Caso · jul 1997 · Kansas, United States
An agricultural pilot flying a crop-spraying aircraft for an aerial application operator struck transmission wires during aerial application. The pilot was not injured. He reported being fatigued from working approximately 18-hour days in the week before the accident, and the NTSB listed pilot fatigue as a factor along with a malfunctioning wire cutter.
Caso US-agriculture-02Informar de un error
Caso · jul 1997 · Texas, United States
A sales instructor at a health insurer in Texas said that from mid-1995 he became increasingly tired, could not concentrate, and fell asleep in meetings and at his desk, while the company cited ongoing performance problems. In 1997 he was given leave for a sleep study and, days later, notice of discharge; the study then found moderate obstructive sleep apnea, which CPAP treatment corrected. The federal court granted the insurer summary judgment because his corrected condition did not substantially limit a major life activity, he had not told the company of a disability before the discharge decision, and he offered no evidence that the documented performance reasons were a pretext.
Caso US-insurance-01Informar de un error
Caso · jul 1997 · Illinois, United States
Two weeks into training, a first-year medical intern worked 34 hours of a scheduled 36-hour on-call shift, then fell asleep while driving home and crashed into a young woman's car, leaving her with a permanently disabling head injury. Her family sued the hospital, alleging it knew or should have known its intern was impaired by sleep deprivation from excessive hours. The state appeals court upheld dismissal of the claim against the hospital, finding no duty of care to non-patients under Illinois law, even though the state's hospital licensing law required compliance with resident duty-hour standards.
Caso US-healthcare-04Informar de un error
Caso · nov 1996 · Louisiana, United States
On his first day with an industrial services contractor, a scaffold carpenter attended orientation from 7 a.m. and then worked a night shift at a plant in Louisiana; the foreman put his release at about 4 a.m., although a co-worker said he left before midnight. Driving home, his vehicle crossed the center line and hit a pickup head-on, killing a man on his way to work at a lumber mill; the trial court found the carpenter most probably dozed off. The trial court held the employer 40 per cent at fault for letting him drive home after a 21-hour shift, noting that company and industry policy capped shifts at 16 hours. The Louisiana Court of Appeal reversed that finding, holding that the employer owed no duty to other road users in these circumstances.
Caso US-construction-10Informar de un error
Caso · nov 1996 · Mississippi, United States
A roustabout on a fixed offshore platform for an offshore drilling company was flown ashore in Louisiana at the end of his seven-day hitch and set off for home in Alabama in his own car. About 132 miles later he fell asleep at the wheel on an interstate highway in Mississippi, ran off the road and suffered severe injuries, including an alleged traumatic brain injury. He said he had worked about 123 hours that week and argued the long hours were the 'accident' and fatigue the 'injury'. The workers' compensation judge rejected this, and the Louisiana Court of Appeal affirmed that falling asleep after a hitch ended was not a risk incidental to the employment and fell within no exception to the coming-and-going rule.
Caso US-oilgas-09Informar de un error
Caso · oct 1996 · United States
A health physicist at a federal energy agency was removed after nine sleeping-on-duty specifications over two months, observed by staff and contractors, together with an absence charge. He had reflux disease and was taking a medication whose side effects can include somnolence, and said he slept poorly at night. The Merit Systems Protection Board rejected his disability defense but treated his medical condition and medication side effects as a significant mitigating factor, replacing removal with a 60-day suspension and ordering back pay.
Caso US-government-02Informar de un error
Caso · jun 1996 · South Carolina, United States
A corroded fuel pipeline ruptured at a river crossing and about 957,600 gallons of diesel fuel oil flowed 22 miles down the river, killing an estimated 35,000 fish. The relief controller had switched from a day shift to a night shift with no break, so he was working 12 hours out of phase with the day before and had been awake for almost 17 hours. The National Transportation Safety Board found that this fatigue may have affected his alertness and responsiveness as he mishandled pump shutdowns and the abnormal pressures, and it later urged regulators to look at the risks of rotating controller shifts.
Caso US-oilgas-02Informar de un error
Caso · mar 1996 · Minnesota, United States
A state transportation department highway maintenance worker, whose main winter duty was snow removal, was injured when his snowplow rolled over into a ditch. Back on light duty he said he could not stay awake at work or while driving, and a sleep latency study was read as consistent with narcolepsy, leading to a 15-minute driving limit. The compensation judge found co-workers and earlier records showed sleepiness before the rollover and that other causes explained it, and in 1999 the Workers' Compensation Court of Appeals affirmed that the sleep disorder was not caused by the work injury.
Caso US-government-01Informar de un error
Caso · ago 1995 · Kentucky, United States
The director of anesthesiology at a hospital was reported by three doctors and a nurse to have slept during four surgical procedures, at times snoring. He was suspended and terminated; a sleep study a week later found severe chronic sleep deprivation from obstructive sleep apnea, which treatment then resolved. The federal appeals court upheld summary judgment for the hospital, holding that an employer may fire a person for conduct even if it is related to a disability, and that it is unsafe to employ an anesthesiologist who sleeps while performing his duties.
Caso US-healthcare-07Informar de un error
Caso · jul 1995 · Alabama, United States
A nurse driving home after a 12-hour night shift, awake for about 24 hours, left the road and hit a utility pole two miles from home. A state trooper said she told him she had become drowsy and fell asleep at the wheel; she later said she never felt drowsy. She sued the power company over the pole's placement and the trial court granted the company summary judgment, but the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals reversed on the negligence claim, holding that contributory negligence turned on whether she kept driving while drowsy, which was a factual question for a jury.
Caso US-healthcare-19Informar de un error
Caso · jun 1995 · Alaska, United States
A cruise ship carrying 1,568 passengers and 639 crew grounded on a submerged rock at 0142 with a state-licensed pilot conducting. The NTSB found the probable cause was the pilot's poor performance, which may have been exacerbated by chronic fatigue caused by sleep apnea, and that the bridge team did not practice bridge resource management. No one was hurt, but repairs and lost service were estimated at $27.16 million.
Caso US-maritime-15Informar de un error
Caso · feb 1995 · Alabama, United States
A hospital respiratory technician in Alabama worked two 16-hour shifts every weekend with an 8-hour break between them. Driving home at the end of the second shift, at about 11:00 p.m., she fell asleep, crossed the median and overturned, suffering serious injuries. Two experts said the long shifts and short break raised her fatigue risk and that sleep deprivation was a factor. The Alabama Court of Civil Appeals held the crash was not 'in the course of' her employment, so workers' compensation was denied, but for that reason the compensation law did not bar her negligence claim, and it reversed the summary judgment for the hospital and sent the tort case back for trial.
Caso US-healthcare-10Informar de un error
Caso · jul 1994 · Michigan, United States
An electrician on the 4 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. shift at a car maker's assembly plant had a narcolepsy-like disorder and found himself missing his turn while driving home late at night. His doctor asked for a regular day shift on medical grounds. The car maker then fired him for allegedly lying on its medical history form and on a driver's license examination form that asked whether he had ever had narcolepsy. The federal appeals court upheld summary judgment for the car maker because it had reasonably relied on particularized facts for the driver's license form reason.
Caso US-manufacturing-03Informar de un error
Caso · may 1994 · California, United States
The general manager of a restaurant rear-ended a car on a freeway at about 1 am, and the other driver died. He told police he had fallen asleep after a double shift (8:30 am to 2 am) and, after 16 hours off, an evening shift of about six hours. The family alleged the restaurant company required excessive hours, let him drive home exhausted and provided no sleeping accommodations. The California Court of Appeal affirmed summary judgment for the employer, holding under the going-and-coming rule that his schedule did not create a 'special risk' of a fatigue crash and that a 16-hour break followed by six hours' work was not an excessive workload.
Caso US-retail-04Informar de un error
Caso · abr 1994 · United States
After a reorganization, a long-serving freight railroad employee was moved onto a rotating pattern of three 12-hour day shifts, three days off and three 12-hour night shifts. He developed sleep problems and other health effects, argued his circadian sleep rhythms had been destroyed, and won a $500,000 jury verdict (halved for his own negligence). The federal appeals court reversed, holding that injuries flowing from a disrupted sleep cycle were emotional injuries outside the federal railroad liability law because the shift schedule did not expose him to a physical impact.
Caso US-rail-16Informar de un error
Caso · sept 1993 · Alabama, United States
A long-serving wood yard worker at a forest products company's mill in Alabama, who unloaded log trucks and drove a front-end loader and chip trucks, began falling asleep at work daily. He was seen asleep on the loader while it was in gear, was laid off for over three months to address his sleep disorder, and after returning was found with his eyes closed on the loader again and fired for repeated sleeping on the job. The federal court granted summary judgment for the employer, holding he was not a qualified individual under federal disability law because constant alertness was essential and an employer need not wait for an accident.
Caso US-forestry-02Informar de un error
Caso · ago 1993 · North Carolina, United States
A city police sergeant in North Carolina assigned to the 9:45 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. shift reported trouble sleeping, was briefly moved to a day post that was then eliminated, and in 1993 was diagnosed with shift work sleep disorder; her doctor recommended she not work nights. The department would not reassign her but allowed a voluntary swap, put her on daytime administrative duty at the same pay when no one volunteered, and offered other city jobs, which she refused. The federal court granted summary judgment to the city, holding that shift work sleep disorder, which the evidence showed affected most night workers, was not a disability under federal disability discrimination law.
Caso US-emergency-09Informar de un error
Caso · mar 1993 · Texas, United States
A tool pusher for a drilling company in Texas, on 24-hour call, had only short cat-naps in the day and a half before he drove a company car from a shut-down well site to a nearby town to eat, and fell asleep driving back at about 2:00 a.m., colliding with another car near the center line. A jury awarded the two injured men about $3.58 million against the driver and the company. The Texas Court of Appeals held that being on call did not put him in the course of employment, and the company owed no duty because it took no 'affirmative action to put [him] on the public highway in his fatigued state' and had provided a trailer with a bed at the site. The court found the evidence of the driver's own gross negligence sufficient, but sent his case back for a new trial because the verdict was ambiguous.
Caso US-oilgas-08Informar de un error
Caso · jul 1992 · New York, United States
A nurse on a children's psychiatric unit in New York stayed past her shift until 4:00 a.m. because her replacement called in sick, then returned for a regular shift and a required double shift ending at 8:00 a.m., working 28 of 40 hours as the only nurse on duty over a holiday weekend. Sleeping was not allowed in the building. Driving home, she fell asleep and hit a wooden pole, suffering serious facial and leg injuries. The Workers' Compensation Board found her falling asleep was 'a direct result of the unusually long hours'. The New York Appellate Division said the record supported that nexus, but withheld its decision and remitted the case so the Board could explain why it departed from an earlier contrary ruling.
Caso US-healthcare-09Informar de un error
Caso · nov 1991 · Tennessee, United States
A worker with an unblemished eight-year record at a hardwood flooring plant in Tennessee was fired in 1991 for sleeping on the job. An arbitrator found she had fallen asleep at her work station, probably for no "more than a minute or two", but held the firing lacked just cause because the company ignored mitigating factors, including her lack of intent, and treated her the same as an employee who had built a shack to hide out and sleep; the arbitrator substituted a ten-day suspension with back pay. The U.S. Court of Appeals reversed the district court and reinstated the arbitrator's award.
Caso US-manufacturing-07Informar de un error
Caso · mar 1991 · California, United States
A cargo pilot for an air cargo operator reported for work at 2:00 a.m., flew an outbound cargo leg, rested at a company apartment and slept about 5 hours, then took off on the return leg at 8:55 p.m. About 1.5 hours later the single-engine aircraft crashed and the pilot was killed. The NTSB found the probable cause was incapacitation of the pilot due to inadequate sleep.
Caso US-aviation-12Informar de un error
Caso · nov 1990 · California, United States
Two freight trains of a freight railroad collided head-on at about 4:11 am, killing all three crew of one train and a brakeman on the other. The NTSB found the engineer failed to stop at the stop signal because he was asleep, after chronic sleep deprivation from an irregular, unpredictable work schedule; the other crew members probably were also asleep. The Board also cited the railroad's lack of a procedure to remove unfit crew from service and inadequate federal hours-of-service rules.
Caso US-rail-15Informar de un error
Caso · oct 1990 · United States
A Marine private first class posted as the building fire watch, responsible for the security of a barracks, sat down on two footlockers at about 3:45 a.m., when he was due to wake his relief, and nodded off until about 4:00 a.m.; he then told his relief he had been sleeping. He pleaded guilty to sleeping on post among other offences, and argued on appeal that the offence required someone to have "found" him asleep. The Navy-Marine Corps Court of Military Review held that how a sentinel is discovered sleeping is not an element of the offence and affirmed the findings and sentence.
Caso US-defence-11Informar de un error
Caso · abr 1990 · California, United States
An airline pilot flying a twin-turboprop commuter airliner alone on a positioning flight climbed to 17,500 feet, trimmed for cruise and dozed off several times, then lost control and overstressed the airplane. He had slept only 1.5 to 2 hours in the preceding 24 hours and had never flown the type solo but did not want to wait for a co-pilot. The NTSB found the cause was his poor judgment in attempting the flight while fatigued from lack of sleep.
Caso US-aviation-11Informar de un error
Caso · 1990 · Tennessee, United States
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission proposed a $30,000 civil penalty against a federal power utility for failing to comply with plant overtime requirements during a refueling outage at a nuclear plant. The NRC said the case involved numerous significant examples of inadequate control of overtime and warned that excessive and uncontrolled overtime could lead to safety-related human-factor failures. The penalty was escalated because a similar earlier violation had not been effectively corrected.
Caso US-utilities-05Informar de un error
Caso · nov 1989 · United States (interstate)
A long-haul driver was disciplined and then dismissed after taking unscheduled rest stops when he became too tired to drive safely, including a nap after being awake about 20 hours and refusing a dispatch after 17 hours without sleep. The Secretary of Labor found the dismissal breached the Surface Transportation Assistance Act, and the federal appeals court affirmed, ordering reinstatement with back pay. Drivers who stop or refuse because fatigue makes driving unsafe are legally protected.
Caso US-transport-11Informar de un error
Caso · mar 1989 · Alaska, United States
Shortly after midnight a tankship ran onto a reef with the third mate in navigational control, rupturing eight cargo tanks. The NTSB found the probable cause included the third mate's failure to maneuver the vessel because of fatigue and excessive workload, and the shipping company's failure to provide a rested and sufficient crew. During cargo operations the mates had essentially stood 6-hours-on, 6-hours-off watches, and the company said it had no program to give deck officers six hours' rest before sailing.
Caso US-maritime-14Informar de un error
Caso · abr 1988 · Oregon, United States
A part-time fast-food restaurant worker who was also a high school student worked his normal after-school shift (3:30 pm to 8 pm), then an overnight shift from midnight to 8:21 am, told his supervisor he was too tired to work his next afternoon shift, and fell asleep at the wheel driving home, dying in a head-on crash. His estate alleged the employer knew or should have known he had worked too many hours without adequate sleep and negligently scheduled excessive hours. The Oregon Supreme Court held the death did not occur in the course of employment because neither the 'special errand' nor the 'greater hazard' exception to the going-and-coming rule applied, so workers' compensation did not bar the wrongful death suit; it reversed and sent the case back for further proceedings.
Caso US-retail-03Informar de un error
Caso · abr 1988 · Oregon, United States
A fast-food employee worked an evening shift, an overnight clean-up shift and an early-morning shift, then fell asleep or became drowsy driving home and crossed the center line, killing himself and severely injuring another driver. The Oregon Court of Appeals upheld the jury verdict against the restaurant, holding it could be liable for the foreseeable risk of overworking him.
Caso US-food-01Informar de un error
Caso · sept 1987 · California, United States
A minor working as a dishwasher at a pizza restaurant worked from 5 pm to the 1 am closing, finished his chores after 2 am, then set off on the roughly 15-mile drive home and died in a single-car crash about two miles from home. His parents alleged he was tired and fell asleep or was drowsy after being kept at work beyond the hours state law allows for minors. The California Court of Appeal held that the 'special risk' exception to the going-and-coming rule applied because the alleged risk arose from being kept at work past legal hours, so the death fell within workers' compensation and the wrongful death suit was barred.
Caso US-retail-02Informar de un error
Caso · mar 1987 · Pennsylvania, United States
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission learned that control room operators at a two-reactor nuclear plant had been seen sleeping on duty, particularly on the 11 pm to 7 am shift, over at least five months. Operators were also found routinely reclined with heads back and eyes closed. The regulator found that supervisors and upper management either knew and condoned the behavior or should have known, and ordered the plant shut down. Both units stayed offline for more than two years, and work-hour limits were later written into the operating licenses.
Caso US-utilities-01Informar de un error
Caso · may 1986 · Texas, United States
The computer operations manager at a newspaper publisher in Texas, on call 24 hours a day, had been on the job about 20 hours after returning to fix a computer malfunction. Driving home at about 5 a.m., he collided with another motorist and afterwards said he must have fallen asleep. The Texas Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for the publisher: there was no evidence it knew of any incapacity or took any affirmative step to control him, and he was not in the course of his employment on the drive home.
Caso US-tech-02Informar de un error
Caso · dic 1985 · Missouri, United States
During an ice storm emergency in 1985, an employee of a Missouri electric cooperative worked 86 of 100.5 hours over several days, cutting trees with chain saws, digging holes by hand and resetting poles in extreme cold. He went off duty at 1:00 a.m., fell asleep driving home, crossed the center line and was killed in a head-on crash. The co-op argued the crash was too far from work, about 22 miles, to be covered. The Supreme Court of Missouri held his exhaustion was an 'abnormal exposure to an employment related peril' caused by overtime at the employer's bidding, and affirmed full workers' compensation benefits for his widow and son.
Caso US-utilities-06Informar de un error
Caso · 1985 · New Jersey, United States
A salaried supervisor at a glass manufacturer's plant in New Jersey was told near the end of his day to travel about 50 miles to a customer to investigate a glass problem. He worked there through the night until 8 a.m., then blacked out at the wheel on the way home and collided head-on with another vehicle. The New Jersey Appellate Division held the entire journey was part of the assignment, citing the roughly 27 sleepless hours and the fatigue hazard the employer's errand created, and affirmed workers' compensation.
Caso US-manufacturing-12Informar de un error
Caso · may 1984 · Minnesota, United States
A part-time order filler at a grocery wholesaler's warehouse in Minnesota had been up since 6 a.m. when he was called at 9 p.m. to work the night shift and told he would drop to the bottom of the seniority list if he did not come in. He worked until 5 a.m. and was killed when his car left the road on the way home; an accident reconstruction expert believed he had fallen asleep. The compensation judge found his work was a substantial contributing cause of his fatigue, but the Minnesota Supreme Court held the commute home after a normal shift was not compensable.
Caso US-warehousing-02Informar de un error
Caso · mar 1984 · New York, United States
A patient died the morning after being admitted overnight to a city teaching hospital and treated by junior doctors. A county grand jury investigating the death concluded that the long, gruelling hours worked by unsupervised interns and residents led to her death; the two doctors on duty had each been working for about 18 hours when she was admitted. The grand jury recommended that the state limit consecutive working hours for interns and junior residents, and a state advisory committee went on to propose capping trainee shifts at 16 hours.
Caso US-healthcare-01Informar de un error
Caso · oct 1978 · West Virginia, United States
A young section laborer for a railroad in West Virginia worked through the night clearing a derailment, repeatedly saying he was tired and wanted to go home, but was told he could not and was sent back to work until he was released after about 27 hours. The railroad drove him to his car 50 miles from home, although it offered to drive the rest of the crew to their homes; he fell asleep on that ride with a lit cigarette in his hand. Driving home, he hit the rear of another car and said he must have fallen asleep. The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals reversed a directed verdict for the railroad, holding that it could reasonably have foreseen the risk to other motorists and that duty and causation were for a jury.
Caso US-rail-11Informar de un error
Caso · ago 1977 · New Jersey, United States
A corrections officer with five years' clean service fell asleep on guard duty in an elevated enclosed cage overlooking the mess hall at a state prison in New Jersey, where the temperature that day was estimated at 100 degrees. The state corrections department dismissed him for neglect of duty, but the state Civil Service Commission reduced the penalty to a 60-day suspension. The New Jersey Supreme Court held the Commission may substitute its own judgment on penalty and upheld the suspension, noting that all parties agreed conditions in the cage were intolerable.
Caso US-corrections-12Informar de un error
Caso · may 1977 · Texas, United States
A motorman on a drilling company's rig in Texas worked rotating 12-hour shifts and drove about three hours each way to and from his home. Driving home at 7:30 a.m. after a shift, he struck the rear of a pickup, which plunged into a ravine; its driver was left paraplegic. A jury found the company negligent in letting exhausted employees onto the highway, but the federal appeals court reversed, holding that under Texas law the employer had no right to control workers after their shift and so no duty to stop them driving home exhausted.
Caso US-oilgas-11Informar de un error
Caso · abr 1974 · Texas, United States
A waitress-cashier at a restaurant in Texas worked her overnight shift, was kept on until 1:30 p.m. because her relief did not report, rested briefly, and returned for an evening shift that ended at 2:00 a.m. Driving home, she went to sleep on the freeway and hit the rear of another car. The Texas Court of Civil Appeals affirmed summary judgment against her compensation claim, holding that even if the long hours made her sleepy, she was on a personal trip home and not furthering her employer's business.
Caso US-retail-08Informar de un error
Caso · dic 1971 · Minnesota, United States
A veteran bricklayer laying firebrick in a glass furnace at a glass company worked 9 hours 15 minutes in very hot conditions, longer than the normal 8-hour day, because the employer wanted the furnace job finished quickly. Minutes after leaving the plant his car left the highway about a mile away and he was seriously injured. The Workers' Compensation Board awarded permanent total disability benefits, and in 1976 the Minnesota Supreme Court affirmed, holding the Board could reasonably infer he lost consciousness from fatigue caused by his work.
Caso US-manufacturing-02Informar de un error
Caso · ago 1970 · Michigan, United States
A cook for a race track concessionaire in Michigan worked from noon until 1 a.m., including preparing food for a race track employees' party, then attended the party and looked after the company's trays until 3 a.m. On the 25-mile drive home he fell asleep, hit a highway abutment and was badly injured. He argued that the long day and party made the trip home more hazardous. The Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed denial of workers' compensation, holding that he was 'merely driving home from overtime work' and that five to seven hours of overtime was not 'so great as to increase substantially plaintiff's fatigue'.
Caso US-retail-06Informar de un error
Caso · dic 1968 · District of Columbia, United States
An employee of an electrical contractor whose work included installing heavy electrical equipment worked about 26 hours without sleep, then fell asleep from fatigue about twenty minutes after leaving work and was seriously injured in a crash. A deputy commissioner awarded compensation, a district court reversed, and in 1968 the federal appeals court restored the award. It held that a 26-hour continuous assignment was an 'extraordinary demand' that foreseeably exposed the worker to the risk of falling asleep at the wheel, a risk the employer could have managed with an alert driver, a taxi or rest facilities.
Caso US-construction-03Informar de un error
Caso · sept 1964 · United States
A serviceman was found sleeping on post as a sentinel in 1964 and, later that year, fell asleep while lacing his boots and failed to report to the motor pool as ordered. He gave evidence that he fell asleep without apparent reason on duty, in class and in barracks, once even standing up during the battalion commander's inspection, and his doctor said his history and response to medication favoured narcolepsy. The U.S. Court of Military Appeals held that the court-martial was wrongly told his failure to stay awake had to be "reasonable"; if illness made it impossible to remain awake he was excused, so the convictions were set aside and a rehearing allowed.
Caso US-defence-10Informar de un error
Caso · mar 1953 · Korea
One night in 1953 a Marine in Korea, after a special ammunition-supply assignment, was ordered to stand watch in a fighting hole on the main line of resistance while his platoon was on one hundred percent alert because of suspected enemy action. His platoon sergeant approached unchallenged, called his name twice without reply, and took his weapon from the hole without waking him. Convicted of sleeping on post, he argued he was not a sentinel or lookout; the U.S. Court of Military Appeals held that he was and affirmed the sentence as reduced on review.
Caso US-defence-09Informar de un error
Caso · sept 1952 · Korea
In 1952 a soldier began a solo sentinel tour at 8 p.m. in a forward bunker on the main line of resistance in Korea, one of seven men left manning outposts while the rest of the platoon went forward on a raid. From 9:00 p.m. his platoon guide called him continuously on the field telephone for about thirty minutes without answer, then crossed about fifty yards in the dark and found him seated with his head on his knees, motionless and breathing heavily, the phone in his hand and his rifle on a ledge; he said he had been scratching. The U.S. Court of Military Appeals held the circumstantial evidence sufficient to prove he was asleep and affirmed his conviction.
Caso US-defence-08Informar de un error
Caso · may 1952 · South Korea
A Marine private first class was convicted by a special court-martial in Korea of sleeping on post and sentenced to a bad-conduct discharge, forfeitures and confinement. The Court of Military Appeals held that the Korean conflict was a 'time of war', so sleeping on post was punishable by death and therefore a capital offence that a special court-martial had no power to try. The findings and sentence were void, and the court stressed that battle conditions demand that wartime penalties apply.
Caso US-defence-15Informar de un error
Indíquenos su industria y aproximadamente cuántas personas emplea. Su panorama estima cuántas probablemente duermen mal y cuánto le cuesta. Luego elija a quién cubrir y definiremos con usted el siguiente paso: un Fatiguefit Census donde la fatiga es un riesgo para la seguridad, o una propuesta para un programa de bienestar.
