On your toes

摘要

Physical work is unavoidably tiring. Regulation and progressive employment practices have restricted shift lengths and mandated work breaks in part because of a recognition that it is impossible to sustain attention and effort hour after hour. Tired workers suffer diminished cognitive ability and their reactions slow, so their fatigue compounds the other hazards they face. In the latter hours of a working day a degree of fatigue, with the associated lack of productivity and focus, maybe inevitable; what you don't want to do is accelerate that process through a poor working environment and equipment.