Fatigue management for traffic controllers.
Traffic control is safety-critical work, often done at night and at short notice. Here’s what Australian WHS laws expect, the roster patterns the national Code of Practice flags, and a practical way to check your own.
| Day | Shift | What the list would flag |
|---|---|---|
| Mon | 06:00 to 16:00 | Nothing |
| Tue | 06:00 to 16:00 | Nothing |
| Wed | 22:00 to 06:00 | Night shift through 2 am to 6 am |
| Thu | 16:30 to 00:00 | 10.5 hours since the last shift ended |
| Fri | 12:00 to 20:00 | Nothing |
| Sat | 08:00 to 16:00 | Sixth day in a row |
| Sun | Off |
Illustrative example data.
Fatigue is a hazard you have to manage.
According to Safe Work Australia, businesses must eliminate or minimise the risk of fatigue so far as is reasonably practicable. Workers also have a duty to take reasonable care for their own health and safety and not to put others at risk.
A new national Code of Practice
Safe Work Australia published a model Code of Practice on managing the risk of fatigue at work in September 2025. The Code says courts may treat an approved code as evidence of what is known about a hazard and what is reasonably practicable, and inspectors may refer to it.Check what applies in your state
Model laws and codes only become binding when each jurisdiction adopts them. The model WHS laws apply everywhere except Victoria, and some states vary them, so confirm with your regulator which fatigue code applies to you.
awake has a similar effect on performance to a blood alcohol content of 0.05%, the Code notes.
a week is a serious health hazard, according to the WHO and ILO findings the Code cites.
A tired controller has slower reactions on a live road. The Code also warns that fatigue adds to other hazards when work systems don’t allow for reduced capability.
Roster patterns the Code flags.
The Code lists examples of fatigue hazards from work hours and shift design. These aren’t legal limits, but they make a good checklist for traffic management rosters. Full table: Code of Practice, pages 17 to 18.
Long hours
Long days on a live road, then a callout on top.
- Long hours in a shift or over a week
- “Double shifts” and back-to-back shifts
- Long hours performing safety critical work
Irregular hours
Callouts are short-notice by nature.
- Less than 24 hours’ notice before the shift
- Start or finish times changed at short notice
- Frequent unplanned overtime
Not enough rest between shifts
Regional sites add hours of driving.
- Less than 12 hours between shifts
- Working more than 5 days in a row
- Extended travel or commute times that reduce sleep
Work against the body clock
Night works are routine in traffic management.
- Night or early morning work, particularly 2 am to 6 am
- More than 3 successive night shifts
- Rapid changes between day and night shifts
On Transport for NSW work, there’s a rostering table too.
Transport for NSW’s Traffic Control at Work Sites standard, TS 05492, took effect on 25 June 2026. Its fatigue section suggests rostering principles for temporary traffic management crews. They’re written as “should”, not hard limits, but TfNSW contractors and subcontractors must have fatigue policies and procedures that meet or exceed TfNSW’s own.
Suggested rostering principles, Table 7
- Shift length
- No more than 12 hours for planned works. 8 to 10 hours for night shifts and high-demand work.
- Between shifts
- At least 12 hours from the end of one shift to the start of the next, or 10 with on-site accommodation.
- Shifts in a row
- Four if shifts run over 10 hours, five if over 8 and up to 10, six if 8 hours or less.
- Night shifts
- No more than three in a row where possible, followed by at least three, ideally four, rest days.
- Rest days
- At least two in a row, 48 hours, after a block of shifts.
- Weekly hours
- Aim for no more than 48 a week including overtime, averaged across the roster cycle.
- Rotation
- Rotate forward, morning to afternoon to night.
The standard also lists work practices to avoid. They include more than an hour’s travel to or from site with early starts and late finishes, a day longer than 12 hours once work, breaks and travel are added up, and callouts that mean longer shifts or broken sleep.
Managers and supervisors on TfNSW work shall record fatigue-related near misses and incidents. Every worker is responsible for being fit for duty for the whole shift, including breaks, the drive to and from site, and time on call.
Fatigue doesn’t reset between clients.
Many traffic controllers work for more than one company. The Code says that where a labour hire business supplies shift workers, both it and the host have a duty, and the labour hire business must consider the cumulative fatigue from all the workplaces a worker is sent to.
On records, the Code suggests keeping records of working hours, breaks and travel, plus your risk management process and consultation. A WHS inspector may ask to see them, and without them you need another way to show you met your duties.
A fatigue record, at minimum
- Hours
- Start and finish of every shift, including callouts
- Breaks
- Breaks taken during the shift
- Travel
- Drive time to and from site, especially regional work
- Controls
- The roster rules and checks you decided on, and why
- Consultation
- What workers told you, and what changed
Six habits that make fatigue manageable.
Review rosters against the hazard list
Use the Code’s table as a checklist each week. Flag short gaps, long runs of days and back-to-back nights before the roster goes out.Check before a callout
When you need cover fast, ask when the person last finished and how far they’ll travel, not just whether they’re free.Make it easy to say “I’m too tired”
Workers have their own duty of care. A worker who can decline without an argument will tell you before it becomes a risk.Talk to your crew
The Code says you must consult affected workers, so far as is reasonably practicable. They know which sites, shifts and drives wear them down.Coordinate with host businesses
If you supply labour, you and the host share the duty, and you need to consider fatigue across every site a worker is sent to.Write it down
Keep records of hours, breaks and travel, and of the controls you chose. It’s how you show you met your duty.
Honestly: it helps with the records, not the rules.
CrewRing is built for confirmations and callouts. It isn’t a fatigue management system, but a few things it does are useful here.
What CrewRing does
- Keeps every shift with its start and finish time against the worker, so hours and gaps are on record.
- Lets workers decline a shift or callout with a plain reply, so saying no isn’t a phone call to the boss.
- Logs every call, SMS and reply, with times.
What it doesn’t do
- Calculate hours worked, rest breaks or days in a row.
- Warn you about fatigue hazards in a roster.
- Stop you rostering or calling out someone who’s short on rest.
Sources
- 1.Fatigue, Safe Work Australia
- 2.Model Code of Practice: Managing the risk of fatigue at work (September 2025), Safe Work Australia
- 3.Model Code of Practice, full text (PDF), Safe Work Australia
- 4.Model WHS laws, Safe Work Australia
- 5.Traffic Control at Work Sites, TS 05492:1.0, June 2026 (PDF), Transport for NSW
Checked October 2026. This guide is general information, not legal advice. WHS laws differ between states and territories, so confirm the details with your regulator.
Related guides
Licence & ticket tracking
What NSW requires before someone does traffic control work, and how to keep every ticket and expiry date on file.
Do NSW traffic control cards expire?
Why the two-year rule matters more than an expiry date, and what to do when someone hasn’t worked in a while.
Check a traffic control card
What Verify NSW shows, what it can’t tell you, and the records that fill the gap.
Records for TfNSW contracts
The three details G10 asks you to keep for every traffic control worker before work starts.
Traffic control cards by state
NSW, QLD, VIC, WA and SA side by side: who issues the card, how long it lasts and how to check it.
Lone worker check-ins
What the rules say about remote or isolated work, and how to set up a check-in and escalation plan.
Last-minute shift replacement
When someone drops out, one callout goes to the workers you pick, and the first yes gets the shift.
Keep every shift and reply on record.
See how CrewRing tracks tomorrow’s shifts, confirmations and callouts, and what that record looks like for your crew.