July 17, 2026
This week’s photo is courtesy of Russell Drilling Company- Nacogdoches, TX, USA.
Health Focus
The Case for Sleep: The Cheapest Safety Equipment You Own
We spent the week preparing the equipment, the vehicle, the route, and the site. There is one more thing to prepare, and it is YOU.
The numbers are blunt. NIOSH estimates that close to one in eight workplace injuries may be related to fatigue. More than one in five of all fatal vehicle crashes may involve a drowsy driver. Read that one again with Wednesday's edition in mind: we spent a whole day on hours of service rules, and this is the reason those rules exist. Fatigue costs U.S. employers an estimated $218 billion a year in lost productivity and health-related absence, and a NIOSH study found that 36.5 percent of workers report short sleep duration. More than a third of the workforce is running short.
The CDC recommendation is 7 or more hours a night for adults 18 to 60. That is not a target for the well-rested; it is the floor. Below it, the research is consistent: thinking slows, memory suffers, concentration erodes. The insidious part is that you do not feel it as sleepiness. You feel it as a slightly slower reaction, a decision that takes a beat longer, a step you skip because you are certain you already did it. On a drill site those are not small things.
Shift work makes it harder. Compared with a day shift starting after 7:00 a.m., the risk of accidents and errors rises about 15 percent on evening shifts and 28 percent on night shifts. And it compounds with what we covered last week: caffeine has roughly a five-hour half-life, so the coffee that got you through the afternoon is still working against the sleep you need for tomorrow.
You cannot inspect your way out of a tired crew. Prioritize you sleep, and everything else this week gets easier.
Key Takeaways
• Close to 1 in 8 workplace injuries may be fatigue-related. More than 1 in 5 fatal vehicle crashes may involve a drowsy driver.
• 7 hours a night minimum for adults. More than a third of workers are not getting it.
• Night shifts carry roughly 28 percent higher accident and error risk than day shifts. Plan the schedule accordingly, and cut the caffeine off when it is appropriate.
Sources:
• CDC/NIOSH: Work and Fatigue
• CDC/NIOSH: Working Hours and Fatigue (Science Bulletin)
Notes From the Editor
I heard a quote today from Jillian Michaels: “It isn’t easy. But it’s simple.” That really stuck with me. In this case, she was actually talking about losing weight, but I thought it is a good way to look at a lot of things in life, and with our jobs.
Even the Health Focus for this week: sleep. Sleeping is simple: we lay down and go to sleep. But it isn’t always easy. We all have so many things in life that keep us from getting enough sleep. Trying to find enough hours to get the work done, taking care of responsibilities at home, having a social life, exercising, and the list goes on. All of these can cut into what should be sleep time. It isn’t always easy, but we should prioritize sleep. It lets us work safer, have energy for our families and friends, and stay healthy.
“It isn’t easy, but it’s simple” also applies to a lot of our daily work functions. Many of the tasks are simple, but they aren’t always easy. Many of the topics in this week’s Safety Focus fit this theme: taking time to do inspections is simple, but it isn’t easy when you are in a hurry to get to the site. Stopping to identify the emergency response plan is simple, but it isn’t easy to sit and talk it through with the crew,when the owner is itching to get their project started.
Life isn’t easy, and the big picture is rarely simple. But if we stay consistent and stay focused on the simple things in front of us, maybe life will get a little easier.
Thank you all for being with us this week. Next week, our Safety Focus will be on Hand Tools, and we’ll continue the Knowledge Share series on pumps by looking at Line-Shaft Vertical Turbine systems.
Have a great weekend.
Jeremy Kuhn
Founder and CEO, WaterWellResource.com
New Vendor Highlights
We are excited to welcome a new vendor to WaterWellResource.com.
As we grow the directory, this is where you will find the manufacturers, suppliers, and service providers that help your operation run.
If you would like your company featured here, visit WaterWellResource.com to learn more about listing options.
P.W. Gillibrand
P.W. Gillibrand is a mining company specializing in the production of custom filter media and engineered filter packs. With operations in Southern California and Texas, we provide high-quality filtration products tailored to the specific requirements of water treatment, well drilling, and industrial applications.
Visit their profile: P.W. Gillibrand
New Job Opportunity Highlights
Here are the new jobs posted on Water Well Resource this week:
Water Well Driller- Gilford Well Co., New Hampshire
Water Well Driller- Northern Pump & Well, Michigan
Work Hard. Work Smart. Stay Safe!
