Request ID: FOI-2680-2223 Date published: 20 February 2023
You asked
I would like to make a request under the Freedom of Information act for information relating to TFL staff falling asleep.
If possible, please could you provide:
- a summary of the incidents reported to TfL (from January 2013 to January 2023) whereby a bus/tube/tram driver has fallen asleep while the vehicle was in motion. I would appreciate it if this summary could include 1. The date of the incident 2. The location of the incident 3. The company involved 4. A short description as to what happened 5. Any accidents that happened as a result.
- the number of drivers out of the total who have reported fatigue to a manager.
- the number of individual 24-hour shifts completed in the last year, and how many staff undertook at least one 24 hour shift.
- the length of the average working shift of a London bus driver.
We answered
Our Ref: FOI-2680-2223
Thank you for clarifying your request received on 23 January 2023 asking for information about driver fatigue.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and our information access policy. I can confirm we hold some of the information you require.
Safety continues to be TfL’s number one priority and we maintain a proactive approach to address fatigue management across all our operations. Fatigue management has become part of regular operational reviews, enabling sharing of good practice, immediate action and effective improvement. As a result of this proactive management one of the tools we developed is an electronic fatigue reporting form where staff can report to a manager if they are feeling fatigued. As part of this, there is guidance for managers and information is provided for all areas to make use of this process. This process was launched in September 2021 and we hope to conduct analysis of these reports in the future as the number of voluntary reports increase. Indeed, we view instances of voluntary fatigue reporting as positive as we seek to mature our safety culture. Gathering more evidence on the topic of fatigue will enable us to more proactively manage this risk as well as know how best to support our people in their health and wellbeing. We also consider a number of human factors, including fatigue, during our safety investigations processes. We actively encourage our colleagues to tell us about incidents of fatigue so we can work to address them. Any colleagues who report feeling fatigued prior to a shift are not required to drive if they believe that it would compromise their ability to drive safely.
Unfortunately, to provide the information you have requested would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450 set by the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.
Under section 12 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to comply with a request if we estimate that the cost of determining whether we hold the information, locating and retrieving it and extracting it from other information would exceed the appropriate limit. This is calculated at £25 per hour for every hour spent on the activities described.
We have estimated that it would cost over £450 to provide a response to your current request. This is because it is estimated that it would take in excess of 18 working hours to retrieve and compile the information you have requested.
Prior to the introduction of the fatigue reporting forms referred to above, information on fatigue has not been systematically recorded in a reportable manner. Therefore, we would need to look at every report made to a manager to determine whether it was regarding fatigue.
All safety related incidents must be recorded at the earliest opportunity using our incident reporting system. Serious incidents where fatigue is suspected to have been a factor are subjected to a thorough investigation to establish root causes and corrective actions.
We have recently responded to a couple of FOI requests regarding driver fatigue, including one that asks about incidents whereby a driver has fallen asleep whilst the vehicle was in motion. Our responses can be viewed on the TfL website:
Please note that we do not hold information for bus drivers as they are employed directly by the bus operators and not TfL. Therefore you would need to contact them directly regarding the number of 24-hour shifts completed as well as information on the average length of a working shift. We can advise that UK drivers’ hours regulations set maximum limits of work, which means no driver would work anywhere near 24 hours without a break.
To help bring the cost of responding to your request within the £450 limit, you may wish to consider narrowing its scope so that we can more easily locate, retrieve and extract the information you are seeking. If you want to refine your request or make a Freedom of Information Act request in future, please bear in mind that the Freedom of Information Act allows you to request recorded information held by us. For example, we could provide you with the information requested on the incidents reported to TfL whereby a bus/tube/tram driver has fallen asleep while the vehicle was in motion.
Although your request can take the form of a question, rather than a request for specific documents, we do not have to answer your question if it would require the creation of new information or the provision of a judgement, explanation, advice or opinion that was not already recorded at the time of your request.
Please note that we will not be taking further action until we receive your revised request.
In the meantime, if you have any queries or would like to discuss your request, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely
Gemma Jacob Senior FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
