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After that near rollover, I won't skip sleep again. | Heavy Equipment Operators - Hub Chatter

After that near rollover, I won't skip sleep again.

I was running on three hours of sleep after a long week. While operating the backhoe, I zoned out and dug too close to a utility line. My spotter yelled just in time to stop me. Since then, I prioritize sleep over everything else. Being tired makes you sloppy and dangerous.

4 comments

4 Comments

reese_singh876mo ago

Honestly, that near miss sounds scary. I've been there, pushing through on no sleep and almost causing a big problem. What @kelly_perez41 said about sleep helping work is spot on. From my own mess-ups, I learned to set a hard stop for sleep no matter what. Trying to work when you're beat just leads to more mistakes, not more done. It's not about being soft, it's about being smart and safe.

morgan_mason6mo ago

Calling that a soft view misses the point entirely. The original post is about almost hitting a utility line because of zoning out from no sleep. That's not a focus issue, it's your brain shutting down from lack of rest. You can't train yourself out of a biological need. Trying to power through severe fatigue is how people get killed on job sites, not how things get done.

schmidt.fiona6mo ago

Seriously? That's a soft way to look at it. Sleep is okay, but it's not the fix for everything. Plenty of alert people still make dumb mistakes on the job. In the real world, you often can't just drop everything to rest. Using tiredness as an excuse lets you avoid looking at your own focus. Train yourself to work hard even when you're beat, that's how you get things done.

kelly_perez416mo ago

Did you always believe grinding while tired was the only way? I used to think that, but seeing how sleep improves my work changed my view.