Anthony Karpanos
Helping mining, construction & venue organisations build safety that works in the field | Founding Director, Soteria 360 | 25+ yrs law enforcement & WHS | Author | Speaker
July 28, 2025
He/she didn’t miss the threat because he didn’t care. They missed it because they were cooked after three doubles in a row.
Fatigue in security and events isn’t just about feeling tired. It’s about:
- Slower reaction times
- Poor judgment
- Missed warning signs
- Increased injury risk
- Lack of presence in high-risk moments
Here’s the kicker: fatigue impairs you about as much as a .05 BAC. That’s legally drunk in Australia. Yet we still build rosters that push guards, volunteers, and supervisors well past safe limits.
You wouldn’t let someone work drunk. Don’t let them work wrecked.
What Fatigue Really Looks Like On the Ground
You’ve seen it, but maybe didn’t call it what it is:
- A guard staring blankly through a crowd and missing movement
- A casual asleep on a bollard during bump-out
- A supervisor struggling to form words during a live radio call
- Delayed reactions when the crowd shifts or surges
- A medic giving the wrong direction because their brain is fogged
- A traffic controller waving through vehicles without checking foot traffic
- A spotter failing to respond when you call their name, because their brain has checked out
- A safety officer walking past a hazard and not registering it
- Crew taking shortcuts because the safe way takes more effort than they’ve got left
Fatigue doesn’t always look like someone asleep. Sometimes it looks like someone staring right at a threat and doing nothing.
If your team’s too tired to think, they’re not just unproductive. They’re unsafe.
Where Fatigue Hits Hardest
- You’ve got overnight builds or back-to-back shows
- The same crew works multiple events for different clients, with no rest in between
- Volunteers stay on station without clear breaks, meals, or shelter
- Quiet posts make it easy to zone out and mentally check out
- Crew are posted in hot, enclosed, or poorly ventilated spaces
- Runners and response teams are on their feet all day without structured rotations
- People are working in PPE or uniforms that trap heat and limit hydration
- “Can you stay a few more hours?” becomes normal because no one planned proper coverage
Add in heat, dehydration, adrenaline crashes, and skipped meals – fatigue builds fast.
This isn’t about weakness. It’s about biology. The body and brain don’t care if it’s a sell-out show. They shut down when they’re overloaded. And that’s when mistakes happen.
Fast Controls That Actually Work (from my experience)
If you’re in charge of rostering or supervising crews, this is your core playbook:
1. Set Max Shift Lengths
- 12 hours max per shift.
- 60 hours total per week (including across contracts).
- Track load, not just your site. If your guard is on their third site that week, they’re not fresh.
2. Rotate High-Risk Posts
- Never leave anyone at a crowd-pressure, barrier, or pit post for more than 2 hours straight.
- Rotate with fresh eyes to catch risk earlier.
3. Build Check-Ins Into Your Rounds
- Ask: “From 1 to 5, how alert are you?”
- Under 3? Rotate or rest.
- Normalise the conversation. Remove shame.
4. Plan Recovery Time
- Big day = planned downtime.
- If someone did a 14-hour major, don’t put them on a 6am bump-out.
- You don’t build resilience with burnout. You build turnover.
Triggers Most Teams Miss
Fatigue builds up fast in:
- Quiet, low-stim environments (late shift entry gates)
- Stacks of caffeine with no real food or water
- Working through breaks “to stay useful”
- Post-event when adrenaline wears off
- Poorly ventilated spaces that dull alertness
Fatigue is often invisible until something goes wrong.
Language That Helps
If you’re a team lead or supervisor, it’s on you to lead how fatigue is talked about. Here’s how:
- “If you can’t scan, you can’t secure.”
- “Fatigue isn’t laziness. It’s a risk.”
- “We rotate to stay sharp, not because you’re doing it wrong.”
- “Tired people miss cues. Let’s not be that team.”
The words you use shape whether your crew tells you when they’re burning out—or hides it until something cracks.
Myth of the Month
“He’s just not trying.”
Reality: He’s cooked. Not lazy. Not useless. Cooked. And he was probably sharp 36 hours ago.
Tool of the Month
Fatigue Check Card Use this card in your team briefings and check-ins:
1 = Nodding off 2 = Distracted and foggy 3 = Below average but managing 4 = Sharp 5 = Fully alert
Act at 3 or below. Don’t wait for a mistake.
[DM me if you want the printable PDF version. It fits in your lanyard sleeve.]
60-Second Drill
Scenario: You walk past a guard at Gate 6. They’re leaning against a bollard, slow to react to patrons entering. Blank stare. No energy.
Ask your team:
- What signs of fatigue would you call out?
- What language do you use to check in?
- Who do you notify, and what’s your next step?
Bonus: Run this during your next supervisor lineup. Give them a 1–5 card and have them self-rate mid-shift.
Call-to-Action & Next Steps
When was the last time you asked your team how alert they really feel?
Do you check in mid-shift, or just assume they’ll speak up? Do you plan rest into your event cycle, or push through and hope? Have you built rotations that protect your crew’s attention, or are they posted and forgotten?
If any of that made you pause, now’s the time to tighten up.
We manage threats through vigilance. But that vigilance dies when people are fatigued. It’s not about being tough- it’s about staying useful.
Got a moment when fatigue almost cost your team, or when someone stepped up and pulled someone off post before it got worse? Share it in the comments. These real stories help the rest of us get better.
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Connect with me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-karpanos-088692246
Feel free to share this newsletter with friends, colleagues, or fellow event enthusiasts—together, let’s stay prepared, proactive, and of course… Tacticool