The relationship between fatigue and safety performance: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective Behavior-based safety (BBS) is one of the main approaches to increasing safety in organizations and aims to manage and modify variables that affect employee safety performance and behavior. Fatigue is one of the variables arising from stressors both within and outside the workplace and can affect individual safety performance.Method This systematic review assessed the relationship between fatigue and employee safety behavior and performance. This study was based on the results of 25 English-language articles published between 2000 and 2025 that quantitatively examined the relationship between fatigue and safety outcomes.Results The findings were analyzed and summarized in two parts: the relationship between fatigue and safety behavior and the relationship between fatigue and accidents. The results showed that fatigue has a negative and significant correlation with safety behaviors and their dimensions. In addition, it was also found that fatigue significantly increases the likelihood of accidents.Conclusion The results of this study identified a gap in previous studies, as almost all studies have been conducted cross-sectional and have used different tools to assess variables. Therefore, future studies using a longitudinal design are necessary to more accurately analyze the causal relationship between fatigue and employee safety performance.