Legal implications of sleep loss

This article presents some of the principal ways that fatigue (drowsiness) and impaired human performance occurring as a consequence of sleep loss can interact with the law, including implications related to civil and criminal liability and legal structures governing the workplace (e.g., government regulation of industry practices, workers’ compensation, and disability law). These issues are illustrated with examples from and hypotheticals based on the commercial road transport industry in several countries that have adopted the common law legal system. Awareness or knowledge of a disorder or condition that causes or results in sleep loss, however, may affect the legal outcome of a given situation. Developments in the diagnosis and treatment of such disorders and conditions, as well as in fatigue-measuring and fatigue-predicting technologies, also are expected to raise significant legal issues in the future. The reader should note that this article is presented as a general summary of principles, and that local circumstances may differ from those presented here.