What RosterWise checks, and where it stops.
RosterWise reads when each shift starts and ends. It checks five working patterns that guidance links to tiredness, and shows you which shifts to look at first.
The five checks
The checks are fixed rules: the same roster always gives the same result. They are written for adult workers in Great Britain.
| Check | What is flagged | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Rest between shifts | Less than 11 hours between shifts (a short turnaround). 11 to 14 hours is noted as tight rest. | Working Time Regulations 1998: 11 consecutive hours’ daily rest |
| Night work | Any time between midnight and 6am (roster local time), and shifts your roster labels as nights | Working Time Regulations 1998 (night work); HSE guidance |
| Long shifts | Shifts over 8, 10 and 12 hours, in rising steps | HSE guidance HSG256 Managing shift work |
| Runs of working days | 5 or more days in a row, then 7 or more | HSE guidance HSG256 Managing shift work |
| Weekly hours | More than 48, then 60, hours in any 7 days of your upload | Working Time Regulations 1998: 48-hour average, measured over 17 weeks. A single heavy week is an early warning, not a breach. |
Four statuses, always in words.
Each shift gets a status, shown as a label and never as colour alone.
- OK
Nothing flagged, given the information supplied.
- Watch
Worth keeping an eye on, but lower priority than Review.
- Review
A person should look at this shift and decide, for example rest under 11 hours.
- Limited data
The roster doesn’t hold enough to check this shift, for example earlier shifts are missing. It is never shown as OK.
The Schedule Risk score
Each shift has a score from 0 to 100. It adds up points for the checks the shift triggers: for example, 25 for rest under 11 hours and 20 for night work. A higher score means more factors have stacked up on that shift.
The score sets the order of your review list. The status comes first, then the score. A short turnaround also raises the status directly, so it can’t be outweighed by other factors.
The score is not a measure of how tired someone is, a prediction of an incident or the HSE Fatigue and Risk Index. Two shifts can share a score for different reasons, so read the reasons, not just the number.
Missing isn’t the same as fine.
If a roster starts on a Monday, RosterWise can’t know whether someone worked a night on Sunday. If someone has a second job that isn’t in the file, their rest between jobs can’t be checked. RosterWise marks those shifts Limited data and says what is missing. The fix is usually simple: include a few weeks of earlier shifts.
The research, and RosterWise itself.
Published guidance and research
- The Working Time Regulations 1998: daily rest, night work and the 48-hour average week.
- HSE, HSG256 Managing shift work: good practice on shift length, runs of shifts and nights.
- HSE, Human factors: fatigue: why fatigue matters and how employers should manage it.
- HSE Research Report RR446 (2006): the method behind the Fatigue and Risk Index. It is now kept in the National Archives’ web archive.
RosterWise itself
- The checks follow the references on the left. They are tested in our software against worked examples.
- RosterWise has not been independently validated against real-world outcomes, such as incidents or measured sleep.
- It doesn’t calculate the HSE Fatigue and Risk Index. The published sources don’t give everything needed to reproduce it reliably.
- RosterWise is not endorsed by HSE or any regulator.
What it is not
- A medical or fitness assessment. It never says whether a person can or can’t work.
- A legal compliance check or legal advice.
- A prediction of accidents. A low score doesn’t show a roster is safe.
- A promise of savings. Staffing scenarios are models until you act on them.
Rules it doesn’t check
Some sectors have their own rules. RosterWise doesn’t check them, so keep using your existing tools for:
- Flight time limitations for aircrew
- Rail fatigue management for safety-critical work
- Drivers’ hours and tachograph rules
- Nuclear and offshore licence conditions
- Contract-specific rules, such as NHS resident doctor safeguards
- Northern Ireland, and workers under 18
People make the decision.
RosterWise never changes a roster on its own. A person decides, and the reason is kept.