2026 Work to Zero Fatigue Pilot Grant Program

Work to Zero Workplace Fatigue Pilot Grant 

Introduction 

The Work to Zero initiative at the National Safety Council is focused on making innovation more accessible for employers and helping to eliminate fatality risks at work through the use of safety technology. The goal of the Work to Zero Pilot Grant program is to support workplaces in their innovation journeys by matching organizations with innovative technology providers to trial emerging technologies in real-life applications. 

This year’s grant program involves ten solution providers (listed below) who will be featured at the Safety Innovation Challenge Tech Pavilion at the 2026 NSC Safety Summit (May 6-8, 2026, in Baltimore, MD). The NSC Safety Innovation Challenge aims to explore cutting-edge solutions for addressing specific hazards across various industries. This year, solution providers applied to showcase their solutions addressing workplace fatigue risks. Ten solution providers were selected as finalists and chosen to showcase their technologies, demonstrating how they measure, detect or predict fatigue.

Through support from the McElhattan Foundation, Work to Zero will provide funding assistance to companies interested in piloting one of these safety technology solutions for fatigue prevention. The Work to Zero program invites organizations interested in eliminating or reducing fatigue risks to apply for the Work to Zero Pilot Grant. Any company may apply but preference will be given to small- and medium-sized companies (under 500 employees), companies from safety-sensitive industries (e.g., construction, mining, oil and gas, manufacturing, utilities, etc.), as well as women and/or minority-owned businesses. The selected solution provider will work closely with the grantee to address fatigue challenges and provide ongoing support throughout the pilot. It is our hope that solution providers will work with current or prospective clients to submit this application.

Grant Overview 

The following are the ten semifinalists from the 2026 Safety Innovation Challenge: 

Impairment Science Inc: DRUID from Impairment Science, Inc. is a mobile application for personal safety and workplace fit-for-duty screening. The app uses neuroscience-based tests to rapidly assess cognitive and motor impairment from any cause. Users complete short, game-like tasks that measure reaction time, hand-eye coordination, decision-making, balance, and other neurophysiological indicators. The app calculates an overall impairment score compared to a baseline.

https://www.impairmentscience.com/

Pulsar Informatics: Workers in safety-critical roles need an advanced warning system for elevated fatigue risk. This is the gap that Fatigue Meter's predictive analytics capability fills. Based on technology originally developed for NASA, the Fatigue Meter platform offers the following key features: (1) Workers can link data from their wearable to train the AI engine using actual sleep history, (2) Visualization of sleep patterns and trends provides insight into changing fatigue levels over time, (3) Workers can assess their alertness levels right in the app with the Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT) and in-app Readiness check, and (4) In-app countermeasures.

https://pulsarinformatics.com/

Predictive Safety SRP, Inc: AlertMeter and AlertMeter FRMS are complementary safety technologies designed to identify, manage, and reduce fatigue and impairment related risk in safety-sensitive work environments. AlertMeter is a brief cognitive alertness assessment completed at the start of a shift, and throughout if needed, to determine whether a worker is functioning at their personal baseline. AlertMeter FRMS is a fatigue risk prediction and management system that allows management to see the current and predictive fatigue risk of their workforce. Together, they enable proactive, data-driven decisions that reduces risks, improves safety, while respecting worker privacy and autonomy. 

https://predictivesafety.com/

Innsightful, INC: Innsightful is a wearable-enabled platform that quantifies workplace exhaustion by continuously tracking sleep/wake patterns and validated physiological indicators (e.g. HRV, skin conductance, temperature, motion). It is hardware-agnostic, integrating common wearables and running 24/7. An AI algorithm fuses these signals to estimate exhaustion risk and detect patterns consistent with accumulating fatigue and elevated stress load. When risk rises, the system delivers just-in-time micro-interventions such as paced breathing, mindfulness, recovery-break prompts, and sleep-hygiene coaching through a mobile app.  We also provide an optional coaching dashboard. Aggregated, privacy-preserving reports help safety leaders identify higher-risk shifts and evaluate mitigation strategies.

https://www.innsightful.com/

Vocadian: Vocadian is a predictive voice AI that can assess and forecast fatigue risk, grounded in voice biomarkers and circadian science, and integrated into drivers everyday pre-shift workflows, so fleets can intervene earlier and drivers can get support before incidents happen. Using a 30-second pre-shift speech assessment, Vocadian forecasts real-time fit-for-duty status and predicts personalized fatigue risk time windows to enable early, data-driven operational decisions such as optimizing shift schedules or task assignment before incidents occur. We target safety-critical sectors, such as transportation, mining, construction, and aviation where a single lapse can cost lives and millions of dollars.

https://www.vocadian.ai/

MakuSafe Wearable Tech: MakuSafe combines wearable motion sensing, environmental monitoring, and AI-driven analytics to detect, predict, and mitigate workplace fatigue before it results in injury. The AllyÇ wearable continuously captures workers' physicality, our term for effort expended to perform work. Through MakuSmart's Motion Explorer, organizations visualize this physicality in real time using color-coded indicators (critical, very high, high, acceptable) and benchmark individuals against facility averages and the broader MakuSafe client cohort. Elevated or spiking physicality scores often precede fatigue-driven strain and exertion incidents, allowing for timely interventions.

https://makusafe.com/

SOBEREYE Inc: OPTOVERA by Sobereye is a smartphone-based impairment and fatigue assessment platform that uses automated pupillary light reflex (PLR) analysis to objectively measure workers' fitness for duty. A quick, self-administered eye test compares each worker's current PLR response to their personal baseline to flag neurological alterations linked to fatigue, sleep loss, medications, alcohol, or drugs. Integrated with a secure cloud dashboard, OPTOVERA acts as a digital safety gate before high-risk tasks, enabling supervisors to reassign, rest, or intervene before fatigue-related incidents occur.

https://www.sobereye.com/

SmartTec Inc: Okaya is a patent-pending AI platform that extracts 67 digital biomarkers from brief video check-ins to detect workplace fatigue in real-time. Our multimodal algorithms analyze facial expressions, vocal acoustics, and linguistic patterns generating the Okaya Index, a personalized wellness score tracking deviations from individual baselines. Validated with U.S. Air Force and Space Force personnel under SBIR Phase II funding, peer-reviewed feasibility study identified statistically significant biomarkers correlating with validated fatigue instruments. The platform requires no wearables, works on any smartphone or computer, and provides both individual insights and anonymized organizational dashboards for proactive fatigue risk management.

https://www.okaya.me/

electrocore, Inc: TAC-STIM is a hand held consumer electronic device that stimulates the vagus nerve in four minutes. TAC-STIM has been shown to decrease fatigue and sleepiness while improving attention, the ability to multi-task, and decision-making.

https://www.electrocore.com/

Design Interactive: Greenlight is a non-invasive, mobile based technology designed to reduce workplace fatigue by monitoring sleep, stress, and cognitive performance. It integrates wearable or smartphone derived data with scientifically grounded analytics to assess mental acuity and alertness. Through personalized feedback, predictive insights, and actionable tools such as stress reduction exercises and sleep education, Greenlight helps Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) operators recognize fatigue risk and adopt healthier behaviors to improve safety, readiness, and overall performance.

https://designinteractive.net/

Work to Zero will award up to $60,000 in total funding with an individual maximum award of $20,000, subject to the availability of funds and the merit of the proposal. Grant proposals less than $20,000 are encouraged. 

The 2026 pilot grant application will open on March 27, 2026, and the grant period is 12 months after funding is distributed.    

Grant Requirements: 

• The grantee is an organization/company that wants to pilot a fatigue risk solution, and will partner with one of the Challenge solution providers to pilot their technology within one or more worksite(s), facilities, etc. 
• The solution provider will develop and help implement for fatigue risk reduction, train grantee staff on the technology, and conduct the pilot for a designated trial period (six months is recommended, but not required). This should include tracking metrics relevant to the solution, including injury metrics, exposure hours, employee feedback (e.g., through pre/post surveys), etc.  
• Note: A solution provider may partner with more than one grantee to address their issues or submit one or more grant applications for consideration. 

 What can the funds be used for? 

The funds will be disbursed directly to the grantee and the solution provider for administration. Funding is available for:  

• Shipping and transportation of technology solutions to and/or from the grantee  
• On-site training needs, including equipment necessary to run the pilot (e.g., physical equipment, products, software) 
• Travel essential to conduct the proposed project, including to present work related to the project at a future NSC event. 

          Funds may not be applied to: 

• Employee salaries and/or benefits of organization grantee or solution provider 
• General operating or indirect expenses not related to the project 
• Purchase of equipment, hardware or software, or other costs not pertinent to the project 
• Personal expense 
• Accrued costs not attributable to the grant 

What should we include in the Grant Application? 

Each organization and solution provider grantee team will submit a joint proposal consisting of the following: 

• Project title 
• Names, email addresses and affiliations of grantee(s) and the solution partner 
• Address(es) where the pilot will take place  

          The proposal (one to three pages) should incorporate the following: 

• Specific aims of the pilot project  
• Significance of solving for fatigue risk at the grantee(s) workplace (e.g., metrics such as lost workdays, injury count, lagging indicators, employee feedback, etc.) 
• Any other risk reduction strategies that have been implemented, attempted or planned to address fatigue risks by the grantee 
• Project design (e.g., study design, proposed metrics or data collection methods, population tested, implementation measurement procedures) 
• Solution providers should work with the grantee to determine how success will be measured for the pilot 
• Project execution timeline (e.g., start and completion of major activities, staff training using technology, results reporting). 
• Anticipated outcomes, including injury reduction metrics, possible challenges. 
• Budget justification (include itemizing costs, with an explanation of each item). 

 Grant Deliverables 

Work to Zero will collaborate with grantees and solution providers to translate and disseminate the project findings across organizations for broader visibility in the form of case studies.           

Work to Zero will also engage quarterly (1 hour per meeting) and on an as-needed basis during the project's lifecycle to:  

• Document progress reports and discuss changes in project scope (if any) 
• Work through challenges/barriers to using the technology (including any adverse events) 
• Discuss ways to scale the solution provider intervention(s) and implementation of recommendations 
• Develop case studies (e.g., lessons learned, development of risk reduction metrics, return on investment insights).  

The grantee and solution provider must report on project progress to the Work to Zero team through the delivery of one interim report halfway through the project (template to be provided). The grantee and solution provider must also submit a comprehensive report after the grant cycle (i.e., within 30 days of completion) and write a case study highlighting their experience implementing the solution for further dissemination to a broader audience. Details will be discussed with grantees during the project lifecycle. 

 Grant Outcomes 

The expected outcome is that each grant awardee will present their results at a future NSC event (e.g., NSC Congress & Expo, NSC Safety Summit, etc.). Awardees may alternately or in addition be asked to present results at a future virtual or hybrid event. At the NSC events, grantees and solution providers will have the opportunity to showcase their findings, network with other potential organizations that are interested in utilizing the technology and have the potential to scale upward and educate the wider audience.  

 Timeline 

Grant Proposal Request Opens: March 27, 2026 

Grant Proposal Submission Closes: May 15, 2026 

Grant Recipients Announced: May 22, 2026 

Grant Funds Distributed: June 1, 2026  

Mid-Year Report: September 2026 

Final Report: March 2027 

For more information, including pilot grant eligibility and application requirements, please contact worktozero@nsc.org.