Shift and night work and long working hours – a systematic review of safety implications

Abstract

Objective In order to devise effective preventive strategies, it is important to study workplace stressors that might increase the risk of workplace accidents − both affecting workers themselves as well as causing harm to third-parties. The aim of this report is to provide a systematic, updated overview and scientific review of empirical research regarding accidents in relation to long work hours and shift work, primarily based on epidemiological studies. MethodsThe search for articles was part of a large review study on the effects of work hours on various health outcomes, safety, and performance. The search strategy included 5 international scientific databases, and nearly 7000 articles were initially identified using our search string. Following the application of inclusion and exclusion criteria, 443 publications were found and evaluated using a pre-defined scoring system. Of these, 43 concerned safety and accidents but only 14 were considered to be of high quality (total score 2 or 3 on a scale from 0−3) and therefore used for this study.Results Both shift work and long working hours present a substantial and well-documented detrimental effect on safety − all the studies that are included in this review have one or more significant findings in this respect. The trends are quite coherent although the increases in accident rates are mostly from 50% to 100%. In epidemiological terms, these may be considered rather small differences. The use of such data is therefore only of importance if the accident incidence is high or if accidents may have large effects. ConclusionsThe findings are most relevant to safety-critical activities such as the transport and health sectors.Work periods >8 hours carry an increased risk of accidents that cumulates, so that the increased risk of accidents at around 12 hours is twice the risk at 8 hours. Shift work including nights carries a substantial increased risk of accidents, whereas "pure" night work may bring some protection against this effect due to resynchronization. The evaluated studies give no clear indications of any age or gender being specifically susceptible to or protected against the effects of work times scheduling on accident risk.

Shift work and long-term injury among police officers

“…Fatigue-related impairments due to circadian disruption can affect police officer performance and decisionmaking thus increasing the risk of serious injury (4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12). Decision-making may be particularly vulnerable to sleep loss, which impairs regions of the brain critical for decision-making required in fast-paced, ambiguous, high-risk police situations (13).…”

“…In a study of 698 police departments in 2008, there were over 2800 injuries and more than 24 000 lost workdays, averaging 7.7 injuries and 66. 4 …”

Worktime control: theoretical conceptualization, current empirical knowledge, and research agenda

“…More than half of the total workforce works at least one day during the weekend and 21% works "on call". The health effects of night and shift work have been a popular and important area of research within Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health (eg,[2][3][4], including new and interesting data and a consensus statement on shift work and breast cancer (5) published in this issue (5-8). As working times are becoming increasingly irregular and flexible, their associations with work-life balance, work satisfaction, mental health, and productivity are of growing interest.…”

Role of sleep disturbances in occupational accidents among women

“…A number of different factors, both personal and occupational, have been associated with an increased risk of work-related accidents. Young age, alcohol, smoking, shift work, and overweight are all factors that have been shown to correlate with an increased risk (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8).…”