 Home Health and Safety Health and Safety News
American research confirms shiftwork increases accidents
31 January 2007
A report in the US journal, 'Occupational Hazards' describes how shiftwork increases the rate of injury for workers and gives advice on how to manage shift patterns.
The report 'Safer shiftwork through more effective scheduling' describes a research programme by two ergonomic experts from the Liberty Mutual Research Institute. They give figures for the effects of shift patterns and working hours on injury rates. For example, injuries on a night shift are 27.9 percent higher than on morning shifts. Injuries increase on consecutive night shifts more rapidly than on consecutive day shifts. And injuries can also be seen to increase as the time between breaks increases on any shift.
The report also refers to research by Circadian Technologies Inc that shows that lack of consultation with employees on shift patterns, long days and long periods without days off all add to increased musculoskeletal injuries and disturbed sleep patterns.
The conclusions of the US researchers confirm much of the advice that HSE now gives on shiftwork in its recent guidance - www.hse.gov.uk/humanfactors/shiftwork/index.htm.
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