Shift Work

The negative consequences of shift work on workers’ health and safety increasingly ignored. The major effects include health effects and effects on quantity of sleep, alertness, life satisfaction, and job performance. The aims of this study were to investigate the relationships between shift work and related health effects and shift work and workers' satisfaction in workers of mining industry located in south-west of Iran. All workers of the mining industry were enrolled in this cross-sectional study in 2013. Data were collected by survey of shift workers (SOS) questionnaire. Subjects were divided into case and control groups. The case group included 155 workers employed in shift work schedule and the control group included 104 workers employed in regular day shifts. SOS questionnaire includes questions about demographic features of workers, shift system, health effects of shift work, and the effect of shift work on workers' life satisfaction. Comparisons between the two gro...

Shift work is a form of work scheduling involving a process in which a group of workers succeed each other at the same workstation in shifts. The shifts can be organized either in a rotating, a continuous or a discontinuous fashion. Notwithstanding the patterns of work scheduling, it ...

The effects of lighting on the human circadian system are well-established. The recent discovery of 'non-visual' retinal receptors has confirmed an anatomical basis for the non-image forming, biological effects of light and has stimulated interest in the use of light to enhance wellbeing in the corporate setting. A prospective controlled intervention study was conducted within a shift-working call centre to investigate the effect of newly developed fluorescent light sources with a high correlated colour temperature (17000 K) upon the wellbeing, functioning and work performance of employees. Five items of the SF-36 questionnaire and a modification of the Columbia Jet Lag scale, were used to evaluate employees on two different floors of the call centre between February and May 2005. Questionnaire completion occurred at baseline and after a three month intervention period, during which time one floor was exposed to new high correlated colour temperature lighting and the other r...

The arguments in favour of introducing shift work clearly depend on productivity and safety being maintained at an acceptable level. However, the evidence reviewed in this paper clearly indicates that both productivity and safety may be compromised at night. More specifically, safety declines over successive night shifts, with increasing hours on duty and between successive rest breaks. The only known

Shift work and its impact upon nurse performance: current knowledge and research issues¶ Previous research investigating shift work and its impact upon the quality of registered nurse performance and outcomes (including biological, psychosocial and organizational) is reviewed. The present study, which involved non-participant observation of staff nurses (n = 34) within their first year of practice (Part 1 or Part 12 of the United Kingdom Professional Register), is described. The findings demonstrated support for earlier research which suggested that 12½ hour shifts are associated with less effective performance. This study, together with previous research, highlights important indicators for the design and management of future empirical work which is required to investigate the influence of shift work upon process as well as outcomes for nurses, service users and the employing organization. This is particularly pertinent in the light of recent changes in work patterns. The well-being and effectiveness of the nursing workforce requires enhancement, and the effective management of shift-work is a key strategy in achieving this.

BACKGROUND: Despite concerns as to whether nurses can perform reliably and effectively when working longer shifts, a pattern of two 12- to 13-hour shifts per day is becoming common in many hospitals to reduce shift to shift handovers, staffing overlap, and hence costs. OBJECTIVES: To describe shift patterns of European nurses and investigate whether shift length and working beyond contracted hours (overtime) is associated with nurse-reported care quality, safety, and care left undone. METHODS: Cross-sectional survey of 31,627 registered nurses in general medical/surgical units within 488 hospitals across 12 European countries. RESULTS: A total of 50% of nurses worked shifts of </= 8 hours, but 15% worked >/= 12 hours. Typical shift length varied between countries and within some countries. Nurses working for >/= 12 hours were more likely to report poor or failing patient safety [odds ratio (OR)=1.41; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.13-1.76], poor/fair quality of care (OR=1.30; 95% CI, 1.10-1.53), and more care activities left undone (RR=1.13; 95% CI, 1.09-1.16). Working overtime was also associated with reports of poor or failing patient safety (OR=1.67; 95% CI, 1.51-1.86), poor/fair quality of care (OR=1.32; 95% CI, 1.23-1.42), and more care left undone (RR=1.29; 95% CI, 1.27-1.31). CONCLUSIONS: European registered nurses working shifts of >/= 12 hours and those working overtime report lower quality and safety and more care left undone. Policies to adopt a 12-hour nursing shift pattern should proceed with caution. Use of overtime working to mitigate staffing shortages or increase flexibility may also incur additional risk to quality.

Sleep is an essential physiological process which profoundly affects a wide range of biological activities. It is now known that sleep supports myriad vital functions in the central nervous system. This includes neural plasticity, learning, memory, cognition and emotional regulation. Additionally, it affects basic processes such as cardiovascular, immunological, and metabolic activity. Evidence from multiple lines of research has thus shown that good quality of sleep is essential for both survival and optimal functioning of life. Considerable evidence also supports the conclusion that even minimal dysfunctions in circadian regulation can significantly disrupt sleep and broadly affect body physiology. As a consequence, it is now appreciated that the therapy of sleep disorders is more complex than was once thought. At present, several clinical disciplines have recognized the significance of the biological clock in health and illness and are incorporating this knowledge into treatment programs. Recent decades have seen the emergence of chronotherapies, i.e., treatment strategies that are aimed at producing adjustments in the circadian clock. The final objective of these approaches is to affect basic cellular and physiological processes, which in turn may be at the root of disorders in, e.g., , immune functioning, metabolic activity, and psychiatric disturbance. It is suggested that the integration of chronobiological perspectives into mainstream medical disciplines would be of significant benefit, both for the reduction of the prevalence of diseases and their treatment. This review considers the physiology of sleep and the importance of timekeeping mechanisms in the regulation of the overall health of individuals.

There are many studies with regard to problems caused by shift work, thus, shift workers are recently thinking about how to solve and implement behaviors that will reduce the problems caused by their work. The present study sought to determine the effects of shift work in a Business Process Outsourcing company in terms of shift workers health, Psychological well-being and their coping mechanisms and provide an Action Plan for training and development. A total number of 210 respondents who were administered Shift Work Index Questionnaire and were tabulated and analyzed using Factor Analysis, ANOVA and Post Hoc Analysis in Sheffe method. The overall results of the study showed that the level of coping mechanisms such as social, domestic, sleep routine and work performance suggests significant difference with the three groups of shift workers, thus, the hypothesis is rejected. However, health and well-being do not show significant difference as to the response of the three groups of shift workers, hence the hypothesis was supported. In lieu with other researches, it was determined that shift workers have their own coping strategies to deal with their problem and when it results to successful coping, it leads to restoration of physical and psychological well-being. When the coping skills are not adequate the stress may lead to negative physical and psychological well-being. The implications of Action Plan is that BPO Companies may develop and enhance trainings and development seminars and programs which involves Physical health activities, Psychological health programs and Coping Mechanism strategies to limit the problems encountered by shift workers.

Recent decades have seen a growing ‘pluralisation’ of policing providers and authorisers in liberal democracies (Crawford 2003, Johnston and Shearing 2003). Some have interpreted this as part of a major transformation of policing in western liberal democracies that reflects fundamental shifts in the nature of governance (Bayley and Shearing 1996, 2001). Others have stressed continuities with the recent history of policing and the persistence of significant national and local differences in policing structures (Jones and Newburn 2002, Ferret 2004). These discussions have some parallels with wider debates about convergence and divergence in penality and the ways in which structural and cultural shifts influence policy developments across different societies (Garland 2001). We here examine recent changes in policing within two EU countries – Britain and the Netherlands. This paper discusses areas of similarity and difference in plural policing developments, and speculates about what factors might explain these. There is evidence of structural and cultural shifts working to shape policing in similar ways, but also of the mediating influence of distinctive national and local political institutions and cultures. These particular contexts provide possibilities for the resistance and re-shaping of global forces, as well as provide a framework for the emergence of distinct policy innovations.

During the past few years, quality of work life has received significant attention among both academic and business environments due to its vital role on the success of organizations. Rise in the quality of work life would help employees’ well-being thereby the well-being of the whole organization. This is an attempt to capitalize the human assets of the organization. These days, for an organization to be successful and achieve its organizational objectives it is imperative that its employees are satisfied with their work, since work occupies an important place in many people’s lives, such conditions are likely to affect not only their physical but also a high level of social, psychological and spiritual well-being. The proposed study designed a questionnaire and distributed among 192 experts in the largest automotive producer in Iran called Iran Khodro and managed to collect 175 filled ones. The questionnaire consists of 24 questions and Cronbach alpha was calculated as 0.81, which is well above the minimum acceptable limit and validates the results. The results of our survey indicate that four major factors including job characteristics, working conditions, organizational characteristics and human relations influence quality of work conditions.

Extended wakefulness, sleep loss, and circadian misalignment are factors associated with an increased accident risk in shiftwork. Splitting shifts into multiple shorter periods per day may mitigate these risks by alleviating prior wake. However, the effect of splitting the sleep–wake schedule on the homeostatic and circadian contributions to neurobehavioural performance and subjective assessments of one's ability to perform are not known. Twenty-nine male participants lived in a time isolation laboratory for 13 d, assigned to one of two 28-h forced desynchrony (FD) schedules. Depending on the assigned schedule, participants were provided the same total time in bed (TIB) each FD cycle, either consolidated into a single period (9.33 h TIB) or split into two equal halves (2 Â 4.67 h TIB). Neurobehavioural performance was regularly assessed with a psychomotor vigilance task (PVT) and subjectively-assessed ability was measured with a prediction of performance on a visual analogue scale. Polysomnography was used to assess sleep, and core body temperature was recorded to assess circadian phase. On average, participants obtained the same amount of sleep in both schedules, but those in the split schedule obtained more slow wave sleep (SWS) on FD days. Mixed-effects ANOVAs indicated no overall difference between the standard and split schedules in neurobehavioural performance or predictions of performance. Main effects of circadian phase and prior wake were present for both schedules, such that performance and subjective ratings of ability were best around the circadian acrophase, worst around the nadir, and declined with increasing prior wake. There was a schedule by circadian phase interaction for all neurobehavioural performance metrics such that performance was better in the split schedule than the standard schedule around the nadir. There was no such interaction for predictions of performance. Performance during the standard schedule was significantly better than the split schedule at 2 h of prior wake, but declined at a steeper rate such that the schedules converged by 4.5–7 h of prior wake. Overall, the results indicate that when the total opportunity for sleep per day is satisfactory, a split sleep–wake schedule is not detrimental to sleep or performance. Indeed, though not reflected in subjective assessments of performance capacity, splitting the schedule may be of some benefit, given its reduction of neurobehavioural impairment at night and its association with increased SWS. Therefore, for some industries that require operations to be sustained around the clock, implementing a split work–rest schedule may be of assistance.

Acute stress is a fundamental adaptive response which enables an organism to cope with daily threatening environmental stimuli. If prolonged and uncontrollable, the stress response may become inadequate and ultimately result in health damage. Animal models of stress in rodents indicate that both acute and chronic stressors have pronounced effects on sleep architecture and circadian rhythms. One major physiological response elicited by stress is activation of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis. In both animals and humans, the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis plays an important role in sleep–wake regulation and in alterations of the sleep–wake cycle secondary to exposure to acute or chronic stressors. In humans, dysfunction of the neuroendocrine regulation of sleep can lead to severe sleep disturbances. The progressive decay of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis in elderly people, which mimics chronic exposure to stress, may contribute to fragmented and unstable sleep in age...