WORK SCHEDULES: SHIFT WORK AND LONG WORK HOURS
According to 2004 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, almost 15 million Americans work full time on evening shift, night shift, rotating shifts, or other employer arranged irregular schedules. The International Labor Office in 2003 reports that working hours in the United States exceed Japan and most of western Europe. Both shift work and long work hours have been associated with health and safety risks. This page provides links to NIOSH publications and other resources that address demanding work schedules.
NIOSHTIC-2 Search
NIOSHTIC-2 is a searchable bibliographic database of occupational safety and health publications, documents, grant reports, and journal articles supported in whole or in part by NIOSH.
NIOSHTIC-2 search results on work schedules
NIOSH Publications and Guidance
NIOSH DEEPWATER HORIZON RESPONSE Key Safety and Health Topics, Fatigue Prevention
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/oilspillresponse/
keytopics.html#fatigue
NIOSH Blog: Sleep and Work
http://blogs.cdc.gov/niosh-science-blog/2012/03/sleep-and-work/
NIOSH Blog: NIOSH Research on Work Schedules and Work-related Sleep Loss
http://blogs.cdc.gov/niosh-science-blog/2012/03/sleep/
Overtime and Extended Work Shifts: Recent Findings on Illnesses, Injuries and Health Behaviors
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2004-143
Presents a review of the methods and findings from 52 studies that examined the relationship between long work hours and selected health outcomes. Also provides recommendations on issues and priorities to consider in future research.
Medical Interns’ Risk for Car Crashes Linked With Extended Shifts in NIOSH-Funded Study—NIOSH Update
Information on this study can be found in the following journal articles in the New England Journal of Medicine.:
- Barger LK, Cade BE, Ayas NT, Cronin JW, Rosner B, Speizer FE, Czeisler CA. 2005.
Extended Work Shifts and the Risk of Motor Vehicle Crashes among Interns. N Engl J Med 352:125-134. - Landrigan CP, Rothschild JM, Cronin JW, Kaushal R, Burdick E, Katz JT, Lilly CM, Stone
PH, Lockley SW, Bates DW, Czeisler CA. 2004. Effect of reducing interns' work hours on serious medical errors in intensive care units. N Engl J Med 351:1838-1848. - Lockley SW, Cronin JW, Evans EE, Cade BE, Lee CJ, Landrigan CP, Rothschild JM, Katz JT, Lilly CM, Stone PH, Aeschbach D, Czeisler CA. 2004. Effect of reducing interns' weekly work hours on sleep and attentional failures. N Engl J Med 351:1829-1837.
Work-related Roadway Crashes - Prevention Strategies for Employers
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2004-136
Work-related Roadway Crashes - Who’s at Risk?
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2004-137
Companion fact sheets provide information that employers and others can use for assessing risks for motor vehicle injuries and deaths in their work settings, and for taking effective steps to reduce those risks.
Work-Related Roadway Crashes - Challenges and Opportunities for Prevention
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2003-119
Provides a comprehensive view of issues impacting the prevention of work-related roadway crashes, identifies the groups of workers at greatest risk of traffic crashes, summarizes key issues that contribute to work-related roadway crashes, and recommends preventive measures for employers and other stakeholders.
Plain Language About Shiftwork
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 1997-145
Provides basic facts about shiftwork and talks about ways to make shiftwork life easier. The document is an educational document for the general public.
Conferences
Sleep Health & Safety 2013
The National Sleep Foundation’s Sleep Health & Safety 2013 will take place March 1-2 at the Gaylord National Harbor, just outside of Washington, DC in National Harbor, Maryland.
Sleep Health & Safety 2013 examines sleep from both clinical and public health perspectives. It offers two tracks—a Health Care Professional Track targeted to primary care physicians that provides education for physicians and health care professionals and a Public Health and Safety Track targeted to public health, transportation, and safety professionals, as well as government officials and sleep researchers.
21st International Symposium on Shiftwork and Working Time. The 24/7 Society – from chronobiology to practical life. November 4-8, 2013
The Symposium is organized by members of the Working Time Society, and of the Scientific Committee on Shiftwork and Working Time of the International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH). The 21st International Symposium on Shiftwork and Working Time will be organized by the School of Public Health, University of São Paulo and FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The hotel is the Sauípe Park, a hotel in the Costa do Sauípe Resort
Past NIOSH-Sponsored Events
Long Working Hours, Safety, And Health: Toward A National Research Agenda
April 29 - 30, 2004, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland
Using a multi-disciplinary approach, this conference explored the sociological, economic, and health dimensions of long work hours.
- Extended Abstracts from Conference Presentations:
- Filling the Workware Warehouse: What to Store with Regard to Long Work Hours
- Industry Trends, Costs and Management of Long Working Hours
- Modelling the Impact of the Components of Long Work Hours on Injuries and "Accidents"
- Organized Labor’s Response to Long Work Hours
- Overtime, Occupational Stress, and Related Health Outcomes: A Labor Perspective
- Work Hours as a Predictor of Stress Outcomes
- Working in a 24/7 Economy: Challenges
for American Families
- Conference Papers
- Long working hours, occupational health and the changing nature of
work organization. Johnson JV, Lipscomb J. American Journal of Industrial
Medicine. 2006; 49: 921-929.
- Long working hours, safety, and health: Toward a national research
agenda. Caruso CC, Bushnell T, Eggerth D, Heitmann A, Kojola B, Newman
K, Rosa RR, Sauter SL, Vila B. American Journal of Industrial Medicine.
2006; 49: 930-942.
- Long hours of work in the U.S.: Associations with demographic and
organizational characteristics, psychosocial working conditions, and
health. Grosch JW, Caruso CC, Rosa RR, Sauter SL. American Journal
of Industrial Medicine. 2006; 49: 943-952.
- Modeling the impact of the components of long work hours on injuries
and accidents. Folkard S, Lombardi DA. American Journal of Industrial
Medicine. 2006; 49: 953-963.
- Longitudinal relationship of work hours, mandatory overtime, and
on-call to musculoskeletal problems in nurses. Trinkoff AM, Le R, Geiger-Brown
J, Lipscomb J, Lang G. American Journal of Industrial Medicine. 2006;
49: 964-971.
- Impact of long work hours on police officers and the communities they serve. Vila B. American Journal of Industrial Medicine. 2006; 49: 972-980.
- Long working hours, occupational health and the changing nature of
work organization. Johnson JV, Lipscomb J. American Journal of Industrial
Medicine. 2006; 49: 921-929.
Some Strategies Suggested for Coping with Shift Work
Shift work: health, performance and safety problems, traditional countermeasures, and innovative management strategies to reduce circadian misalignment. Smith M & Eastman CI. 2012. Nature and Science of Sleep. 4: 111-32.
Fatigue Risk Management in the Workplace Lerman SE, Eskin E, Flower DJ, George EC, Gerson B, Hartenbaum N, Hursh SR, Moore-Ede M; ACOEM Presidential Task Force on Fatigue Risk Management. Fatigue risk management in the workplace. 2012. J Occup Environ Med. 54(2):231-58.
Measures to counteract the negative effects of night work. Pallesen S, Bjorvatn B, Magerøy N, Saksvik IB, Wage S, Moen BE. Scan J Work Environ Health 2010. 36 (2): 109-120.
Eating and shift work – effects on habits, metabolism and performance. Lowden A, Moreno C, Holmbäck U, Lennernäs M, Tucker P. Scan J Work Environ Health 2010. 36 (2): 150-162.
Strategies for Nurses to Prevent Sleep-Related Injuries and Errors. Caruso CC, Hitchcock EM. Rehabilitation Nursing 2010. 35 (5): 192-7 [PDF - 744.44 KB]
Fatigue countermeasures in aviation. Caldwell JA, Mallis MM, Caldwell JL, Paul MA, Miller JC, Neri DF; Aerospace Medical Association Fatigue Countermeasures Subcommittee of the Aerospace Human Factors Committee. Aviat Space Environ Med 2009. 80(1):29-59
Guidance for managing worker fatigue during disaster operations. U.S. National Response Team. 2009. [PDF - 670.71 KB]
Alertness Management Strategies for Operational Contexts
Caldwell JA, Caldwell JL, Schmidt RM. Sleep Medicine Reviews 2008; 12: 257-273
Circadian rhythm sleep disorders: Part 1, basic principles, shift work and jet lag disorders. Sack RL, Auckley D, Auger RR, Carskadon MA, Wright KP, Vitiello MV, Zhdanova I. Sleep 2007; 30:1460-1483.
Practice parameters for the clinical evaluation and treatment of circadian rhythm sleep disorders. Morgenthaler TI, Lee-Chiong T, Alessi C, Friedman L, Aurora RN, Boehlecke B, Brown T, Chesson AL, Kapur V, Maganti R, Owens J, Pancer J, Swick TJ, Zak R. Sleep 2007; 30:1445-1459.
Burgess PA. 2007. Optimal shift duration and sequence: recommended approach for short-term emergency response activations for public health and emergency management. Am J Public Health 97 Suppl 1:S88-S92. [PDF - 95.25 KB]
How to trick Mother Nature into letting you fly around or stay up all night
Revell VL, Eastman CI. Journal of Biological Rhythms 2005; 20:353-365
Preventive and compensatory measures for shift workers
Knauth P, Hornberger S. Occupational Medicine (Ox) 2003; 53:109-116.
Plain Language About Shiftwork
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 1997-145 [PDF - 572 KB]
Some Educational Resources For Workers Available on Other Web Sites
American Academy of Sleep Medicine Education:
Working the night shift: preparation, survival and recovery. Horrocks, N & Pounder, R. 2006. London, Royal College of Physicians. [PDF - 137.71 KB]
NORA Organization of Work Research Priority Area
The goal of the NORA Organization of Work Team is to define and implement a national occupational research agenda for the next decade. Organization of work refers to management and supervisory practices and production processes, and to their influence on the way jobs are designed and performed in the workplace. Organization of work includes the design of work schedules. A NORA Long Work Hours Subteam was formed to address overtime and extended work shifts issues.
Other Resources
CDC: Sleep and Sleep Disorders
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Healthy People 2020 Sleep Health
National Institutes for Health, National Center for Sleep Disorders Research
Society for Light Treatment and Biological Rhythms
Society for Research on Biological Rhythms
Finding a Sleep Disorders Specialist or Accredited Sleep Disorders Center
American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM)
Professional information on AASM-accredited center and laboratory members. Verification of accredited status can be obtained by contacting the AASM National Office at (630) 737-9700 or accreditation@aasmnet.org.
American Board of Sleep Medicine
Click on 'Verification of Diplomates' for names of board certified sleep specialists.
American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine (AADSM)
A searchable directory of dentists who specialize in treating certain sleep problems.
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