Ageing shift workers' sleep and working-hour characteristics after implementing ergonomic shift-scheduling rules

We studied whether implementing binding ergonomic shift-scheduling rules change ageing (>= 45 years) social and healthcare employees' (mean age 52.5 years, 95% women) working-hour characteristics (e.g. weekly working hours, number and length of night shifts, and short shift intervals) and sleep. We compared an intervention group (n = 253) to a control group (n = 1,234) by survey responses (baseline 2007/2008, follow-up 2012) and objective working-hour characteristics (intervention group n = 159, control group n = 379) from 91 days preceding the surveys. Changes in working-hour characteristics were analysed with repeated measures general linear models. The fully adjusted model (sociodemographics and full-/part-time work) showed that proportion of short shift intervals (= 9 hr; odds ratio [OR] 5.53, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.21-13.80), and lower odds of short sleep (Peer reviewe

Association of changes in work shifts and shift intensity with change in fatigue and disturbed sleep : a within-subject study

Objectives The aim of this study was to examine whether changes in work shifts and shift intensity are related to changes in difficulties to fall asleep, fatigue, and sleep length. Methods Questionnaire responses of hospital employees (N=7727, 93% women) in 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2015 were linked to daily-based records of working hours during three months preceding each survey. We used conditional logistic regression and longitudinal fixed-effects analyses to investigate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for each 25% within-individual change in the proportion of working hour characteristics in relation to changes in fatigue, difficulties to fall asleep, and 24-hour sleep length. Results Change in night but not in morning or evening shifts was associated with parallel changes in odds for longer sleep length (OR 1.45, 95% CI 1.28-1.64) and fatigue during free days (OR 1.38, 95% CI 1.16-1.64). Similarly, short shift intervals and having >2 but not >4 consecutive night shifts were associated with increased odds of fatigue during work and difficulties to fall asleep (OR 1.42, 95% CI 1.19-1.72 and OR 1.10, 95% CI 1.05-1.19, respectively). Among workers aged >= 50 years, the associations were the strongest between night shifts and longer sleep (OR 2.24,95% CI 1.52-3.81) and between higher proportion of short shift intervals and fatigue during free days (OR 1.68, 95% CI 1.10-2.54). Conclusions Among shift workers with fatigue or sleep problems, decreasing the proportion of night shifts and quick returns and giving preference to quickly forward-rotating shift systems may reduce fatigue.Peer reviewe

A theoretical model to ascertain determinants of occupational accidents among Ghanaian industrial workers

Safety is one issue that is of paramount importance to both workplace management and employees. Thus workplace safety has been a topical issue in the occupational and organizational literature. In recent years, research in occupational accidents and organizational safety management literature has seen a gradual shift in emphasis on human error to comprehensive models that stress the role of both individuals and organizational factors in the workplace. In this study, we used a framework that incorporates both these aspects as determinates of occupational accidents, and therefore provides a link between perceptions of the work environment and individual characteristics. The individual factors comprised employees’ educational level, and organizational role, and the organizational factors, organizational citizenship behaviours, organizational support, job satisfaction, and perception of workplace safety. Based on data from 320 Ghanaian industrial workers, we tested a model that specified these organizational factors as mediators between human factors and accident frequency. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was employed to test a mediation model and supported a model fit of the data. The results demonstrated support for our hypothesised model. The analysis also provided useful assessment of which variables in the study contributed to workplace injury, as well as determining the effect sizes for all parameters in the model. Among the intervening variables, workers’ perception of workplace safety indicated the strongest impact on accident frequency. Implications for advancing management of workplace safety and future research directions are discussed