Industrial health
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The present study examined the occurrence of sleepiness in various shift combinations ending with a night or morning shift. Three weeks' sleep/work shift diary data, collected from 126 randomly selected train drivers and 104 traffic controllers, were used in statistical analyses. The occurrence of sleepiness at work (i.e., Karolinska Sleepiness Scale 7 or higher) was tested with a generalised linear model with repeated measurements including explanatory factors related to shifts, sleep, and individual characteristics. ⋯ An increased risk for sleepiness was associated with high sleep need and long shift duration in the night shift and with high sleep need, short main sleep period, long shift duration and an early shift starting time in the morning shift. Also having a child was associated with an increased risk for sleepiness in the night shift. The results suggest that the shift history of 24-36 h prior to the night and the morning shift is not strongly associated with the occurrence of sleepiness at work, but there are other factors, such as shift length and starting time and sleep need, that affect a risk for sleepiness at work.
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On November 20-21, 2002, the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), a U. S.-based non-profit organization, and a coalition of other organizations, federal agencies and corporations convened a National Summit to Prevent Drowsy Driving at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC. The Summit brought together experts in the fields of transportation, safety and health, sleep research, and communications as well as advocates to assist in the creation of a comprehensive national agenda to increase awareness about the dangers of drowsy driving. Recommendations from the Summit formed the basis of post-summit activities, including the development of a new Web site (www.drowsydriving.org) dedicated to the prevention of driver fatigue and a report, the National Action Plan to Prevent Drowsy Driving, which describes a series of action items for national, state and local initiatives in the areas of research, public policy, and educational programs.
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This brief paper reviews the available published literature on shiftwork and safety that allows the relative risk of "accidents" or injuries associated with specific features of shift systems to be estimated. Three main trends in risk are discussed, namely that (i) risk is higher on the night shift, and to a lesser extent the afternoon shift, than on the morning shift, (ii) risk increases over a span of shifts, especially so if they are night shifts, and (iii) risk increases with increasing shift length over eight hours. We discuss that some of these trends are not entirely consistent with predictions derived from considerations of the circadian variations in sleep propensity or rated sleepiness, and consider factors relating to sleep that may underlie the observed trends in risk. Finally, the practical implications of the trends in risk for the design of safer shift systems are discussed.