Safety & Health Effects of Shift Work - ASSE Members

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Photo 3: Sellstrom production team. Some new products are born from problems that occur with some of the newer manufacturing or process techniques. Sellstrom works with customers independently to develop new specialized products through research studies and material advancements. These can be as simple as a change request in anti-fog properties or as advanced as new field requirements due to technological advancements, (i.e., firefighting, autoclaving, gamma radiation, etc.). MPS: Has Sellstrom ever needed to create eye or face protection to protect against injuries that were previously nonexistent or once rare in the workplace DP: Probably not create; however, we have tweaked a few existing products to fulfill a unique requirement for a special situation. MPS: How does Sellstrom test its products to ensure proper fit and level of protection DP: We follow the requirements of most of the existing standards for eyewear throughout the world. We have our own lab on premises and have all of the equipment “certified for accuracy” at prescribed intervals. We are an ISO 9001:2008-certified company. We are constantly refining all of our systems and processes that go into making our testing and quality system credible. MPS: What are the components of Sellstrom’s quality management system DP: The quality management system consists of processes that pursue customer satisfaction with the underlying goal of quality improvement in all phases of our operation— marketing/sales, research/design, purchasing, manufacturing, quality control and logistics of products. MPS: How does Sellstrom ensure that it continually meets or maintains the requirements of ISO 9001:2008 certification DP: We are audited by an ISOcertifying body twice a year. The requirements to maintain this certificate are defined and must be demonstrated to our auditor at any time. We do our own internal audits and issue recommendations to each department to ensure that we perform to a prescribed level. The new standard demands continuous improvement as well as measuring a degree of customer satisfaction with our entire process. Continuous training of our personnel and empowering them to build products conforming to applicable standards of performance are critical to our quality program’s success. David Peters is CEO and president of Sellstrom Manufacturing Co., Palatine, IL. Peters holds a marketing degree from Northern Illinois University. Safety & Health Effects of Shift Work continued from page 1 working shift work schedules impact the health of workers and the frequency of accidents, and how do the impacts differ for older workers and for women A common thread for all employees is the toll that shift work takes on them mentally and physically, leading to increased potentials for illnesses and for occupational injuries. According to Bird and Mirtorabi (2006), shift work contributes to the world’s worst industrial accidents and costs employers $206 billion annually, including more than $70 million for shift work-related accidents and $15.9 billion for medical treatment. Negative health effects for shift workers include increased incidence of cardiovascular and gastrointestinal illnesses, obesity, cancer and diabetes. Additionally, circadian rhythm adjustment and fatigue associated with shift work are reported to increase the accident and injury frequencies, both on night shifts and on day shifts. Many of the adverse health and safety effects can be tied back to employee’s sleep and waking schedules being unsynchronized with their natural circadian rhythms, causing immediate and acute fatigue. Fatigue causes slower reaction times and loss of mental acuity and may contribute to hypertension, diabetes and other ailments. With shift work an established element of modern work life, it is necessary for employers to look at ways that the effects can be mitigated. This may include adjusting the duration and direction of rotating shifts, the length of work shifts and the number of breaks incorporated, the balance of scheduled work shifts and time off and even work scheduling and illumination. Making an effort to minimize the adverse impacts of shift work may be seen as providing a safe place to work under the OSHA general duty clause. Additionally, Dembe (2009) predicts that “it would not be surprising to see an increasing number of claims for workers’ compensation benefits for cardiovascular diseases, cancer and other ailments that have been associated with long working hours.” HEALTH EFFECTS OF SHIFT WORK According to Roan (2008), “As much as 15% of human genes function on a schedule, with highly regulated, oscillating patterns of activity. These clocklike genes are common features of most cells and can be found in every major organ in the body. They, in turn, affect the schedule of scores of biological functions, from metabolism to cell division to cognitive processes.” These oscillating patterns are known as circadian 10 Safely Made www.asse.org 2011
hythms, a 24-hour rhythm that makes most people want to sleep between midnight and 6:00 a.m. (Scott, 2010) and be most active between noon and 6:00 p.m. (Bird & Mirtorabi, 2006). When an individual works night shifts or rotating shifts, these rhythms become out of sync with what the person is doing, resulting in a loss of synchronicity between the body’s schedule and the worker’s schedule. This results in impaired sleep and because “the circadian clock controls the body temperature, hormones, heart rate and other bodily functions” (Scott, 2010), shift workers are more prone to a variety of illnesses. Bird and Mirtorabi (2006) list these health issues associated with shift work: sleep disruption and sleep deprivation, cardiovascular disorders (including high cholesterol and triglycerides); gastrointestinal disorders, diabetes, epilepsy and asthma. Some studies even indicate that night workers may be more impacted by exposure to toxic substances and chronic infections (Dembe, 2009). Cancer has also been implicated as a possible effect of shift work. According to Roan (2008), “the evidence for an increased cancer risk is so compelling that the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a unit of the World Health Organization, declared that shift work is ‘probably carcinogenic to humans.’” ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR OLDER WORKERS & FEMALE WORKERS The subjects of many studies have been primarily male, but research has indicated that women working shift work may also be susceptible to an increased risk of breast cancer due to suppression of melatonin during night shifts (Ross, 2009) and to reproductive problems (Dembe, 2009). According to Bird and Mirtorabi, female shift workers have an increased incidence of irregular menstrual cycles, spontaneous abortions, premature delivery and low-birth-weight babies. Ross also notes that some evidence of shift work is linked to preeclampsia or convulsions resulting from high blood pressure in pregnancy, which can endanger both mother and baby. Overall, men have a higher incidence of cardiovascular diseases (including hypertension), but women shift workers have a higher prevalence of gastrointestinal, genitourinary, endocrine (diabetes and thyroid) and blood disorders (anemia) disorders. A second element of the population who may be more affected by working shift work than other workers in terms of health and well-being is the aging workforce. Costa and Sartori (2007) state, “In many epidemiological studies, the critical factor for reduced tolerance to shift work reported to be between 40 and 50 years old.” They attribute this to a decreased ability for the circadian clock to adjust to night work and an increase in sleep disturbances because of lowered responsiveness to light. Costa and Sartori (2007) indicate that health deterioration with age is more prevalent in shift workers due to chronic fatigue and sleep disturbances. Specifically, Costa and Sartori (2007) point to epidemiological studies to demonstrate that the relative risk for coronary disease is 1.3 times as high for shift workers than daytime workers, but the risk is 1.6 times for men and 3.0 times higher for women shift workers between the ages of 45 and 55. THE IMPACT OF SHIFT WORK ON ACCIDENT FREQUENCY Many experts have weighed in on the impact of shift work and consequent sleep deprivation. Schmid (2011) says that it can make a driver “as impaired as someone with enough alcohol in his blood to be considered a drunk driver.” Scott (2010) says that research studies show that nurses experience significant decreases in alertness when on night shift and that the medical error rate for healthcare works increases by 6%, 17% and 35% on the first three successive shifts. In a study of nuclear power plant operators (2008), task performance ability was shown to depend on the time of day and that shift work “[aggravates] the nocturnal decline in cognitive abilities . . . due to a chronic sleep debt that shift workers carry over to the night shift and also to day shifts following early morning shift.” Further, in 2006, it was reported that about 25% “ . . . of all train accidents are related to fatigue and long working hours among rail crews” (Dembe, 2009). Accident frequencies related to shift work have been reported to be due to disruption of circadian rhythms and lack of quality sleep. Ross (2009) supports this stance with his research that indicates significantly higher rates of serious injury for nights compared to days, particularly when shifts exceed 12 hours and that loss of as little as one hour of sleep a night can impair alertness. Parker, et al. (2007) hypothesize that people on rotating shifts are twice as likely to report accidents or mistakes and that rotating shift work is shown to be associated with lapses of attention, longer reaction times and increased error rates. They attribute these trends to fatigue, stating that “fatigue undermines intellectual and emotional functioning.” EMPLOYER ACTIONS TO MITIGATE THE EFFECTS OF SHIFT WORK Shift work is necessary for public safety, medical care, power production, manufacturing and other industries. However, employers can take steps to mitigate the safety and health effects, including scheduling design, workload distribution, environmental factors and wellness programs. Employers can explore the best rotational schedule, including length of shift, forward or backward rotation and amount of time between shifts. Studies indicate that the length of shifts, forward versus backward rotation and the length of time off have a significant effect on employees’ ability to adapt, prevent Employers and employees can take steps to mitigate the effect of shift work, the most important being careful design of shift schedules. 11 Safely Made www.asse.org 2011
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