Safety & Health Effects of Shift Work - ASSE Members

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Shift work is here to stay, but it should be recognized as an occupational health and safety issue and should be mitigated to provide a safe working environment for employees who work outside the normal work hours of 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. or minimize fatigue and maintain their health. According to NIOSH (1997), night workers never really have the opportunity to adapt because most maintain a typical daytime schedule on their days off. Rotating shifts may be an option to allow workers to share the difficult shifts, and 8-hour rotations may be better then 12-hour shifts due to increased fatigue and adverse health effects related to the longer shifts. This is a special consideration when workers are older because they are more impacted by longer shifts (Ross, 2009). Workload distribution and consideration of environmental factors are additional considerations for the employer. NIOSH (1997) recommends that heavy or safety-critical work be performed during day shifts whenever possible and not toward the end of a 12-hour shift. NIOSH also states that “shift workers may be especially sensitive to toxic substances because circadian rhythm changes make the body more sensitive to toxic exposures at certain times of day.” This would indicate a need to consider the work environment for shift workers. Other environmental factors that may help mitigate hazards and poor health for workers include adequate lighting, temperature controls, a place to prepare warm and nutritious foods and even workout equipment for shift workers. Employee wellness programs that address sleep deprivation and fatigue for shift workers may be helpful in reducing the effects of shift work. The wellness program should include employee education and awareness programs and should encourage physical activity and proper eating habits to minimize sleep disturbances. CONCLUSION Shift work is a fact of life for many people. It can cause sleep deprivation, dyssynchrony of the circadian rhythms and fatigue. Adverse health effects can include a myriad of diseases, including cardiovascular disease, female reproductive problems, asthma and others, with worse effects more common for women and older workers. In addition to health problems, the fatigue and dyssynchrony of circadian patterns have been implicated in impairment of judgment, decreased reaction times and increased accident rates and severity. Employers and employees can take steps to mitigate the effect of shift work, the most important being careful design of shift schedules. Recently, confronted with an incident in which an air traffic controller fell asleep on the job, Federal Aviation Administration announced that it would change schedules which are most likely to cause fatigue. Employees are advised by several studies to do whatever they can to get enough sleep, stay physically fit, eat healthy foods and avoid caffeine and alcohol. Employers can support their efforts with effective wellness programs and education. Shift work is here to stay, but it should be recognized as an occupational safety and health issue and should be mitigated to provide a safe working environment for employees who work outside the normal work hours of 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. REFERENCES Bird, R.C. & Mirtorabi, N. (2006). Shiftwork and the law. Berkeley Journal of Employment & Labor Law, 27(2), 383-429. Costa, G.G. & Sartori, S.S. (2007). Aging, working hours and work ability. Ergonomics, 50(11), 1914-1930. Dembe, A. (2009). Ethical issues relating to the health effects of long working hours. Journal of Business Ethics: Supplement, 84, 195-208. Galy, E.E., Melan, C.C. & Cariou, M.M. (2008). Investigation of task performance variations according to task requirements and alertness across the 24-hour day in shift workers. Ergonomics, 51(9), 1338-1351. NIOSH. (1997). Plain language about shiftwork. Retrieved April 10, 2011, from http://www.cdc.gov/ niosh/pdfs/97-145.pdf. Parker, S.R., Pettijohn, C.E. & Rozell, E.J. (2007). Shift work and accident rates: Are they really related International Journal of Business Research, VII(3), 194-201. Roan, Shari. (2008). Sleep-deprived pay the price for shift work. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http:// articles.latimes.com/2008/mar/24/health/la-he-sleep24 -2008mar24. Ross, J.K. (2009). Offshore industry shift work: Health and safety considerations. Oxford Journal of Occupational Medicine, 59(5), 310-315. Schmid, R.E. (2011). Odd work schedules pose risk to health. Associated Press on MSNBC.com. Retrieved from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42633432/ns/health -behavior. Scott, D.E. (2010, April). Surviving shift work. Retrieved April 10, 2011, from http://www.navigate nursing.org/PDFs/Fact%20Sheet%20surviving%20shift %20work.pdf. Charlotte Dorrity works as a regional health and safety manager in the geothermal power industry for Calpine Corp. She has a background in chemistry and more than 20 years’ experience in environmental, health and safety. She has also been a professional member of ASSE since 2005. Dorrity holds a master’s in organization development from Sonoma State University and is working toward an M.S. in Occupational Health and Safety and Environmental Management. 12 Safely Made www.asse.org 2011
AIR QUALITY BY RICHARD BENNETT, CIH Losing Product & Profits A Look at Air Quality Food safety is the greatest concern to the image and profitability of a food manufacturer. The smaller mom-and-pop shops can find themselves out of business in a short period of time if news gets around that they have unsafe products. Fortune 500 companies are a little more adept and stable than their smaller counterparts, but can find millions of dollars of profit lost with the reverberation of bad press and government-forced recalls. Production managers and quality control often have been frustrated and exhausted by issues of contamination and product loss after using the most extensive and complete surface hygiene procedures. So what do you do if you have exhausted every means of eradicating spoilage and product adulteration An often underexamined item in finding the culprit is to take a fresh look at the process of the relationship between air quality and contamination. Since the late 1800s, various acts have been passed with the purpose of protecting consumers from harmful food manufacturing practices that transmit bacteria. This often is focused extensively on surface hygiene. With the globalization of economies and interdependence of countries, we find strict surface hygiene guidelines adopted worldwide. The Internet has reduced the world economy to an observable ecosystem in each of our backyards. Punishment is swift as news is brought to our door, even if we do not want it to be. While surface hygiene procedures have rapidly evolved, a little-recognized segment has lagged behind in the food production industry—airborne contamination. Why will air quality make a difference Let’s take a look. Traditionally, air quality has been passively observed, but needs to be investigated further and procedures targeted to potentially offer a different answer. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. If you are continually traveling down the road of unknown product loss and cannot find the connection to the source of contamination, take the first right turn. Try something different. Take the opportunity to hear something from a different stance. Four components are observed in relationship to each other in deriving the quality of air and in finding a potential answer at a manufacturing site. 1) AIR QUALITY Air quality has two components. The first is air changes per hour (ACH). ACH is the measurement of the volume of air supplied by the HVAC system to the interior of the building in relationship to the volume of the building. Generally, six changes per hour are considered acceptable. For the sake of illustration, if your building volume is 1,000 cubic meters, then your HVAC system would need to push 6,000 cubic meters of air through the building each hour. The second component of air quality is the percentage of make-up air supplied by the HVAC unit from the outside to the inside. For the purpose of illustration, if we set this at 30%, we would need in the previous example to have 1,800 cubic meters of the total air changes per hour (6,000 cm) to be supplied from the outside. In our experience, we have found that certain manufacturers do not have HVAC systems at their site. That would make this first component a nonissue; however, it increases the significance and impact of the next three components. 2) AIR FILTRATION QUALITY Use of high-efficiency particulate air filters (HEPA) or ultra-low particulate air filters (ULPA) within the building envelope or in line with the current HVAC system supplied to the interior of the building envelope will change the quality of the air within. Different manufacturing types will require different standards of filtration. This is fairly obvious but adds to the ongoing maintenance procedures of the building in making sure that the filters are changed at regular intervals and that they are installed correctly in the filter banks. 3) DIFFERENTIAL PRESSURE Measuring the pressure of the building and adjacent manufacturing areas relative to the outside and to each other is critical. Establishing positive pressurization within the finished (packing or sterile) side of the building is a culprit overlooked and not easily remedied. When the pressure of the building is measured relative to other parts of the building and the outside, we start to discover the likely movement of air in relation to the manufacturing process from “dirty to clean” instead of “clean to dirty.” 4) OVERLAY This is the analysis of all information received in the three previous steps in relation to the buildings specific While surface hygiene procedures have rapidly evolved, a little-recognized segment has lagged behind in the food production industry—airborne contamination. 13 Safely Made www.asse.org 2011
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