High risk of near-crash driving events following night-shift work

Details

• Personal Author:
  Anderson C ; Czeisler, Charles A. ; Horrey WJ ; Howard ME ; Lee ML ; Liang Y ; O'Brien CS ; Shreeve MS
• Description:
  Night-shift workers are at high risk of drowsiness-related motor vehicle crashes as a result of circadian disruption and sleep restriction. However, the impact of actual night-shift work on measures of drowsiness and driving performance while operating a real motor vehicle remains unknown. Sixteen night-shift workers completed two 2-h daytime driving sessions on a closed driving track at the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety: (i) a postsleep baseline driving session after an average of 7.6 +/- 2.4 h sleep the previous night with no night-shift work, and (ii) a postnight-shift driving session following night-shift work. Physiological measures of drowsiness were collected, including infrared reflectance oculography, electroencephalography, and electrooculography. Driving performance measures included lane excursions, near-crash events, and drives terminated because of failure to maintain control of the vehicle. Eleven near-crashes occurred in 6 of 16 postnight-shift drives (37.5%), and 7 of 16 postnight-shift drives (43.8%) were terminated early for safety reasons, compared with zero near-crashes or early drive terminations during 16 postsleep drives (Fishers exact: P = 0.0088 and P = 0.0034, respectively). Participants had a significantly higher rate of lane excursions, average Johns Drowsiness Scale, blink duration, and number of slow eye movements during postnight-shift drives compared with postsleep drives (3.09/min vs. 1.49/min; 1.71 vs. 0.97; 125 ms vs. 100 ms; 35.8 vs. 19.1; respectively, P < 0.05 for all). Night-shift work increases driver drowsiness, degrading driving performance and increasing the risk of near-crash drive events. With more than 9.5 million Americans working overnight or rotating shifts and one-third of United States commutes exceeding 30 min, these results have implications for traffic and occupational safety. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Automobiles Circadian Rhythm Fatigue Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Shift Work Schedule Sleep Sleep Initiation And Maintenance Disorders
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Drowsy Driving Circadian Rhythms Drivers EEG Electroencephalography Eye Movement Humans Infrared Oculography Job Rotation Motor Vehicles Performance Capability Performance Tests Physiological Measurements Risk Analysis Risk Factors Shift Work Shift Workers Sleep Deprivation

  More +
• ISSN:
  0027-8424
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1 ; OSHA Region 6 ; Texas
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  176-181
• Volume:
  113
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20048008
• Citation:
  Proc Natl Acad Sci U.S.A. 2016 Jan; 113(1):176-181
• Contact Point Address:
  Charles A. Czeisler, Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders, Departments of Medicine and Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115
• Email:
  charles_czeisler@hms.harvard.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2016
• Performing Organization:
  Brigham and Women's Hospital
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20130901
• Source Full Name:
  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
• End Date:
  20170831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:13a5f0c32eae8adce9f1f8ae589e79d049ebf0941106c5bc79d1009be3e15fbb3aaa4269b769fa75d0b6d2afbaf48efbe8bba216c54e044c795f37be9db836c5
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/202899/cdc_202899_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 812.95 KB ]