Performance, alertness, and sleep after 3.5 years of 12 h shifts: a follow-up study

Details

• Personal Author:
  Rosa, Roger R.
• Description:
  A study of the long time effects of changing from an 8 to 12 hour workshift was conducted. This was a followup to an earlier study of 20 control room operators (18 males), 26 to 41 years old, at a continuous processing facility after they had switched from an 8 hour shift to a 3 to 4 day rotating 12 hour shift. In the earlier study which was conducted after they had been on the 12 hour shift schedule for 7 months decrements in performance and alertness and a mild to moderate sleep deficit had been found. The present study was conducted after the workers had been on the 12 hour schedule for 3.5 years. The workers completed a computerized fatigue test battery that measured cognitive ability, auditory reaction times, and hand steadiness at various times during the work week. They completed a questionnaire to assess daily sleep, psychological stress, gastrointestinal symptoms, and personal schedule adjustments attributable to shiftwork. Significant decrements were seen on all tests in the fatigue test battery compared to those measured when the subjects were on the 8 hour shift. The decrements did not vary significantly across the work week. The subjects reported an average 1 to 3 hour sleep deficit. Self reported stress was significantly less during the early part of the work week but increased as the week progressed. The author concludes that decrements in performance and alertness and decreases in sleep time still persist after switching to the 12 hour shift schedule. Because of the reduced sleep time and resulting fatigue it causes, workers on 12 hour shifts should attempt to obtain more sleep during the work week. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Fatigue Laboratories Mental Health Occupational Health Safety Shift Work Schedule Sleep Sleep Initiation And Maintenance Disorders Surveys And Questionnaires
• Keywords:
  12 H Shifts Alertness Author Keywords: Shiftwork Compressed Workweek Laboratory-testing Mental-processes NIOSH-Author Occupational-health Performance Stress Physiological-fatigue Questionnaires Shift-work Sleep-deprivation Task-performance

  More +
• ISSN:
  0267-8373
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DBBS - Division of Biomedical and Behavioral Sciences
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  107-116
• Volume:
  5
• Issue:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00204163
• Citation:
  Work Stress 1991 Apr-Jun; 5(2):107-116
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1991
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Work and Stress
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e2c01897797c63e7a4493c99ad259128722442773809ddcf727e64ec7e6e3cf67cd22a88c8693015af547468069ca98b9129bae2895e825ae85a82d51bc17d75
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/205347/cdc_205347_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 722.64 KB ]