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Cited by 532Sleep and Work-Related FatigueWorkplace Health and Well-beingOccupational Health and Safety in Workplaces

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 57 of the 58 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Health and safety problems associated with long working hours: a review of the current position

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Spurgeon, A, Harrington, J M, Cooper, C L·1997·Occupational and Environmental Medicine
DOI 10.1136/oem.54.6.367PMC PMC1128796
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Abstract

The European Community Directive on Working Time, which should have been implemented in member states of the European Community by November 1996, contains several requirements related to working hours, including the right of employees to refuse to work more than 48 hours a week. The United Kingdom government attempted to oppose the Directive, arguing that there is no convincing evidence that hours of work should be limited on health and safety grounds. Much of the research in this area has focused on the problems of shiftworking and previous reviews have therefore tended to emphasise this aspect of working hours. However, there is much less information about the effects of overtime work, which is a central element of the terms of the Directive. This paper reviews the current evidence relating to the potential effects on health and performance of extensions to the normal working day. Several gaps in the literature are identified. Research to date has been restricted to a limited range of health outcomes--namely, mental health and cardiovascular disorders. Other potential effects which are normally associated with stress--for example, gastrointestinal disorders, musculoskeletal disorders, and problems associated with depression of the immune system, have received little attention. Also, there have been few systematic investigations of performance effects, and little consideration of the implications for occupational exposure limits of extensions to the working day. Existing data relate largely to situations where working hours exceed 50 a week and there is a lack of information on hours below this level, which is of direct relevance to the European Community proposal. Finally, it is clear from investigations relating to shiftwork that a range of modifying factors are likely to influence the level and nature of health and performance outcomes. These include the attitudes and motivation of the people concerned, the job requirements, and other aspects of the organisational and cultural climate. It is concluded that there is currently sufficient evidence to raise concerns about the risks to health and safety of long working hours. However, much more work is required to define the level and nature of those risks.

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Show all 58 references

Research works printed but not linked: 17

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  2. Kogan H. Long hours culture: time for a change. Occup Health 1996;48:48.
  3. Bulletin of European studies on time: statistics and news. In: Wedderburn A, ed. Trends in general hours of work. 1996;9: 17-29.
  4. Austin Knight London. The family friendly workplace: report presented to the conference of the institute of personnel and development. London: Austin Knight, 1995.
  5. Can long working hours kill? Labour Research 1995;84:21-2.
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  10. Craig A, Cooper RE. Symptoms of acute, chronic fatigue. In: AP Smith, DM Jones, eds. Handbook of human performance. Vol 3. State and Trait. London: Academic Press, 1992:12.
  11. Vidacek S, Radosevic-Vidacek B, Kaliterna U. Predictive validity of individual difference measures for sleep problems in shiftworkers: preliminary results. In: Oginski A, Pokorski J, Rutenfranz J, eds. Contemporary advances in shiftwork research. Krakow: Krakow Medical Academy, 1987:277-85.
  12. Folkard S, Barton J. The scientific basis for the CEC's proposed directive on working time. Annals of the Polish Academy of Sciences 1992;36:311-3.
  13. Haugland G. An investigation into the effects of working overtime on: a) mental health, b) human performance - a pilot study. [MSc dissertation]. Birmingham: University of Birmingham, 1996.
  14. Russek HI, Zohman BL. Relative significance of heredity, diet and occupational stress in coronary heart disease of young adults. AmJMed 1958;325:266-75.
  15. Ohta T. Work rules in Japan. International Labour Review 1988;127:627-39.
  16. Uehata T. Long working hours and occupational stressrelated cardiovascular attacks among middle-aged workers inJapan. J Hum Ergol (Tokyo) 1992;20:147-53.
  17. Sparks K, Cooper CL, Fried Y, Shirom A. The effects of hours of work on health: a meta-analytic review. Journal of Occupational and Organisational Psychology 1997 (in press).

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Metadata

Authors
Spurgeon, A., Harrington, J. M., & Cooper, C. L.
Affiliations
University of Birmingham (GB)
ORCID
Venue
Occupational and Environmental Medicine
Publisher
BMJ
Published
1997-06
Volume
54
Issue
6
Pages
367-375
ISSN
  • 0007-1072 (ISSN-L)
  • 1351-0711
  • 1470-7926
DOI
10.1136/oem.54.6.367
PMC
PMC1128796
OpenAlex
W2005572054
Cited by
532
References
58
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 27 · 2018: 22 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 29 · 2015: 28 · 2014: 27 · 2013: 25 · 2012: 27
FWCI
6.89
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Occupational and Environmental Medicine (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and Work-Related Fatigue
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Workplace Health and Well-being
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Occupational Health and Safety in Workplaces
Keywords
long working hours, overtime, shift work, occupational health, occupational safety, mental health, cardiovascular disease, employee performance, occupational exposure limits, stress, musculoskeletal disorders, gastrointestinal diseases
MeSH terms
Adaptation, Psychological, Cardiovascular Diseases, Employee Performance Appraisal, European Union, Female, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Risk Factors, Safety, Sex Factors, Stress, Physiological, Time Factors, Work Schedule Tolerance, Global Health, Occupational Health, Workload

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