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Health and safety problems associated with long working hours: a review of the current position
Open accessAbstract
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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“Initially, overtime was mainly studied as a one-dimensional variable, and most studies basically investigated the simple, direct association between overtime and health or well-being (5, 6). Most of these studies thus treated overtime as a 'black box'.”
From A diary study to open up the black box of overtime work among university faculty members (2008) · cites this paper as [6]
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“These issues have not been addressed in previous reviews on long working hours and mental health.”
From Long working hours and depressive symptoms: systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies and unpublished individual participant data (2018) · cites this paper as [16]
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“However, although several reviews of this field exist (5, 9-24), the few systematic quantifications of the evidence have been based on published cross-sectional (18, 19, 25) or published longitudinal studies ( 26).”
From Long working hours and depressive symptoms: systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies and unpublished individual participant data (2018) · cites this paper as [16]
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“As globalization and technology penetrate society, sleep-related beliefs and practices can change, including the provision of longer working hours,113–120 shift work,121–124 and discouraging otherwise culturally appropriate naps.125–127”
From Sleep, Health, and Society (2017) · cites this paper as [113]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Spurgeon, A., Harrington, J. M., & Cooper, C. L.
- Affiliations
- University of Birmingham (GB)
- 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
- 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
- bronze
- doi.org
- 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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