Shiftwork: Safety, Sleepiness and Sleep
Open accessAbstract
This brief paper reviews the available published literature on shiftwork and safety that allows the relative risk of "accidents" or injuries associated with specific features of shift systems to be estimated. Three main trends in risk are discussed, namely that (i) risk is higher on the night shift, and to a lesser extent the afternoon shift, than on the morning shift, (ii) risk increases over a span of shifts, especially so if they are night shifts, and (iii) risk increases with increasing shift length over eight hours. We discuss that some of these trends are not entirely consistent with predictions derived from considerations of the circadian variations in sleep propensity or rated sleepiness, and consider factors relating to sleep that may underlie the observed trends in risk. Finally, the practical implications of the trends in risk for the design of safer shift systems are discussed.
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Shortened and disrupted sleep and excessive sleepiness lead to increased workplace errors, greater accident and injury risk, and degraded health.
“This in turn yields increased errors in the workplace, greater risk of accidents and injuries, and degraded health [10,11].”
From Shift Work: Disrupted Circadian Rhythms and Sleep—Implications for Health and Well-being (2017) · cites this paper as [10]
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Cites
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Shift work, safety and productivity
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Research works printed but not linked: 1
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Li, W., Kearney, P., Zhang, J., Hsu, Y., & Braithwaite, G. (2021) · Risk Analysis · doi:10.1111/risa.13594 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
How well do pilots sleep during long-haul flights?
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- Authors
- FOLKARD, S., LOMBARDI, D. A., & TUCKER, P. T.
- Affiliations
- Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety (US)
- Swansea University (GB)
- Venue
- Industrial Health
- Published
- 2005
- Volume
- 43
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 20-23
- ISSN
- 0019-8366 (ISSN-L)
- 1880-8026
- OpenAlex
- W1969943009
- Cited by
- 270
- References
- 13
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 19 · 2012: 15
- FWCI
- 19.91
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Industrial Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and Work-Related Fatigue
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Radiological and Ultrasound Technology › Occupational Health and Safety Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Circadian rhythm and melatonin
- Keywords
- shift work, occupational safety, night shift work, shift length, circadian rhythm, sleepiness, sleep propensity, crash risk, fatigue
- MeSH terms
- Accidents, Occupational, Humans, Disorders of Excessive Somnolence, Personnel Staffing and Scheduling, Risk, Safety, Time, Work Schedule Tolerance, Sleep Disorders, Circadian Rhythm
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