Category: Work Schedules
Shiftwork May Lead to Health Problems among Police Officers: What Can be Done? Using Buffalo Cardio-Metabolic Occupational Police Stress (BCOPS) Study Data to Examine First Responder Health
Ensuring the safety of our community is a 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week, 365-days-a-year kind of job. Weekends and holidays included. Working at night (outside the normal daylight hours of 7am – 6pm) is known as “shiftwork” and it has been linked to certain health issues. Police officers and detectives frequently work 1st, 2nd, and 3rd shift, Read More >
Posted on by 5 CommentsRacial and Ethnic Disparities in Teleworking During the COVID-19 Pandemic
New research from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) examined racial disparities in teleworking during the COVID-19 pandemic and estimated the extent to which these disparities are explained by education, occupation and racial discrimination. Teleworking, also known as telecommuting or virtual working, is an alternative type of work arrangement that uses information Read More >
Posted on byHere Comes the Sun! Tips to Adapt to Daylight Saving Time
Daylight Saving Time (DST) marks the time to “spring” ahead one hour for most of the United States. Where it is observed, Daylight Saving Time begins this year on Sunday, March 13, 2022. This transition from Standard Time was first enacted to conserve energy and shift the timing of our activities to match more daylight Read More >
Posted on by 8 CommentsLighting Interventions to Reduce Circadian Disruption in Rotating Shift Workers
Shift work has been linked to poor sleep, chronic metabolic disorders (e.g., cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity), several forms of cancer [1-3], depression, and elevated risk for the occurrence of accidents. These risks are especially acute for those who work rotating shifts that involve working through the night [4-8], as sometimes occur in hospitals. Read More >
Posted on byNIOSH Working Hours, Sleep and Fatigue Forum: A Recap and Future Directions
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), has had a longstanding interest in nonstandard work hours and associated health and safety effects. The last NIOSH meeting on this topic was held in 2004 and centered around long working hours and the impact on injuries, illnesses, and health behaviors. To build on this expertise, Read More >
Posted on by 11 CommentsRetail Worker Safety and Health during the Holidays
The practice of American shoppers looking for a deal on the Friday after Thanksgiving has evolved into a four-day retail event ending with Cyber Monday. This shopping bonanza leading off the holiday shopping season has implications for workers who may have long workdays and expanded work schedules. The approaching season offers an ideal time for Read More >
Posted on by 1 CommentNIOSH Presents: Research on Managing Fatigue in the Workplace, Lessons Learned
On March 20-23, 2017, thirteen participants from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) attended the 10th International Conference on Managing Fatigue, in San Diego, California. This year’s conference was the first held in the U.S. since 2009, and was attended by over 260 Read More >
Posted on by 6 CommentsNational Police Week and NIOSH’s Work in Officer Safety
Peace Officers Memorial Day and National Police Week are observances that pay tribute to local, state, and Federal officers who have died or been disabled in the line of duty. The Peace Officers Memorial Day occurs annually on May 15 which was designated by President John F. Kennedy in 1962. National Police Week is the Read More >
Posted on by 3 CommentsNew NIOSH Training Offers Fatigue Management for Pilots in the Land of the Midnight Sun
For a pilot working in Western Alaska, the amount of daylight during their work day can vary as much as 14 hours between the summer and winter solstice (or more the farther north you go). These aviators often fly multiple legs each day, serving as a transportation link to over 250 villages across the Read More >
Posted on by 3 CommentsNonstandard Work Arrangements
Who is looking out for workers in nonstandard work arrangements? As the prevalence of nonstandard work arrangements (such as temporary agency, contract, and “gig” arrangements) rises, so do concerns about workplace safety and health among this workforce. A recent article, “Nonstandard work arrangements and worker health and safety” published in the American Journal of Industrial Read More >
Posted on by 18 CommentsShift Work and Sleep
In today’s competitive economy, an increasing number of U.S. businesses operate to meet customer demand for 24/7 services. These around-the-clock operations are required in order to maintain a place in the global market where transactions with clients, suppliers, and colleagues can span multiple time zones. Consequently, for many men and women, the workday no longer Read More >
Posted on by 11 CommentsDaylight Saving: Suggestions to help workers adapt to the time change
Spring forward Fall back. We all know the saying to help us remember to adjust our clocks for the daylight saving time changes (this Sunday in case you are wondering). But, what can we do to help workers adjust to the effects of the time change? A few studies have examined these issues but Read More >
Posted on by 15 CommentsA Hard Day’s Night: Training Provides Nurses with Strategies for Shift Work and Long Work Hours
“The problem for me became very severe and my head nurse actually called me into her office to discuss it… it had gotten to the point where I was so chronically sleep-deprived that I was falling asleep while I was trying to report off to the on-coming shift. So, I’m sitting there talking about very Read More >
Posted on by 8 CommentsNIOSH Study Evaluates Risks for Pregnant Flight Attendants
Some job hazards for flight attendants have changed greatly over the years. For example, while U.S. flight attendants are no longer exposed to second hand smoke at work, today there are heightened safety concerns due to terrorism , but some hazards have been present on the job since the first flight attendants started working. Flight Read More >
Posted on by 4 CommentsLong-Haul Truck Driver Health Survey Results
The most recent issue of CDC Vital Signs highlights a few of the safety risks faced by truck drivers. Truck drivers also face health risks that can affect their livelihood. Limited illness and injury data for long-haul truck drivers prompted the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to conduct the National Survey of Read More >
Posted on by 32 CommentsWork-family Conflict, Sleep, and the Heart
Health care workers represent an increasingly important and ever growing work force in our society. They are also a group of “high-risk workers” meaning they report a lot of musculoskeletal pain, work-related injuries and sleep deficiencies. In addition to this, many health care workers labor in rotating shifts, with little time in-between shifts, so Read More >
Posted on by 7 CommentsThank You Truck Drivers!
When you eat lettuce from California or purchase a new couch, consider how these goods got to your local grocery store or home. Nearly 2 million heavy or tractor-trailer truck drivers cross the nation every year to bring us the goods we are used to finding on our store shelves or to deliver our online Read More >
Posted on by 25 CommentsStress and Health in Law Enforcement
Earlier this month the International Journal of Emergency Mental Health released a special issue highlighting research from the Buffalo Cardio-Metabolic Occupational Police Stress (BCOPS) study and from related studies of morbidity and mortality among police officers. The BCOPS study is an investigation of the early or subclinical health consequences of stress in police officers and Read More >
Posted on by 10 CommentsSleep, Pain, and Hospital Workers
We know that decreased sleep duration and extended shifts in healthcare workers are linked to workplace injuries. The effects of decreased sleep on pain in the workplace are less clear. New research from the Harvard Center for Work, Health and Wellbeing –one of four NIOSH Centers of Excellence funded to explore and research the concepts Read More >
Posted on by 18 CommentsWildland Fire Fighting Safety and Health
Wildland fires continue to increase in the Western United States as hot, dry and windy conditions persist, resulting in an extended fire season and factors conducive to fires. Currently, drought conditions are prevalent in the West due to low snow-pack levels, below average rainfall, record setting temperatures and high winds, resulting in a greater than Read More >
Posted on by 29 Comments