Shift work

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Shift work is an employment practice designed to make use of the 24 hours of the clock, rather than a standard working day. The term shift work includes both long-term night shifts and work schedules in which employees change or rotate shifts.^[1][2] A related yet different concept, the work shift, is the time period during which a person is at work.

Practice

A day may be divided into three shifts, each of eight hours, and each employee works just one of those shifts; they might for example be 00:00 to 08:00, 08:00 to 16:00, 16:00 to 24:00 (times are given in the 24-hour clock). Generally, "first shift" refers to the day shift, with "second shift" running from late afternoon to midnight or so, and "third shift" being the night shift. On occasion, more complex schedules are used, sometimes involving employees changing shifts, in order to operate during weekends as well, in which case there will be four or more sets of employees. Twelve-hour work shifts are also in use. In a modern steelworks, four sets of personnel are used, working consecutive days in one twelve hour shift (06:00-18:00 and vice-versa). Shift A will work days, and shift B nights, over a 48-hour period, before handing over to shifts C and D and taking 48 hours off. In the offshore petroleum industry, employees may work 14 consecutive days or nights, 06:00-18:00 or 18:00-06:00, followed by three or four weeks free. Shift work was once characteristic primarily of manufacturing industry, where it has a clear effect of increasing the use that can be made of capital equipment and allows for up to three times the production compared to just a day shift. It contrasts with the use of overtime to increase production at the margin. Both approaches incur higher wage costs. In general, requiring workers to live on a time-shifted schedule for extended periods, is unpopular, and this typically must be paid for at a premium. It is common in heavy industry, particularly automobile and textile manufacturing and is becoming more common in locations where a shut-down of equipment would incur an extensive restart process. Food manufacturing plants, in particular, have extensive cleaning programs that are required before any restart. The use of shift work in manufacturing varies greatly from country to country. Shift work has been traditional in the armed forces: for example sailors must be available to handle a vessel around the clock, and a system of naval watches organised to ensure enough hands are on duty at any time. This is shift work by another name. Service industries now increasingly operate on some shift system; for example a restaurant or convenience store will normally each day be open for much longer than a working day. Shift work is also the norm in governmental and private employment in fields related to public safety and healthcare, such as police, fire prevention, security, emergency medical transportation and hospitals. Companies working in the field of meteorology, such as the National Weather Service and private forecasting companies, also utilize shift work, as constant monitoring of the weather is necessary. The swing shift, also known as "second shift", is scheduled during the afternoon and evening, such as 4 p.m. to midnight or 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the United States. According to John Frehse of the labor management firm Core Practice Partners, this swing shift is the least desirable of the three possibilities. The swing shift (svingskift) in the offshore petroleum industry in Norway refers to a two week tour where one works 12-hour days the first seven days and 12-hour nights the second, or vice versa. The graveyard shift means a shift of work running through the early hours of the morning, especially one from midnight until 8 am. There is no certainty as to the origin of this phrase; according to Michael Quinion it is little more than "an evocative term for the night shift ... when ... your skin is clammy, there's sand behind your eyeballs, and the world is creepily silent, like the graveyard."^[3]

Health consequences

Main article: Shift work sleep disorder

The February 15, 2005 issue of American Family Physician noted that shift work has been associated with cluster headaches. The consequences of disturbing natural circadian sleep rhythms has been investigated also. A study by Knutsson et al in 1986 found that shift workers who had worked in that method for 15 years or more were 300% more likely to develop ischaemic heart disease. Ethan Franklin, Senior Partner at Core Practice Partners, points out that most companies blame shift length for health issues. "This is absolutely the wrong way to look at it," says Franklin. "These health challenges are directly attributed to circadian issues and not length of shift. Companies do an extreme disservice to their workers by limiting alternative scheduling options." In 1987, working the night shift first became associated with higher rates of cancer. This may be due to alterations in circadian rhythm: melatonin, a known tumor suppressant, is generally produced at night and late shifts may disrupt its production. The International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization, lists night work as a "probable cause" of cancer since December 5, 2007.^[4][5]

See also

• Split shift
• Rota (schedule)
• Circadian rhythm sleep disorders
• Timebar scheduling

Notes

References

• Knutsson, A., Åkerstedt, T., Jonsson, B.G. & Orth-Gomer, K. (1986) 'Increased risk of ischaemic heart disease in shift workers'. Lancet, 2(8498), 89-92.