Introduction to Problems of Shift Work
This chapter gives an overview of the health problems associated with shift work, and the main organizational guidelines on how to protect workers’ health and well-being. Working time organization is becoming a key factor on account of new technologies, m
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Abstract This chapter gives an overview of the health problems associated with shift work, and the main organizational guidelines on how to protect workers’ health and well-being. Working time organization is becoming a key factor on account of new technologies, market globalization, economic competition, and extension of social services to general population, involving more and more people in continuous assistance and control of the work processes over the 24 h. The strong increase of epidemiological studies on this issue demonstrates the seriousness of this risk factor for human health and well-being, at both social and psychophysical levels, starting from disruption of biological circadian rhythms and the sleep/wake cycle, ending in several psychosomatic troubles and disorders, probably including cancer, and passing through impairment of performance efficiency and family and social life. Appropriate interventions on the organization of shift schedules according to ergonomic criteria, on the one hand, and a careful health surveillance and social support to shift workers, on the other hand, are important preventive and corrective measures able to allow people to keep working without significant health and social impairment.
1 Introduction “Shift work” means, in general, any form of organization of work, different from the normal “daily work”, in which the operating time of a company is extended beyond the usual 8–9 h (typically between 07–08 a.m. and 05–06 p.m.), to cover the entire 24 h, through the alternation of different groups of workers. According to the most recent EU Directive (2003/88/EC of 4 November 2003), “concerning certain aspects of the organization of working time”: G. Costa (&) Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, University of Milano, and IRCCS “Ca’Granda – Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico” Foundation, Via San Barnaba 8, 20122 Milan, Italy e-mail: [email protected] © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 I. Iskra-Golec et al. (eds.), Social and Family Issues in Shift Work and Non Standard Working Hours, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-42286-2_2
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– “Shift work” means any method of organizing work in shifts whereby workers succeed each other at the same work stations according to a certain pattern, including a rotating pattern, and which may be continuous or discontinuous, entailing the need for workers to work at different times over a given period of days or weeks; – “Shift worker” means any worker whose work schedule is part of shift work; – “Night time” is a period of not less than seven hours including the period between midnight and five in the morning; – “Night worker”: (a) any worker who, during night time, works at least three hours of his daily working time as a normal course; (b) any worker who works a certain proportion of his annual working time, as defined at the choice of the Member State concerned. There are thousands of diverse shift systems adopted worldwide, which may have different impacts on workers’ health, depending on factors such as: –
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