Comparison of Reported Workplace Morbidity in 8-hour and 12-hour Shifts in One Plant

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A retrospective study of the minor morbidity diagnoses of 775 workers during two 10-year periods was undertaken. During the first, they worked an 8-hour rotating shift, during the second, a 12-hour shift system. Data were abstracted from well-kept medical records from the plant medical department. Illnesses and symptoms indicative of stress-related complaints were abstracted. By age-sex standardization and the calculation of morbidity ratios and confidence intervals, it was shown that the introduction of the 12-hour shift system was accompanied by a statistically significant fall in the incidence of stress-related complaints such as headaches, gastrointestinal upsets and alcohol-related complaints. No reduction was found in the incidence of other illness complaints, considered to be unrelated to stress.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: