You can’t personally tuck your workers in when it’s their bedtime, but there’s plenty you can do to tackle the serious safety problem of fatigue on the job.
America is a tired country. About 20% of us get less than 6 hours of sleep on average, and the number of those who say they get 8 hours or more is on the decline.
The problem is worse for people who work nontraditional schedules. According to a NIOSH study, even more of them are short sleepers—44% compared with 29% of those who work during the day. Others who sleep less than they should are those working more than one job, widows, and recently separated partners.
What the Research Shows
To understand the issue better, we reviewed relevant research and extracted several key findings.
1. Nearly 20% of adults in the United States suffer from excessive daytime sleepiness. The implications for workplace safety caused by drowsiness are significant, according to a Stanford University researcher.
Excessive sleepiness is also linked to problems including sleep disordered breathing and obstructive sleep apnea. One of the major causes is self-imposed sleep deprivation—for example, skimping on sleep in order to get more done at home.
2. Shiftworkers are hard hit. In recent years, the United States has become increasingly dependent on people working outside the 9-to-5 schedule. These workers face risks like sleep disturbances, which can lead to poor concentration, absenteeism, accidents, errors, injuries, and fatalities. They are also at greater risk for cardiovascular and gastrointestinal diseases.
Transportation workers, in particular, face considerable challenges due to their irregular schedules and long hours behind the wheel or controls. Driver fatigue is one of the leading safety hazards in the transportation industry.
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3. Flexibility in the workplace can help. A 2011 study found that a flexible workplace initiative at Best Buy® headquarters improved health behavior and well-being. Participating managers focused less on where an employee was seated and more on what the individual accomplished. Based on job responsibilities and personal needs, employees were allowed to routinely change when and where they worked without asking permission.
Study participants said that they got more sleep, felt less obliged to work while they were sick, and had less work/family conflict. Less conflict, in turn, helped them sleep better, decreased their distress level, and contributed to a sense of control.
Costly on Many Levels
The financial impact of workplace sleep problems is staggering. A study published in the October 2012 issue of Archives of General Psychiatry links insomnia with up to 274,000 workplace accidents and errors and more than $31 billion in costs.
Researchers estimated that about 20% of study participants had suffered from insomnia. Of those 5.5% reported that they had caused accidents and made errors at work that cost at least $500. Insomnia was associated with 7% of more costly workplace accidents and errors and 24% of the cost of overall mishaps.
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"We usually think of insomnia as just a symptom," says lead author of the study Victoria Shahly, a clinical psychologist and instructor at Harvard Medical School. "Insomnia is a symptom, but it’s also a clinically significant disorder that’s associated with persistent nighttime disruption and daytime impairment and a wide range of adverse personal and public safety outcomes."
Shahly concludes that employers should start paying attention to chronic insomnia and other sleep problems that are likely affecting their workers.
Tomorrow, what you can do about worker fatigue.