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Re: Re: Shiftwork research

Posted by David Mitchell on September 30, 2002 at 05:22:50:

In Reply to: Re: Shiftwork research posted by crazy on September 12, 2002 at 07:51:00:

There is not a link between incident rates on rotating vs. fixed shifts. However, incidents are directly related to the speed and direction of rotation.

The shift schedule with the most human-error related accidents is the backwards-rotating 8-hour schedule (e.g. nights-evenings-days). It has long been known that backwards rotating schedules run counter to human biological rhythms.

High levels of accidents are also associated with schedules that rotate weekly, or faster. For example, the continental 12-hour schedule (Day,day,night,night,off,off) leads to high levels of fatigue. In general, rotation speed should be no quicker than 2-weeks. The only exception to this rule is the 4-4 12-hour schedule, which should rotate with each turn (e.g. DDDD,off,off,off,off,NNNN,off,off,off,off,DDDD,etc). In this schedule, for each string of 4 night shifts, you get 12 consecutive day-light periods (4 day shifts, and 8 days off - which you'll likely spend on a daytime schedule).

Hope this helps.

David

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