Working Nights

A Pitch to President Obama – How About a Shift Workers Day?

2010 Working Nights Pocket Calendar 3.5 x 7

In moments of great stress and loss, our immediate tendency is to point the finger and blame those we see as having had the responsibility for predicting, and thereby preventing, the crisis. Most recently, experts responsible for issuing emergency warning alerts have been criticized for their slow response to an 8.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami followed by even more quakes earlier this week in the Samoa Islands region (150 deaths). This was followed by Wednesday’s 7.6 magnitude earthquake in the southern Sumatra region of Indonesia which has reportedly killed at least 700 (and many are still missing – 30,000 homes destroyed). Now emergency workers and aid groups are scrambling 24/7 to respond to the havoc and devastation resulting from these disasters.

It takes you back to 911, Katrina, or the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami that killed 150,000 people. People working 24/7, working nights, evenings, and weekends for multiple days in a row! How do we get through these emotionally draining and often physically taxing periods?
Read this article…

Yale Murder Highlights Workplace Violence Risks

According to The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), two million Americans are subject to workplace violence each year. Defined as a threat of violence or an actual violent action taken against workers, some recent cases have heightened concerns about workplace violence. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data indicates that fatal occupational injuries due to assaults and violent acts were actually down 8% between 2007 and 2008 (864 in 2007 to 794 in 2008). But, during the same period, office suicides reached an all time high since the data has been captured by the BLS (251 in 2008 compared to 196 in 2007) – a 28% increase.

In January 2009, a survey of risk security practitioners by Security Director News found that despite all the recent focus on terrorism, 49% reported that workplace violence topped their security concerns.

Which workplaces are the most violent and how can we make all of our workplaces more safe?
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Learning from Past Mistakes about Managing Overtime after a Recession

After the last recession was over in 2002, overtime spiked at many extended hours operations and so did accidents and injuries on the job. After a recession, managers are usually gun-shy about hiring and for good reason – they want to feel confident that demand is truly back so they don’t generate oversupply. There are starting to be some early signs of improvement in the current economic climate, which means we may see overtime starting to creep up soon. Now’s the time to start planning in order to prevent accidents and injuries resulting from overtime.
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Feeling the Impacts of Chronic Stress Brings You Back to Old Habits

Do you feel frazzled and overwhelmed? Are you having trouble sleeping? Are you anxious and impatient? These are just some of the symptoms of chronic stress. According to a new study, the effects of chronic stress force us back into old habits. And this may actually cause us to make bad decisions because in some situations, we are better off inhibiting a habit and instead using a goal oriented strategy – an effort that will force us to approach the situation differently. But when we are stressed we are more likely to just fall back on our habitual approach to dealing with the situation as opposed to being creative and forging a new path.
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Preventing Accidents and Injuries at Work

Besides general health risks, shift workers also face a wide range of faster-acting dangers. Every seven seconds another worker gets injured, and every day, machinery accidents, falls, crashes, and other accidents take lives. Older workers and minority workers face higher injury and fatality rates. Read here the startling facts about on-the-job death and injury, the financial and health costs, the facts of why accidents happen and tips for making work a safer place. Read this article…

The Impact of Fatigue on Driving

Most people know that driving after drinking enough alcohol could be a death wish, but driving home after a seemingly endless shift could be equally dangerous. After 22 hours without sleep, you act the same behind the wheel as if you had a blood alcohol level of 0.08, the legal driving limit. It won’t get you pulled over (yet, although several states have laws pending to outlaw driving while drowsy) but falling asleep at the wheel can send you hurtling towards a tree or another vehicle with no control over your car just as easily as alcohol or drugs can. The urge to reach home and bed can sometimes overtake caution on the road. Truck drivers and night-owl teens are also greatly affected by this risk, which often goes unnoticed in our up-and-at-’em culture. Read this article…

Improving Workplace Safety and Security

As if shift work’s threat of injury, increased rates of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes weren’t enough, as well as the potential for cancer hanging over your head, it turns out shift work can kill you much faster than any of those options. The good news is that taking care for your safety, simply paying attention, and getting enough sleep so drowsiness doesn’t hit you at the wrong time can hugely lower your risks on the job. In fact, the danger that causes the most shift worker fatalities is something that almost every person- day worker, night worker, shift worker, or unemployed- does every day. This danger is simply driving on the highway. Other dangers include working with machinery and robbery and homicide, especially for people coming home after a night shift. Read more to learn about surprising dangers and how to keep yourself safe. Read this article…