Posted By S W
Morning

An Employee has worked nights for over 12 years (10 years in previous employment and 2 with us)and has recently been transferred to a permanent 8am - 4pm shift.

He has complained of not sleeping for over two days and is having trouble eating.

I am going to obtain advice from Occ Health but was curious if anyone here has experience of this? What did you do to facilitate the transition and approx. how long before they are back to "normality"?

Thanks

SW

Posted By Bob Youel
its a well known problem and can evolve into real health issues as humans are not [usually] designed to work in darkness - darkness is when we sleep!

Was the worker involved in the transfer or as usual [in my personal opinion] did management want a change to suit themselves? - Did the worker start with you on nights [on that condition] but you have now changed shifts?

Its still a very poor practice where we do continental shifts in the UK [I worked on the continent for many years but never found them to work these shifts so why the name?]

You need to read the various studies published e.g. the American police unions could not understand why policemen were dying young yet they they retired early - it was found that shifts were a major factor

Posted By DaGuru
IMHO Ask him to see his doctor if he has trouble sleeping. I've worked nightshift for over 14 years with a very large global company, and no special measures were taken when transfering nightshift workers to day shift.

There is an arguement that working nightshift shortens a persons lifespan....no idea if true though.

Posted By S W
Thank you all for your detailed and very prompt responses.

He came straight to us working nights - something which he loves!?

Unfortunately due to a reduction in work we have transferred the two night chaps to a permanent 8 - 4 a couple of weeks ago.

Thanks again

S W

Posted By Bob Youel
did you ask for volunteers or simply transfered people without consultation!

transfer him back?

Posted By Tabs
First things first, send him home to get some sleep. Even mild sleep deprivation can lead to calamity at work or on the road.

If it essential that he transfers to days quickly then you may need to look at his usual schedule of 12 years, and seeing what hours he can reasonably adapt to first. As it is to your benefit that he changes his hours, it is reasonable that you be flexible for a week or two in terms of hours worked.

You may find he normally slept from 8am to 4pm, and that by adjusting to going to bed at 4am he could manage a start time of noon.

We all have preferences (mine seems to be to start at noon *smile*) but as others say some of it is physical differences. These can be adjusted - but if you do it too quickly, the person will be "jet-lagged" for quite a time.

Posted By Benny
I am of the opinion this would most likely be an employment contract issue rather than a health and safety issue. Was he employed to work nights or does his employment contract allow the transfer?

Having worked shift work previously, it certainly goes against the grain having concerns being transferred to days, although definitely not unheard of. Usually however it is the effect it will have on their lifestyle rather than for genuine health and safety reasons. In order to manage this as a health and safety issue, the lifestyle implications would need to be ruled out and the risk to health, safety and welfare proved. It could also be argued that the research into shift work focuses on night duty being the concern, so therefore the employer could be seen as doing him a favour.

There is no question a change in shift patterns can be an inconvenience and can take some getting used to however again, I think it is the lifestyle that will require the getting used to rather than the health implications. Look at it like this, has this person during the 12 years he has worked nights maintained the night duty cycle on their days off...

In business, employers make business decisions that are not well received, but that is business. We as h & s professionals wish employers did not hide behind health and safety as reasons for change, conversely we should not be encouraging employees to do the same.