Long work hours and irregular work shifts are common in our society. Many American workers spend over 40 hours a week at work and almost 15 million work full time on evening, night, rotating or other irregular shifts. Work schedules like these may cause worker fatigue.

Shift workers may be scheduled to work days, evenings, nights and/or on a rotating or on-call basis. They may work extended shifts (more than 8 hours long), rotating or irregular shifts, or consecutive shifts resulting in more than the typical 40-hour work week. Long work hours may increase the risk of injuries and accidents and can contribute to poor health and worker fatigue. Studies show that long work hours can result in increased levels of stress, poor eating habits, lack of physical activity and illness. It is important to recognize the symptoms of worker fatigue and its potential impact on each worker's safety and health and on the safety of co-workers.

Additional Information

• Plain Language About Shift Work. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH Pub. No. 94-145, July 1997). Provides basic facts about shiftwork and ways to make shiftwork life easier.

OSHAcademy loves to hear how our training has helped our students learn more about safety and how to protect themselves at work. 

This month,  we would like to recognize William K. from Nigeria, who believes OSHAcademy has made him view safety in a different way. After taking OSHAcademy courses, Williams now understands why it is important to be safe.  He also learned the difference between the use of hard hat for electrical and general work where previously only a hard hat was used.

Read more about how this training helped William build and improve his workplace safety knowledge.