Last week I was meeting with a team of union leaders and managers to discuss their shift schedules and our process for evaluating shift schedules and finding better alternatives. One of the things I often do during the introduction part of the meeting is ask people to tell me what they want to discuss over the next couple of hours. In this meeting one of the union leaders semi-jokingly said he wanted to know “when is the best time to sleep on shift?”
Well, that turns out to be a good question. Most of us have probably experienced the alertness boost resulting from a short duration nap. Studies have shown that both alertness levels and performance can improve when shift workers are allowed to sleep on night shifts. Here is one study that showed a strong positive impact, and another one that showed a positive impact – though not as strong as the first one. And there are many other similar results.
Unfortunately, most organizations have no provision for sleeping on shift. The concerns raised are often around the manageability of the naps. Questions like:
• How do we ensure people come back to work?
• How do we keep people safe while they are napping?
• How do we ensure the nap rooms are only used for naps?
• What about sanitation?
• You mean you want me to pay someone to sleep!?
• If someone doesn’t need a nap, do we have to give them an extra break?
• If one person takes a nap, and another doesn’t, is that fair?
I have some ideas for addressing some of these concerns, though not all of them. To the question about paying someone to nap, my answer is: If a person needs a nap, you can’t afford NOT to pay them to take a nap. A single mistake can cost much more than a 20-30 minute break for a nap. Especially if the 20-30 minute nap time is created by combining a break period and a nap period.
Let’s ignore the “mistake avoided” benefit for a moment and do some quick math:
• Assume that a person working a 12-hour night shift is given 15 minutes of nap time that can be taken in conjunction with either a normal break or a lunch break. The extra time can only be used in the nap room.
• If a person uses their nap break in conjunction with their 30-minute mid-shift lunch, they will come back to their workstation with 5.75 hours of work to complete before their shift is over. Since that 5.75 hours includes another paid break, assume that they actually only have 5.5 hours of actual work time remaining. 5.5 hours x 60 minutes = 330 minutes.
• A 15 minute investment for the nap will require a 15 minutes/330 minutes or 4.5% improvement in productivity to break even.
Is a 4.5% productivity improvement feasible? That probably depends on the situation. If the work is self-paced, tedious, or intellectually challenging, the answer is almost always going to be “yes”. In many cases, the improvement will be significantly more than 4.5%, and the shift worker will be happier and safer.
Next post I will suggest an idea that helps with some of the nap manageability issues.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
Don't fight your schedule -- it might kill you!
A recent article on the San Francisco Chronicle’s web site, SFGATE.COM, discusses some of the concerns commonly associated with working night shift. This is a well written article that ends with a summary of hints for adjusting to shiftwork.
Most articles written on this subject tend to say that nights will ruin your health. This article takes the approach that nights can do just that, if you fight your schedule…so don’t fight your schedule.
The bottom line is that night shift is hard if you are a day shift person working nights. However, if you are able to change your lifestyle away from work, adjusting to night shift becomes much simpler. Getting enough sleep is what adjusting to nights is all about. This often means sleeping when the rest of the neighborhood is out and about. Creating a dark, quiet sleeping environment and sleeping at the same time every day are both essential to adjusting to working at nights.
One company, Lights Out Sealed Window Coverings, specializes in making covers that can completely darken your bedroom. We’ve looked their product in person and it looks very good.
Most articles written on this subject tend to say that nights will ruin your health. This article takes the approach that nights can do just that, if you fight your schedule…so don’t fight your schedule.
The bottom line is that night shift is hard if you are a day shift person working nights. However, if you are able to change your lifestyle away from work, adjusting to night shift becomes much simpler. Getting enough sleep is what adjusting to nights is all about. This often means sleeping when the rest of the neighborhood is out and about. Creating a dark, quiet sleeping environment and sleeping at the same time every day are both essential to adjusting to working at nights.
One company, Lights Out Sealed Window Coverings, specializes in making covers that can completely darken your bedroom. We’ve looked their product in person and it looks very good.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
12-hour Shifts - Are they to blame?
Many of you have probably read about the tragic death of Kristy Gough of San Leandro, CA and Matt Peterson of San Francisco, CA. On March 9, 2008, these two competitive cyclists were on a Saturday morning ride on a country road in Santa Clara County, CA. The two cyclists (along with another cyclist who survived) were hit, head on, by James Council, a Santa Clara County Deputy Sheriff, who had crossed over the double yellow line with his patrol car. The deputy mentioned to witnesses at the scene that he had fallen asleep at the wheel and didn’t know how the accident happened. You can read more about the accident here.
What does this have to do with shift work? Well, the deputy, like most law enforcement personnel on the road, is a shiftworker. He works 12-hour shifts, and in addition to working the day of the accident, he had worked the previous day. The accident occurred about 4.5 hours into the Deputy Council’s shift. Now, his lawyer is pointing to the work schedule as a possible excuse for his tragic mistake.
Does this make sense? Probably not – though we don’t know all of the details about Council’s schedule. Many shiftworkers working traditional 12-hour shift schedules will tell you that the long shifts are difficult. They also tell you that if you prepare for them they are manageable. The safety and performance data available suggests that these shift worker’s opinions are sound. We recently had an article published in “Occupational Health and Safety” magazine that discusses shift length and its impact on sleep.
While 12-hour shifts are long, they do allow for enough time for sleep. Even in the case of Deputy Council, who at the time of his accident was working the two day-shifts spanning the time change from Standard time to Daylight Saving Time, had 10.5 hours available to fit in his needed sleep period. Getting enough sleep when working 12-hour shifts requires the shiftworker to make sleep a priority, but getting the sleep is feasible.
If Deputy Council did fall asleep, he probably was sleep deprived. He was driving on a twisty road that requires one to pay close attention to navigate it safely. Falling asleep when you are bored and feel safe is one matter. Falling asleep 4.5 into your shift on a twisty road suggests significant sleep deprivation. As pointed out in the “Occupational Safety and Health” article, sleep deprivation like that is not caused by a typical 12-hour shift schedule.
What does this have to do with shift work? Well, the deputy, like most law enforcement personnel on the road, is a shiftworker. He works 12-hour shifts, and in addition to working the day of the accident, he had worked the previous day. The accident occurred about 4.5 hours into the Deputy Council’s shift. Now, his lawyer is pointing to the work schedule as a possible excuse for his tragic mistake.
Does this make sense? Probably not – though we don’t know all of the details about Council’s schedule. Many shiftworkers working traditional 12-hour shift schedules will tell you that the long shifts are difficult. They also tell you that if you prepare for them they are manageable. The safety and performance data available suggests that these shift worker’s opinions are sound. We recently had an article published in “Occupational Health and Safety” magazine that discusses shift length and its impact on sleep.
While 12-hour shifts are long, they do allow for enough time for sleep. Even in the case of Deputy Council, who at the time of his accident was working the two day-shifts spanning the time change from Standard time to Daylight Saving Time, had 10.5 hours available to fit in his needed sleep period. Getting enough sleep when working 12-hour shifts requires the shiftworker to make sleep a priority, but getting the sleep is feasible.
If Deputy Council did fall asleep, he probably was sleep deprived. He was driving on a twisty road that requires one to pay close attention to navigate it safely. Falling asleep when you are bored and feel safe is one matter. Falling asleep 4.5 into your shift on a twisty road suggests significant sleep deprivation. As pointed out in the “Occupational Safety and Health” article, sleep deprivation like that is not caused by a typical 12-hour shift schedule.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Let the Blogging Begin!
Good evening you Night Shifters -- At 11:16 p.m. (the time this is being written) most shift workers will have started their night shift. How do we know this? Because your hosts here, Dan Capshaw and Jim Dillingham, in addition to working our own shift scheduels, have both been working with shift workers and companies managing shift work operations for more than 16 years. We know that most 8-hour night shifts start by 11:00 p.m., and most 12-hour shifts start by 7:00 p.m.
But that is just the beginning. One of our goals in this blog is to communicate some of the insights we have learned about shift work operations through working with tens of thousands of shift workers and their managers. Stay tuned. There is much more to come.
Best regards,
Dan Capshaw
But that is just the beginning. One of our goals in this blog is to communicate some of the insights we have learned about shift work operations through working with tens of thousands of shift workers and their managers. Stay tuned. There is much more to come.
Best regards,
Dan Capshaw
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