Working at Night Managers brief

Agenda  Description of Shift / Night Working  Health effects  Role and responsibilities  Review  Q&A  Useful tools

Description of Shift / Night Working  A work activity scheduled outside standard daytime hours, where there may be a handover of duty from one individual or work group to another  Standard daytime hours are considered as: –a work schedule involving an activity during the day, commonly for a period of eight hours between 7.00 am and 7.00 pm. There are usually two periods of work, one in the morning, the other in the afternoon, separated by a lunch-time break.

Health effects  Fatigue –A physiological state of reduced mental or physical performance capability resulting from sleep loss or extended wakefulness, circadian phase or workload [mental and/or physical activity] that can impair alertness and ability to perform safety related duties.

Health effects  Sleep disturbance –Day sleep is usually lighter and shorter in duration and therefore less restorative than night sleep. It is more often disturbed because of warmer temperatures and daytime activity such as the phone ringing, noisy children or domestic responsibilities. While we can rearrange some external cues, for example meal times, it is difficult to control all influential sleep/wake cues, particularly daylight. For example exposure to bright light at dawn after a night shift may make you less inclined to sleep.

Health effects  Circadian Cycle –A night shift worker essentially reverses their circadian cycle, aiming to sleep during the daytime hours and work during the night time hours. This causes a variety of metabolic and hormonal problems, including heart disease, diabetes and depression.

Health effects  Lack of Sunlight –Sunlight helps to regulate blood flow to the brain, along with levels of serotonin and melatonin in the body plus it supplies us with vitamin D. Night shift workers commonly do not experience much sunlight, which often results in unbalanced levels of these hormones, resulting in depression, anxiety, and loss of energy.

Health effects  Insomnia –As they adjust into their new schedules, workers on the night shift commonly experience bouts of insomnia or difficulty sleeping. Unfortunately, frequent insomnia is a precursor for depression; the workers may feel as though they will never adjust to the new schedule and feel exhausted during most of their waking hours.

Health effects  Isolation –Working the night shift commonly causes the employee to miss family functions and social activities. This lack of socialization and quality family time can result in feelings of guilt, loneliness and depression.

Role and responsibility  Legal Requirement –Under the Health and safety at work Act 1974 all employers, including the self employed, have a duty, so far as it is reasonably practicable, to protect the health, safety and welfare at work of all their employees. They also have a duty, so far as is reasonably practicable, to ensure that others are not exposed to health and safety risks through their undertaking –Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require employers to put in place arrangements to control health and safety risks.

Role and responsibility  Identifying those safety critical workers affected: –Identify those people carrying out safety critical work who are liable or could become fatigued when carrying out such work.  Setting standards and designing working patterns: –Identify, set and adhere to appropriate standards and good practice for working hours and working patterns, observing any relevant working time limits that apply.  Limiting exceedances: –Ensure that any standards and limits that have been identified and set are only exceeded with prior approval and only on an infrequent basis and in exceptional circumstances.  Consulting with safety critical workers: –Consult with safety critical workers, and their safety representatives, on the arrangements needed to manage fatigue and other associated health risks when standards and limits are to be changed.

Role and responsibility  Recording the arrangements: –maintain a record of the arrangements for managing the risks arising from fatigue and other associated health risks in safety critical workers.  Providing information to safety critical workers: –Provide all safety critical workers with clear and relevant information and the arrangements for managing the risks to health and safety owing to fatigue and other associated health risks,.  Monitoring: –Monitoring the arrangements for managing fatigue and other associated health risks to assess how effectively the risks arising are being controlled.

Role and responsibility  Taking action: –Ensuring, so far as is reasonably practicable, that safety critical workers who report for duty where they are clearly unfit for work owing to fatigue and other associated health risks, or who, through the course of their work shift become clearly unfit owing to night work, do not carry out or continue to carry out safety critical work.  Reviewing the arrangements: –Reviewing the arrangements for managing the risks arising from working at night where there is reason to doubt the effectiveness of the arrangements. NO LONE WORKING Unless thoroughly assessed

Review Managers should consider the following when planning short notice changes to working hours patterns e.g. changes from day turns to night turns and vice versa. –Start Time –Length of time between duty spells –Breaks within duty spells –The number of consecutive shifts –Amount of overtime worked in the previous 4 weeks –Rapid response requirements –Working environment and work activity –Travelling time between home or lodging to place of work –Individual general health and recovery ability after work

Review

Useful tools  Interim Advice Note 189/16 (Draft) –Guidance on managing fatigue  Worked scenario’s –Examples of night/shift work patterns complying with the HSE fatigue tool  Handouts  Video  Interim Advice Note 189/16 (Draft) –Guidance on managing fatigue  Worked scenario’s –Examples of night/shift work patterns complying with the HSE fatigue tool  Handouts  Video

Q&A