WORK SCHEDULES: SHIFT WORK AND LONG HOURS

Educational Resources for Managers & Workers

This page provides links to educational resources about sleep, shiftwork, and fatigue for employees and managers in several industries and occupations.

General Audiences

Quarterly NORA Council Sector Bulletin Wholesale Retail Trade : Issue 7, Summer 2016
Sleep Deficiency (Fatigue), Pain, and Loss of Productivity in Retail Work

Plain Language About Shiftwork. 1997. DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 97-145
This 47 page booklet gives basic facts about shiftwork and talks about ways to make shiftwork life easier. It is organized into six sections including background information, features of work schedules, health and safety effects of shiftwork, improving shiftwork through the organization, coping strategies for the individual, and recommended reading.

Aviation

Online training for the aviation industry. Federal Aviation Administration Course. 2011. ALC-174: Fatigue Countermeasure Training

Fatigue Prevention for Pilots: A Training Program for Commercial Pilots in Alaska (NIOSH Pub. #: 2016-162)
The NIOSH Aviation Safety Research Program has created a training program to educate pilots on fatigue prevention. The training can be downloaded here: Fatigue Prevention for Pilots: A Training Program for Commercial Pilots in Alaska.
Hard copies are available at no cost by emailing aviation@cdc.gov

Emergency Responders

Interim NIOSH Training for Emergency Responders: Reducing Risks Associated with Long Work Hours. 2014.
A 30-minute online training relays strategies to reduce risks linked to working long hours. It is designed for emergency workers and their managers in healthcare, public safety, utilities, construction, humanitarian aid, and clean-up services who deploy to disaster sites caused by weather, earthquakes, and other catastrophic events like Ebola.

Deepwater Horizon Response: Key Safety and Health Topics. 2012. Source: NIOSH

NIOSH OSHA Interim Guidance for Protecting Deepwater Horizon Response Workers and Volunteers, Fatigue Prevention. 2010

Firefighters. Sleep Deprivation training video and document, The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Fire Fighters and EMS Responders report. 2008. Source: International Association of Fire Chiefs.

Healthcare Workers

NIOSH Training for Nurses on Shift Work and Long Work Hours. 2015.
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2015-115
Online, multimedia, and interactive training can help nurses and their managers better cope with the demands of shift work and long work hours. Other persons with a health science background may also find the training helpful. Part 1 and 2 of the course take about 1.5 hours each to complete. Continuing education certificates are available.

Working the night shift: preparation, survival and recovery Horrocks N & Pounder R. 2006
Source: Royal College of Physicians of London
A guide designed to provide useful advice to doctors on how to prepare, survive, and recover from working at night. It includes guidance on managing sleep at home, staying as alert and refreshed as possible while on duty, and how to recover from working nights in the most efficient and effective way.

Sleep Alertness and Fatigue Education in Residency or SAFER (SAFER Online Version). 2015
Source: American Academy of Sleep Medicine Learning Center
37-minute narrated video provides an introduction to the science of sleep and the effects of sleep deprivation. Provides practical suggestions for medical residents to manage fatigue and sleepiness.

Railroad

The Railroaders' Guide to Healthy Sleep Website. 2012.
Source: The website represents a collaborative effort by experts in sleep science and health from the Harvard Medical School Division of Sleep Medicine and domain expertise from Volpe, The National Transportation Systems Center. Funding for the website is provided by the Federal Railroad Administration.

Launched in 2012, the Railroaders’ Guide to Healthy Sleep website (www.RailroaderSleep.org) is a publically available educational resource designed to provide railroaders, and their support networks, with scientifically valid information about the importance of sleep, tools to monitor and assess one’s individual risk for sleep disorders, and practical strategies for improving sleep health.

Trucking and Motor Vehicle Safety

Materials for Truck Drivers and Trucking Companies – Sleep is important for the long haul
Because your 24/7 job keeps you on the road for long periods and at night it can affect your sleep quality. Where you sleep and how you prepare for sleep matters. NIOSH developed a Quick Tips for Truck Driver brochure that gives suggestions for improving sleep. Help support sleep health and share sleep tips with truck drivers and the truck transportation industry.

Quick Sleep Tips for Truck Drivers. 2014.
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2014-150
Driving a truck is a very demanding job. Lack of sleep makes it more difficult to meet the demands of the job and increases your risk for drowsy driving and vehicle crashes. This could mean the difference between stopping with a vehicle just in front of your bumper, or with it in your seat

Support sleep health and share sleep tips with truck drivers and the truck transportation industry by sharing the following postcards:

• Sleep is Important for the Long Haul Postcard 1
• Sleep is Important for the Long Haul Postcard 2

Comprehensive online training for the trucking industry: North American Fatigue Management Program: A Comprehensive Approach for Managing Commercial Driver Fatigue
2013. Source: North American Fatigue Management Program. Includes tailored training for drivers, managers, safety personnel, dispatchers, shippers, receivers, and family members.

Work-related Roadway Crashes - Prevention Strategies for Employers. 2004.
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2004-136
Roadway crashes make up 22% of workplace deaths and led all other causes of workplace deaths (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries). This Web page provides statistics, characteristics of those at risk, and gives suggestions for employers to reduce work-related crashes.

Work-related Roadway Crashes - Who’s at Risk?. 2004.
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2004-137
Companion fact sheets provide information that employers and others can use for assessing risks for motor vehicle injuries and deaths in their work settings, and for taking effective steps to reduce those risks.

Work-Related Roadway Crashes - Challenges and Opportunities for Prevention. 2003. DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2003-119
Provides a comprehensive view of issues impacting the prevention of work-related roadway crashes, identifies the groups of workers at greatest risk of traffic crashes, summarizes key issues that contribute to work-related roadway crashes, and recommends preventive measures for employers and other stakeholders.

Drowsy Driving
Source: National Sleep Foundation.
According to the National Sleep Foundation’s Sleep in America poll, 60% of Americans have driven while feeling sleepy and 37% admit to actually having fallen asleep at the wheel in the past year. Learn drowsy driving facts and statistics, warning signs, and countermeasures to drowsy driving.