Dubai Municipality revealed that permanent night shift workers suffer from the risks of frequent sleep deprivation, fatigue, ill health, and disruption of family affairs and social life, and the constantly changing pattern of shift shifts means that workers may have difficulty adapting to the schedule.
In a recent guide, she indicated that individuals interact differently with the effect of night shiftes, due to a group of individual elements, such as: age, gender, lifestyle, orientation, behavior, explaining that workers who do not have time to interact with their families And their friends due to shift shifts, may feel deprived and isolated, which leads to bad moods, which affects the performance of the work, and lead to unintended errors that lead to accidents.
The municipality said that «the person who works during the night is exposed to health problems, and then the periodic health assessment is an essential tool for identifying early symptoms of ill health cases, and preventing more diseases from occurring».
She stated that the elements of focus and productivity decline with the approaching end of shift shift, or during night work, and bad health effects and events may arise, adding that monotonous work for a long time may lead to fatigue, and result in unwanted accidents, while periodic rest periods help During the shift work to reduce the feeling of fatigue.
She stressed that night shift workers are more vulnerable to health and social problems, noting that errors and accidents increase during night shift due to fatigue, and lack of alertness, as a result of not taking enough sleep, stressing the need not to increase the hours of night shift work for eight hours, warning of any An additional period may cause health problems.
She said that the number of workers who work the shift shift system and perform night work as part of their employment and employment contracts is increasing for several reasons, including the economics of continuous production, work needs, and the need to provide commercial and emergency services 24 hours a day, as well as the need for them in the summer and Ramadan period.
It called on employers who have activities that must be carried out during the night, or in shifts, to undertake, before implementation, an appropriate risk assessment and the implementation of specific controls to prevent ill health and injury at work.
She noted that when employers make a decision to switch workers from day shifting to night shifting, or vice versa, the worker should be allowed at least two nights of full sleep before doing so.
Recommended practices
Dubai Municipality has revealed some recommended practices for employers, to avoid ill health in workers at their facilities, or injury during night work, including avoiding scheduling dangerous and critical work in the early morning or night periods, or at the end of long work shifts, and arranging start and end times for shifts Work, as appropriate as possible for public transport appointments, or provide transportation for workers in specific shifts.
She stated that the problems of the digestive system prevail among night shift workers because of the timing of eating meals, requiring exercise for a period of not less than 30 minutes per day, to maintain physical fitness, burn calories, and promote heart health.