May 21, 2010
Did you know...?
Late Shift Means More Safety Risks
Workers who regularly pull the night shift get less sleep, pose a greater threat of causing accidents and injuries and are more likely to contract breast and prostate cancer. But night-shift workers don't necessarily show signs of a major problem until disaster happens, according to sleep experts.
ANSI/API RP 755 provides guidance to all stakeholders (e.g. employees, managers, supervisors) on understanding, recognizing and managing fatigue in the workplace. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board directed API and ANSI to develop the voluntary standard after the March 2005 explosion and fire at the BP Refinery in Texas City, Texas. The fire killed 15 workers and injured more than 760 others. The federal report blamed the fire on human error caused, in part, by fatigue. Federal regulators said workers overfilled a liquid splitter used in the refining process and overheated the liquid.
A string of national disasters have been speculated to be triggered by human errors on the night shift:
- The 1979 accident at the Three-Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania began at 4 a.m. and was blamed on human error.
- The near meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Russia in 1986 began at 1:30 a.m. and was blamed on human error.
- The grounding of the Exxon Valdez on an Alaskan reef and the subsequent spillage of 10.8 million gallons of crude oil occurred at 12:04 a.m. and was blamed on a third mate who failed to take his mandatory six hours off after 12 hours on.
Employers running night shifts at their plants face opposing problems. Workers subjected to dark workplaces – such as the control rooms at nuclear power plants – are more likely to grow sleepy and lose focus. But subjecting them to bright light during periods when their circadian rhythm tells them it should be dark blocks the flow of melatonin and heightens their risk of breast and prostate cancer. The circadian rhythm phenomenon tells the brain when to expect total darkness and dictates the release of the chemical compound melatonin, which has been linked to the suppression of cancerous tumors.
Studies have shown that regardless which shift workers are on, they tend to stay up until 11 p.m. Those on the night shifts routinely get about 5 ˝ hours of sleep, while those on the day shift get up to eight hours. Models used to create the ANSI standards suggest that staggering day shifts and night shifts and allowing workers at least 36 hours off after a series of night shifts boosts their performance and reduces workers' compensation claims.
For more information about ANSI/API RP 755 visit the American Petroleum Institutes website at: http://www.api.org/Standards/psstandards/index.cfm.
***We are now open Saturdays at our Independence location from 9am – 1pm to serve your occupational medicine and urgent care needs. Our Independence location is open 5pm – 9pm Monday – Friday to serve your after hour needs as well***
*Please feel free to forward this information to any member of management in your company who would benefit from it.*
To view the Tip of the Week in Spanish please visit our Tip of the Week library at http://www.ohscompcare.com/totw/.
To learn more about
services OHS-COMPCARE has to offer, contact our Client Services
Team at (816) 561-2105 option 1 or by e-mail at customerservice@ohscompcare.com. You can also visit us at www.ohscompcare.com.
Why choose us? Because OHS-COMPCARE has a physician on call 24/7/365 days a year to respond to our client's needs.
OHS-COMPCARE now featuring Adult Quick Care (Urgent Care Services) has seven (7) area clinical facilities:
|
Independence Clinical Facility |
Johnson County Clinical Facility |
St. Joseph Clinical Facility |
Grandview Clinical Facility |
|
19000 E. Eastland Center Crt, St. 200 |
10415 Lackman Road |
904 Edmond Street |
13830 S Us Highway 71 |
|
Independence, MO 64055 |
Lenexa, KS 66219 |
St. Joseph, MO 64501 |
Grandview, MO 64030 |
|
816-478-9299 |
913-495-9905 |
816-233-7702 |
816-761-4664 |
|
After Hours Available *Now open Saturday 9am – 1pm |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
KCMO/Broadway Clinical Facility |
KCMO/Front Street Clinical Facility |
Wyandotte County Clinical Facility |
|
|
1650 Broadway |
6501 East Commerce, Suite 110 |
1333 Meadowlark Lane, Suite 200 |
|
|
Kansas City, MO 64108 |
Kansas City, MO 64120 |
Kansas City, KS 66102 |
|
|
816-842-2020 |
816-483-5550 |
913-596-2774 |
|
Adult Quick Care
is now on Facebook!
Adult Quick Care provides Urgent Care to Adults and
Adolescents Age 14 and Older.
No appointment is necessary at Adult Quick Care.
When you are sick or have a new injury, Adult Quick Care is your affordable, time saving choice for quality care.
To learn more about Adult Quick Care please call 816-559-6320 or visit www.adultquickcare.com.