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Time Change Increases Accidents
When the nation moves its clocks ahead by one hour for daylight-saving time in March, the impact on workers is much greater than just being groggy from losing sleep -- it can cause a significant increase in workplace accidents, according to two researchers at Michigan State University. Using 24 years of data from the U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration, psychology doctoral students Christopher Barnes and David Wagner found that workplace accidents spike on the Monday after daylight-saving time changes in the spring. When compared to every other day of the year, the first workday after daylight-saving time resulted in 40 minutes less sleep for American workers, leading to a 5.7 percent increase in workplace injuries and nearly 68 percent more work days lost to injuries, the study says. The data found no ill effects of daylight-saving time in November, when Americans move their clocks back an hour, and typically gain about an hour of sleep. "Employees who are sleep deprived in the workplace think they can just tough it out and it won't affect them," says Barnes. "It's like a drunk driver who doesn't really realize they've had one too many." The research is slated to appear in the September issue of the Journal of Applied Psychology, says Barnes. Employers should also keep in mind that sleep deprivation can affect company drivers, causing road accidents, according to two studies. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration cited sleep deprivation as the most likely cause of a 17-percent increase in accidents on the Monday following daylight-saving time, while the Canadian Ministry of Transport reported an 8-percent increase in the risk of accidents. HR leaders should consider communicating to all employees about the increased risks in an attempt to avoid accidents, Barnes says. He also recommends that managers move especially dangerous tasks to another day. Another idea from Barnes -- probably not a company's first option, however -- is for managers to stagger the start time for workers, he says. For example, a business could have employees come to work 45 minutes later than normal on the Monday after moving the clocks forward, then a half hour later the following day, 15 minutes later the next day and be back to normal by Thursday. Ed Foulke, formerly the assistant secretary of labor at the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and current partner in the Atlanta office of law firm Fisher & Phillips, says companies should examine their own accident data to see how the time change affects their business in particular. Then they could determine the most vulnerable jobs or tasks -- and try to avoid or reschedule them. He says, however, that managers should be careful of workers trying to abuse the issue. "Employees might say, 'Oh yeah, I need a little break 'cause of the time change,' " says Foulke, who urges employers to be sensitive of the fatigue issue, while looking out for those who just want to do less work.
June 11, 2009 Copyright 2009© LRP Publications |
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