School for Health, Medical and Applied Sciences, Central Queensland University, Adelaide 5034, Australia.
The Cairns Institute, James Cook University, Cairns 4870, Australia.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018 Feb 26;15(3):398. doi: 10.3390/ijerph15030398.
On-call or stand-by is becoming an increasingly prevalent form of work scheduling. However, on-call arrangements are typically utilised when workloads are low, for example at night, which can result in inadequate sleep. It is a matter of concern that on-call work is associated with an increased risk of workplace injury. This study sought to determine the economic cost of injury due to inadequate sleep in Australian on-call workers. The prevalence of inadequate sleep among on-call workers was determined using an online survey, and economic costs were estimated using a previously validated costing methodology. Two-thirds of the sample (66%) reported obtaining inadequate sleep on weekdays (work days) and over 80% reported inadequate sleep while on-call. The resulting cost of injury is estimated at $2.25 billion per year ($1.71-2.73 billion). This equates to $1222 per person per incident involving a short-term absence from work; $2.53 million per incident classified as full incapacity, and $1.78 million for each fatality. To the best of our knowledge this is the first study to quantify the economic cost of workplace injury due to inadequate sleep in on-call workers. Well-rested employees are critical to safe and productive workplace operations. Therefore, it is in the interest of both employers and governments to prioritise and invest far more into the management of inadequate sleep in industries which utilise on-call work arrangements.
值班或待命正在成为一种越来越流行的工作安排形式。然而，通常在工作量较低时，例如在夜间，才会采用值班安排，这可能导致睡眠不足。令人担忧的是，值班工作与工作场所受伤的风险增加有关。本研究旨在确定澳大利亚值班工人因睡眠不足而导致伤害的经济成本。通过在线调查确定值班工人睡眠不足的流行率，并使用先前验证的成本估算方法估算经济成本。样本的三分之二（66%）报告在工作日（工作天）睡眠不足，超过 80%的人报告在值班时睡眠不足。由此造成的伤害成本估计为每年 22.5 亿美元（17.1-27.3 亿美元）。这相当于每人每次因短期缺勤而导致的伤害成本为 1222 美元；每次完全丧失能力的事件为 253 万美元；每次死亡的成本为 178 万美元。据我们所知，这是第一项量化因值班工人睡眠不足导致工作场所伤害的经济成本的研究。休息良好的员工对安全和高效的工作场所运营至关重要。因此，雇主和政府都有兴趣优先考虑并投入更多资金来管理采用值班工作安排的行业中的睡眠不足问题。
