Occupational fatigue and mental health complaints among 8-hour shift workers of petrochemical industries in Iran.

BACKGROUND

Shift working is unavoidable in many industries with continual material processing such as petrochemical plants. So, the adverse effects of shift working on workers should be seriously considered.

OBJECTIVE

This cross-sectional study evaluated occupational fatigue and mental health complaints and their relationship in rotating 8-hour shift workers.

METHOD

In this study, 287 shift workers participated. The Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI-20) and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) were used to evaluate the level of fatigue and mental health, respectively.

RESULT

A relatively high prevalence of mental health complaints (particularly social dysfunction) and fatigue (especially general fatigue) were found among the study population. In general, 43.4% of participants reported a mental health problem. A moderate correlation was found between fatigue and mental health (r = 0.58). The stepwise regression model revealed that fatigue was significantly related only to "anxiety and insomnia" and "severe depression".

CONCLUSION

This study revealed that the 8 h shift workers in studied areas are exposed to a considerable risk of mental health and fatigue. So, improving the ergonomics and health aspects of the workplace is recommended to reduce related risk factors.