Effects of Shift Work on Health and Satisfaction of Workers in the Mining Industry

The negative consequences of shift work on workers’ health and safety increasingly ignored. The major effects include health effects and effects on quantity of sleep, alertness, life satisfaction, and job performance. The aims of this study were to investigate the relationships between shift work and related health effects and shift work and workers' satisfaction in workers of mining industry located in south-west of Iran. All workers of the mining industry were enrolled in this cross-sectional study in 2013. Data were collected by survey of shift workers (SOS) questionnaire. Subjects were divided into case and control groups. The case group included 155 workers employed in shift work schedule and the control group included 104 workers employed in regular day shifts. SOS questionnaire includes questions about demographic features of workers, shift system, health effects of shift work, and the effect of shift work on workers' life satisfaction. Comparisons between the two groups were performed using the chi-square and t-test. The effects of shift work on sleep disorder (P=0.001), tiredness related to shift work (P=0.001), and workers' personal (P=0.003) and family (P=0.005) life satisfaction were significant. The result of chi-square test indicated that workers in the shift work system spent fewer hours with their families (P=0.05) compared with day workers. Comparisons of findings between the shift workers and day workers in study mining industry revealed that shift work is a risk factor for a number of health effects in shift workers. Workers' personal and family life satisfaction has been affected by shift work.