transportation services вЂ“ trucking, airlines.protective services вЂ“ police, fire, ambulance.Interest in the effects of shiftwork on people has developed because many experts have blamed rotating shifts for the 'human error' connected with nuclear power plant incidents, air crashes, and other catastrophic accidents.ДЄlternating day, night and afternoon shifts are common in Shiftwork is a reality for about 25 percent of the North American working population. NOTE: In this document, instead of 'rotational shiftwork' we will use, for simplicity, the term 'shiftwork'. Specific concerns about the extended workdays (10-12 hour shifts) is discussed in the Extended Workday OSH Answers document. The length of a shift can vary between 8 and 12 hours.

However, workers on fixed night shifts and workers on rotational shiftwork schedules have much in common due to the constantly changing schedules, night work and potential disruption to family and social lives.

The definition of rotational shiftwork in this document does not include fixed shifts like straight nights, straight afternoons or straight days and, generally, fixed shifts are not discussed here. Workers take turns working on all shifts that are part of a particular system. These shifts can be either continuous, running 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, or semi-continuous, running 2 or 3 shifts per day with or without weekends. The term 'rotational shiftwork' covers a wide variety of work schedules and implies that shifts rotate or change according to a set schedule.

Night changes meaning