No abstract

Human beings are accustomed to being active and awake during the day, and asleep and rest at night. S i n c e w e l i v e i n a s o c i e t y w h i c h i s o r g a n i s e d predominantly along daytime activity, therefore working in the night shift may deeply disrupt our social and family life. It is also a well-known fact that night shift causes fatigue and circadian disruption. The basic manifestation of fatigue and circadian rhythm has been linked to health a n d s a f e t y pr o b l e ms , i n v o l v i n g d e c r e m e n ts i n psychophysical and physiological functions, plus subjective complaints. In this context quantitative relationships between shift work and circadian rhythm need to be assessed to explore suitable time schedule, and to minimise sleep depth and fatigue. There is also a great need to discuss circadian disruption, sleepiness and the increasing cost of work related illness among night workers. In this regard, some aspects of fatigue and circadian disruption caused from night shift work are revealed in this paper aiming to increase workers' health, safety and well being as well as productivity. Light / dark cycle and social stimuli issues acting on the circadian timing systems are also explored to solicit opinions and discussion on the controversy of night work. Suggestions are therefore likewise given to enhance workers' adaptation to night shift and synchronization process.

Shift work can be seen as one of the many factors and conditions associated with the health, safety, and wellbeing of industrial workers. Social, cultural and emotional quality also deserves our attention on human aspects of shift work, because it concerns individuals' physiology, psychology, genetic and family heritage, social and cultural traits, life style, and circadian rhythms. It is more likely to become apparent that intervening and local factors are related with human aspects of shift work that should be carefully considered in order to improve individuals' performance, tolerance, familiarity with different shift schedule, family and social lives, as well as to control work-related difficulties. To address this concern, this paper describes some intervening factors involved with human aspects of shift work in the context of a developing country, Bangladesh, with the aim of identifying local factors and situations in making shift work safe, healthier and productive.

No abstract