STUDY ON THE HEALTH OF FEMALE ELECTRONICS WORKERS ON 12 HOUR SHIFTS

Health complaints, blood pressure, sleep and sickness absence experien ce were studied in 308 female electronics workers employed for at leas t one year on 12 h shifts - 253 on permanent and 55 on rotating schedu les. Seventy-five 8 h day workers acted as controls. There were no sig nificant differences in symptom prevalence between the controls and 12 h shift workers, except for complaints of tiredness, with a higher pr oportion of the rotating shift group also having headaches. No signifi cant differences in prevalence of hypertension were noted. Although su bjects on the night shift had shorter sleep than controls and 12h day workers, only the group on rotating schedule had a higher proportion o f workers who did not sleep well compared to the controls. Sickness ab sence was not increased in the 12 h shift groups when compared to the controls. The results indicate no serious health problems among worker s on 12 h shift for over a year.