Arbeit zu unüblichen Zeiten — Arbeit mit unüblichem Risiko

Zusammenfassung

Arbeitszeiten an Abenden oder Wochenenden gelten als biologisch und sozial ungünstig. Bislang bestehen jedoch nur unzureichende Erkenntnisse darüber, welche Effekte diese Arbeitszeiten einzeln und in Kombination auf die Work-Life-Balance, Gesundheit und Sicherheit der Beschäftigten haben. Logistische Regressionsanalysen der 4. Europäischen Erhebung über die Arbeitsbedingungen (2005, n=23.934 abhängig Beschäftigte) ergaben, dass regelmäßige Arbeit an Abenden, Samstagen und Sonntagen mit einem erhöhten Risiko für arbeitsbedingte Unfälle sowie Beeinträchtigungen der Gesundheit und der Work-Life-Balance zusammenhängt. Dies konnte auch unter Kontrolle verschiedener Kovariaten (demographische und Arbeitsmerkmale) gezeigt werden. Arbeit zu sozial und biologisch ungünstigen Zeiten stellt damit unabhängig von Schichtarbeit einen deutlichen Risikofaktor für die Einhaltung von Arbeitsschutzzielen dar.

Résumé

Les horaires de travail en soirée ou le week-end sont considérés comme étant défavorables d’un point de vue biologique et social. Jusqu’à présent, les constatations concernant les effets des horaires seuls et/ou combinés (équilibre temps libre /temps de travail), la santé et la sécurité sont insuffisantes. Les analyses de régression logistique d’une quatrième enquête européenne sur les conditions de travail (2005, N=23934 employés) montrent que le travail régulier en soirée, les samedis et dimanches est lié à un risque accru d’accidents dans des conditions de travail données. On constate également des conséquences sur la santé et sur l’équilibre travail / temps libre. Cela peut également être montré sous le contrôle de différentes covariantes (caractéristiques démographiques et de travail). Des horaires de travail socialement ou biologiquement défavorables représentent, indépendamment d’un travail à pause, un facteur de risque clair dans l’observation des objectifs de protection du travail.

Abstract

The number of employees working in socially unfavorable times, i.e., evenings and weekends, has grown steadily over the last decades in Germany and Europe. Yet the stable social rhythm in our western society poses a normative time structure in which hours on evenings and weekends are most valuable for social activities. Working time patterns interfering with these highly valuable social times thus lead to a desynchronization with social rhythms. This desynchronization can result directly in impairments to social participation and work-life balance (WLB). Additionally, it is plausible that weekends provide better opportunities to recover from work-related stress and strain than the other weekdays, and therefore working on weekends might have detrimental effects on health, performance, and safety at the workplace as well. While working non-standard hours has been associated with impairments to safety, health, and social well-being, the effects of working on evenings, Saturdays, and Sundays on these outcomes have never been examined separately and in combination, while controlling for potential confounders such as shift work. To answer these questions we conducted a secondary analysis of the 4th European Working Conditions Survey (2005, n=23,934 employed workers), which contains self-reported cross-sectional information on demographic characteristics, working conditions, work hours, health impairments, lost-time occupational accidents in the last 12 months, and compatibility between work hours and private interests (an indicator for WLB). Chi-Square tests and adjusted logistic regression analyses were performed to examine the relation between working ≥1 evening, Saturday, and Sunday per month and WLB (coded into “very good/good“ and “not so good/poor“), health impairments (“no“ vs. ≥ 1 impairment(s)“), and occupational accidents with lost time in the last 12 months (“yes“ and “no“), controlling for several covariates, e.g., demographic variables, work load, autonomy, work schedule characteristics, and shift work. The adjusted logistic regression model showed that the risk of poor WLB was significantly increased by work on evenings (Odds Ratio [OR] 1.69, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] = 1.51–1.88), Saturdays (OR 1.49, 95% CI = 1.33–1.66), and Sundays (OR 1.15, 95% CI = 1.02–1.28). Additionally, the probability of reporting ≥ 1 health impairment(s) was elevated by work on evenings (OR 1.14, 95% CI = 1.05–1.25) and Sundays (OR 1.17, 95% CI = 1.05–1.29), but not on Saturdays (OR 1.04, 95% CI = 0.96–1.14). The risk of an occupational accident was influenced by interactive effects between all variables: evenings*Saturdays*Sundays (OR 7.26, 95% CI = 1.13–46.83) and evenings*Sundays (OR 0.09, 95% CI = 0.02–0.53), with additional main effects for all single predictors (evenings: OR 1.62, 95% CI = 1.10–2.38; Saturdays: OR 1.49, 95% CI = 1.03–2.15; Sundays: OR 3.30, 95% CI = 1.17–9.35). Workers without Sunday work reported signifi-cantly more injuries when working on evenings and Saturdays (p<0.05) than workers without these working times. Categories with Sunday work but without Saturday work contained insufficient case numbers, and thus these estimates were not considered reliable. In summary, working on evenings, Saturdays, and Sundays was related to increased risks of poor WLB, health impairments, and occupational accidents. While WLB and health outcomes seemed to be affected by these non-standard working times in an independent (i.e., additive) manner, the effects on accident risk were interactive, i.e., multiplicative, and thus more complex. These relations were shown before and after controlling for several demographic characteristics, work load factors, and other work hour variables, such as shift work. These findings were in line with previous studies showing detrimental effects on social well-being, health, and safety when working non-standard hours. Limitations of this study include the use of subjective data only and the cross-sectional design, which prevented the estimation of temporal causality. Since no actual working hours over longer time periods were reported, the rate of poor WLB, health problems, or accidents at these times could not be estimated. On the other hand, this study has several strengths, such as the use of a large-scale representative data base from Europe, which leads to high external validity of the results. Due to the large sample size, effects of work on evenings, Saturdays, and Sundays could be examined separately and in combination with sufficient sample sizes, although even in a sample as large as this the number of accidents was low in some sub-categories. In conclusion, the study results showed that work at non-standard times can pose a substantial risk for occupational health and safety, and social well-being, and should therefore be kept at a minimum. If this is not possible, for reasons comparable to shift work, appropriate compensation by additional free time should be considered as a way to reduce the excess risk posed by these non-standard working hours. In this light and due to increased sickness absence and turnover, the economic value of extending non-standard working times seems to be questionable.