American study supports link between long hours and injury

Research in the USA has backed unions' arguments that working long hours greatly increases the risk of injury or illness at work.

According to a new report, people who work overtime are 61% more likely to become hurt or ill, once factors such as age and sex are taken into account. And working more than 12 hours a day raises the risk by more than a third.

Previous UK studies into nurses, long-distance lorry drivers, miners, construction workers, firefighters and others have suggested a link between long hours and the risk of occupational injuries.

"Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that long working hours indirectly precipitate workplace accidents through a causal process - for instance, by inducing fatigue or stress in affected workers," said Allard Dembe, co-author of the report.

He added that the findings support initiatives, such as the European Working Time Directive (WTD), to reduce working hours.

The TUC welcomed the report, commenting that it "adds to the overwhelming evidence that excessive working time poses a very real risk to health and safety."

Noting that US health experts are now calling on their government to legislate against long hours, the TUC demanded that the UK government should protect its workers by ending the opt-outs from the WTD's maximum 48-hour week.

A Dembe and others, The impact of overtime and long work hours on occupational injuries and illnesses: new evidence from the United States, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, volume 62, pages 588-97, 2005.