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Health and Safety
The health and safety effects of overtime work vary widely and much remains unknown. Some studies have reported decreased health across numerous strata including increased alcohol and tobacco usage, decreased birthweight in offspring, and decreased cognitive functioning found both subjectively and objectively using specialized testing. However, other studies have not established such relationships between overtime work and decreased health. Work shifts lasting 9-12 hours, work shifts exceeding 12 hours, and work weeks exceeding 40 hours have each demonstrated--in some studies--varying levels of decreased cognitive testing performance and increased workplace injury. Inconsistencies between studies may be secondary to numerous workplace and employee factors, which make it difficult for researchers to establish specific causal relationships. A larger amount of data exist regarding the male workforce, whereas additional studies are needed to better assess impacts of overtime work and extended shifts on women. A survey about the period between 1987 and 2000 found that in a cohort of 10,793 men and women, overtime work was associated with a 61% excess rate of injury compared to jobs without overtime. Injury rate was directly-proportional to length of the work shift and number of hours in the work week. Study authors found excess injury risk not only associated with jobs that are more hazardous, but also with overall fatigue from working overtime and extended work shifts.