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Jim is the Director of Shiftwork Solutions, a specialist consulting firm where they optimise rosters, hours of work and shiftwork operations.<\/p>\n
He has over 25 years of experience now working as a roster and hours of work specialist which includes operations in Australia and overseas. He founded Shiftwork Solutions to address the needs of day work and shiftwork operations.<\/p>\n
He has developed solutions for hundreds of different organisations including refineries, power plants, maintenance operations, manufacturers, IT service providers, airlines, command centres, mining operations, shopping centres, casinos, health care services, hospitals and defence force operations.<\/p>\n
He has also provided expert advice and expert witness testimony on several occasions regarding the use and safety of various hours of work, rosters and rostering practices in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission and Australian Magistrates Court. Jim: Doing more to improve employee health and safety in shiftwork operations. \u2022 Changing sleep and wake times requiring biological clock adjustments from workers Shift workers also have a significant impact on productivity and business performance. Jim: Awareness and recognition of mental health as a potential risk in shiftwork operations will increase during 2020.<\/p>\n Just like fatigue, mental health is complex, varies by individual and is affected by both internal and external factors including working conditions and time off. Over the years, fatigue has obtained recognition as a risk worth considering and has been added to many assessments of risk in the workplace.<\/p>\n I believe mental health will follow a similar path for shiftwork operations (as fatigue) and we will start identifying potential risks and engaging with individuals more to assess how they are coping.<\/p>\n Western Australia has recently published a code of practice for mentally healthy workplaces that includes 15 work-related psychosocial hazards and risk factors to assist in the risk management process. This effort will contribute significantly to the identification and understanding of mental health risks and assist with improving health and wellbeing for workers.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What do you feel businesses continue to get wrong when it comes to their Health and Safety strategy?<\/strong><\/p>\n Jim: Undervaluing the impact health and safety has on business performance and employee satisfaction in a shiftwork operation.<\/p>\n Many managers use traditional safety and incident statistics to measure their health and safety performance. In our experience, early signs of fatigue can be found in production, output, Many operations identify fatigue related incidents, but few monitor and correlate production performance and fatigue. If we think about it from the shift worker\u2019s perspective, on days when I\u2019m These behaviours lower overall production volumes and productivity and affect quality or yield. In our experience, these behaviours normally do not lead to a health and safety incident (near miss, equipment damage, product damage, injury, etc.).<\/p>\n Many times, health and safety related problems occur when business and employee needs have not been satisfactorily addressed. For example, if changes in workload demands are not addressed
\nFrom your perspective, what is the biggest challenge\/key focus in the health and safety industry?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nOur findings indicate that shift workers are more vulnerable to mental and physical health issues, fatigue and safety risks than other workers due to factors, such as:<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Trying to sleep during the day reducing sleep quantity and quality
\n\u2022 Family and social pressures at home
\n\u2022 Additional shifts being \ufb01nancially appealing to employees
\n\u2022 Managers not having information and specialist knowledge to optimise roster decisions and properly manage fatigue related risks.<\/p>\n
\nSo, whether it is optimising roster design and hours of work, educating workers how to live better with shiftwork or providing additional fatigue management controls and information for decision- making, these opportunities not only improve employee health and safety but also business performance.
\nWhat trends we should expect to see in 2020 within the occupational health space? <\/strong><\/p>\n
\nattendance and quality measurements in a workplace.<\/p>\n
\ntired, I slow down and \u2018pace\u2019 myself to get through the long shift or long work week. I do not take on additional risk, but I may slow down and pay less attention to detail.<\/p>\n
\nproperly, rosters can easily become understaffed and lead to higher hours worked without a proper break. A shortage of key skill sets can also lead to a dependency for work hours from certain
\nindividuals. If employee needs for sleep, family and social activities are not addressed by time off components in a roster, employees will create their own breaks using sick leave and even time off without pay.<\/p>\n
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