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Occupational Injuries related to Sleepiness in Indian Traditional Industries

Introduction

Sleepiness/fatigue can have many effects on human performance capability including,

slow information processing, increased periods of non-responding or delayed responding during

attention-based tasks, increased reaction times, reduced vigilance, reduced accuracy of short-

term memory, and accelerated decrements in performance with time on- task (Jaiswal, 2012).

Fatigue can also reduce electrical activity of vital regions of the brain. In the work place, these

negative effects of fatigue can result in human error, lower productivity, lower job satisfaction,

and the possible increase of accident and injury. Sleepiness in relation to occupational injury is

an issue that is increasingly prevalent in modern society. Leger (1994) suggested that, out of U.S.

workers, the majority (52.5%) of all work-related accidents and injuries are potentially

associated with fatigue. The U.S National Transportation Safety Board Report also stated that

57% of traffic accidents were due to Sleepiness (Summala 1994).

Researchers decided to carry out a study in efforts to learn how various factors, namely

sleepiness/fatigue, relate to occupational injury. These researchers focused on studying a group

of workers, specifically seeking out the prevalence of occupational accidents in relation to

fatigue and sleepiness. The purpose of this study focused on making plans to help prevent these

occupational injuries; along with showing that sleep is crucial for workers health, safety, and

productivity.

Materials and Methods

The subjects for this study were small enterprises (Ranging from 1 to 135 workers) in

two District of Uttar Pradesh, India. In the first district (Varanasi) workers from 28 factories, a

total of 895 recruits, were asked to participate as subjects. Questionnaires were only given to 585
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workers of 21 factories, due to various reasons such as workers declining to participate in the

study. With an overall response rate of 88.72%, 519 responses were attained. For the second

district (Mirzapur) questionnaire was distributed to all employees and employers of small scale

enterprises. There were 16 enterprises with a total of 725 workers. With a response rate of

55.3%, 401 workers responded to the questionnaire. Overall, 920 workers from both districts

responded with a response rate of 70.23%.

The main method used to gather information for this study was the distribution of a

detailed questionnaire. The questionnaire included several questions regarding individual sleep

habits (multiple choice), occupational injuries (yes or no), depressive symptoms (Center for

Epidemiologic Studies Depression [CES-D] scale), and other personal questions (age, gender,

marital status, education, smoking, alcohol consumption, caffeine intake, and physical and/or

psychological diseases).

Results

The study results regarding occupational injury showed that 28.7% of respondents said

that they had an occupational injury in the last year (39.3% males, 20.2% females). Regarding

sleep, the study found that 46.9% of the subjects reported sleep that was definitely and/or

somewhat insufficient. The results of the study seemed to align fairly closely with the hypothesis

of the researchers, and aligned closely to similar studies relating sleepiness and occupational

injury.

Discussion

The results of the study proved the researchers hypothesis. The unadjusted logistic

regression analyses indicate that workers with sleep features of DIS, difficulty waking up in the
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morning, sleeping poorly at night, insufficient sleep, and insomnia had a significantly higher

prevalence for occupational injury (Jaiswal, 2012).

One hypothesis that needs further research is the association between difficulty waking up in

the morning and occupational injury. The study showed a weak association between the two,

however the results suggest that accidents can happen at the beginning of work, or even on the

way to work when a worker has a one finds oneself having extremely hard time waking up in the

morning. The study also showed the gender differences in sleepiness and occupational injury.

Reasons that females experienced less injury may include: they are less likely to work in a

dangerous/industrial environment than males in this study population, and females had 1/2 of

injury rates compared to males. It was also found that treating breathing problems during sleep

may help to prevent occupational injuries. The results of the study show that efficiency of sleep

may more significant than length of sleep.

Although the results are believable, some limitations of this study need to be considered.

First, this study was only able to find associations, not directional relationships. Therefore,

results dont show exact causes. Second, the method of information gathering was a self-reported

questionnaire. Therefore, it is impossible to know if the data is completely accurate. Third, there

are other variables that affect sleep quality and occupational injury that were not accounted for.

Bibliography

Jaiswal, Dr. Ajeet. "Occupational Injuries Related to Sleepiness in Indian Traditional Industries."

(2012): 248-67. Web.

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