Sleep Deprivation and Its Consequences in Construction Workers
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 136, Issue 10
Abstract
Sleep deprivation contributes to fatigue, which can have a profound effect on an individual’s wellbeing, work performance, and safety. To investigate this phenomenon, a study was conducted on a sample of construction workers on a large construction project in Vancouver, Canada. This paper reports on the results from the workers wearing an actigraph 24 h/day for a full week to precisely measure their sleep and rest. The results enabled sleep efficiency and mental effectiveness levels to be determined by correlating them to blood alcohol concentration levels. This allowed determination of increased risk due to inadequate sleep. It was found that workers fell well under recommended sleep requirement guidelines of 8-h sleep per night, which resulted in an increase in risk of accident of 9%. Although further work is needed to better understand the coping mechanisms of fatigue and how the resulting fatigue factor could be measured and managed, this study indicates that workers in the construction industry suffer decrements in performance and are at higher risk of accident at home and work solely due to inadequate sleep.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Akerstedt, T. (1988). “Sleepiness as a consequence of shift work.” Sleep, 11, 17–34.
Brown, F. C., et al. (2002). “Relationship of sleep hygiene awareness, sleep hygiene practices, and quality in university students.” Behav. Med., 28(1), 33–38.
Cole, R. J., et al. (1992). “Automatic sleep/wake identification from wrist activity.” Sleep, 15(5), 461–469.
Dawson, D., and Reid, K. (1997). “Fatigue, alcohol and performance impairment.” Nature (London), 338, 235.
Dijk, D. -J., and Czeisler, C. A. (1995). “Contribution of the circadian pacemaker and the sleep homeostat to sleep propensity, sleep structure, electroencephalographic slow waves, and sleep spindle activity in humans. ” J. Neurosci., 15, 3526–3538.
Dinges, D. F., et al. (1996). Principles and guidelines for duty and rest scheduling in commercial aviation, NASA, ⟨http://humanfactors.arc.nasa.gov/zteam/PDF_pubs/p-g1.pdf⟩.
Dinges, D. F., et al. (1997). “Cumulative sleepiness, mood disturbance, and psychomotor vigilance performance decrements during a week of sleep restricted to 4–5 hours per night.” Sleep, 4, 267–277.
Dong, X. S. (2005). “Long workhours, work scheduling and work-related injuries among construction workers in the United States.” Work, Environ., Health, 31(5), 329–335.
Fletcher, A., et al. (2003). “Prediction of performance during sleep deprivation and alcohol intoxication using a quantitative model of work-related fatigue.” Sleep Res. Online, 5(2), 67–75.
Gander, P. H., et al. (1993). “Age, circadian rhythms, and sleep loss in flight crews.” Aviat., Space Environ. Med., 64(3), 189–195.
Graeber, R. C., et al. (1986). “International aircrew sleep and wakefulness after multiple time zone flights: A cooperative study.” Aviat., Space Environ. Med., 57, B3–B9.
Hursh, S. (2005). “Modelling fatigue, predicting performance.” ⟨[email protected]⟩ (Sept. 2008).
Hursh, S., et al. (2006). “Validation and calibration of a fatigue assessment tool for railroad work schedules.” Summary Rep. No. DOT/FRA/ORD-08/04, U.S. Dept. of Transportation, Washington, D.C.
Lamond, N., and Dawson, D. (1999). “Quantifying the performance impairment associated with fatigue.” J. Sleep Res., 8(4), 255–262.
Levine, B., et al. (1988). “Daytime sleepiness in young adults.” Sleep, 11(1), 39–46.
Monk, T., et al. (1996). “Maintaining safety and high performance on shift work.” Appl. Ergon, 27, 17–23.
Morgenthaler, T., et al. (2007). “Practice parameters for the use of actigraphy in the assessment of sleep and sleep disorders: An update for 2007.” Sleep, 30(4), 519–529.
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. (2007). “Construction safety.” ⟨www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/constructionsafety/⟩ (Sept. 2007).
National Transportation Safety Board. (1990). “Marine accident report—Grounding of the US Tankship Exxon Valdez on Bligh Reef, Prince William Sound, near Valdez, Alaska.” NTSB Rep. No. MAR-90–04, adopted on 8/28/1990; NTIS Rep. No. PB90–916405, Washington, D.C.
National Transportation Safety Board. (1999). Safety recommendation, Washington, D.C.
National Transportation Safety Board. (2007). ⟨http://www.ntsb.gov/⟩ (Sept. 2007).
Powell, R. I. (2007). “Fatigue in British Columbia’s construction industry. Understanding risk levels and opportunities for improvement.” MSc thesis, Dept. of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Univ. of Bath, Bath, U.K.
Rosekind, M. R., et al. (1995). “Alertness management: Strategic naps in operational settings.” J. Sleep Res., 4(2), 62–66.
Rosekind, M. R., et al. (1996). “Managing fatigue in operational settings 1: Physiological considerations and countermeasures.” Behav. Med., 21, 157–165.
Rosekind, M. R., et al. (2000). Crew factors in flight operations, N. C. f. A. Information, National Technical Information Service, Washington, D.C.
Roth, T. (2006). “Dealing with excessive sleepiness: Therapeutics and public health considerations.” Medscape Today, ⟨http://www.medscape.com/viewprogram/4394⟩ (Sept. 2007).
Russo, M. D. (2005). “Normal sleep, sleep physiology, and sleep deprivation: General principles.” ⟨http://www.emedicine.com/neuro/topic444.htm⟩ (Sept. 2007).
SleepPerformance Inc. (2007). ⟨http://www.sleepperformance.com/web/sp_products_sa.aspx⟩ (Sept. 2007).
SNC-Lavalin Inc. (2007a). Monthly Statistics Rep. No. 016876-685.
SNC-Lavalin Inc. (2007b). “The Canada Line.” ⟨www.canadaline.ca⟩ (Sept. 2007).
Spengler, S. E., et al. (2004). “Sleep deprivation and injuries in part-time Kentucky farmers. Impact of self reported sleep habits and sleep problems on injury risk.” AAOHN J., 52(9), 373–382.
Strauss, S. (2003). Pilot fatigue, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston.
Transport Canada. (1996). “Commercial motor vehicle driver fatigue and alertness study.” ⟨http://www.tc.gc.ca/TDC/summary/12800/12876e.htm⟩ (Sept. 2007).
Transport Canada. (2007). Perchance to dream, ⟨http://www.tc.gc.ca/media/documents/ca-publications/2_2003.pdf⟩ (Sept. 2008).
U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board. (2007). Investi-gation report refinery explosion and fire (15 killed, 180 injured), ⟨http://www.csb.gove/assets/document/CSBFinalReportBP.pdf⟩ (Sept. 2008).
Van Dongen, H., et al. (2003). “Sleep debt: Theoretical and empirical issues.” Sleep Biol. Rhythms, 1(1), 5–13.
Wehr, T. A., et al. (1993). “Conservation of photoperiod-responsive mechanisms in humans.” Am. J. Physiol., 265(4), R846–R857.
WorkSafeBC. (2006). Demand safety statistics 2006, ⟨http://www.worksafebc.com/publications/reports/statistics_reports/assets/pdf/stats2006.pdf⟩ (Sept. 2008).
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 136 • Issue 10 • October 2010
Pages: 1086 - 1092
Copyright
© 2010 ASCE.
History
Received: Feb 9, 2009
Accepted: Mar 2, 2010
Published online: Mar 4, 2010
Published in print: Oct 2010
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.