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It Might Be That The Inherent Conflict Between The Interest Of The Worker And ...

It might be that the inherent conflict between the interest of the worker and the enterprise over unsocial hours may be mitigated by improvements in working conditions, especially at night, and by advice to the workers on coping strategies (Harrington, 1999). Knauth and Hornberger (2003) suggest that there are a number of strategies which can be employed during night shifts, such as opportunities to contact colleagues, on-duty naps, exercise, adequate light levels, a cool workplace, music and breaks.

There could be other ways to minimising the effects of shift working. Primary care practitioners may intervene by providing medical surveillance and educational programs for shift-working patients and their families (Scott, 2000).In the light of this, Aer Arann could perhaps seek out partnerships with local primary healthcare providers to instigate such actions in consultation with staff. However, the staff themselves would have to be compliant with such a scheme. Costa (2003) suggests periodic health checks by occupational health personnel, aimed at detecting early signs of difficulty in adjustment or intolerance that may require prompt intervention at the organisational as well as the individual level.

This may be a simple and practical prevention strategy which may have the added benefits of fostering a feeling of being supported and ‘looked after' by the company, adding to employee wellbeing.

Another potential approach would be the use of specifically designed therapies to minimise the circadian disturbances associated with shift working. Boivin and James (2002) describe an intervention designed to promote circadian adaptation to night-shift work. This intervention involves controlled exposure to light and darkness and has been found to be efficacious in promoting circadian adaptation to night-shift work under field conditions (Boivin and James, 2002). In particular, the level of controlled exposure to light and darkness appears to be significant (Boivin and James, 2002).

Horowitz et al (2001) in a study of light and darkness therapies found similar results. It would therefore seem that scheduling of sleep/darkness should play a major role in prescriptions for overcoming shift work-related phase misalignment in circadian rhythms (Horowitz et al, 2001)

This may be a potential intervention for Aer Arann, but there are significant challenges, as these studies were carried out on workers who worked permanent night shifts within a set rota. This suggests that there would be a need to have set night shifts and to allocate workers to only working night shifts over long periods. While this might suit many workers, there may be those who would prefer more flexibility. Rigid allocation to day or night might also not meet the needs of the service itself, with differing flight times, delays and the like.

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