Article Summary: Occupational Injuries Related to Sleepiness

INTRODUCTION
Sleepiness is ones condition to feel fatigued and to desire sleep resulting from
inadequate amounts of rest. Researchers have found that sleepiness/fatigue reduces
performance capability leads to human error and potentially increases the risk for accidents
(Jaiswal, 2012). Past studies supported this claim. Sleepiness hinders people around the world
from preparing those demands for a safe, productive work environment. Many job sectors have
employees suffering from that condition frequently. According to a poll conducted in 2007,
India contains the most occupational injuries in all job sectors combined, mostly in the
manufacturing industry.
The poll inspired one assistant professor, Ajeet Jaiswal, and his colleagues to conduct a
cross-sectional study regarding sleepiness and occupational injury. The cross-sectional study
investigates employees in the India Traditional Industries Company since they are one of the
biggest manufacturing companies reported to have frequent occupational injuries. He believes
that the study can inform employees to take extra precautions to remedy their sleepiness to
decrease the frequency of injuries on the job. Although many employees struggle to obtain
adequate sleep prior to labor, Jaiswal proposed that there is a strong correlation between
sleepiness and the likelihood of occupational injury that led to detrimental consequences.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The cross-sectional study uses a series of questionnaires that researchers distributed to
two immense districts of manufacturing in India: Varanasi (manufacturing) and Mirzapur (carpet
manufacturing). The data retrieved in the study is through employees from both districts to

respond to each question in the questionnaires. The questionnaires contained questions

pertaining to three categories: occupational injury data, depressive symptoms, and other
covariates (i.e. age, gender, marital status, years of education, alcohol consumption, caffeine
intake, physical/psychological diseases). Any responses left partially complete are rejected due
to skewing of data.
Once the employees fully completed the questionnaire, researchers then calculated what
percent of employees from each district selected a certain response to each question in the
questionnaire. One idea that got researchers curious was to speculate any gender differences
between male and female employees on sleepiness and occupational injury; thus, they decided to
analyze separately.
RESULTS
Jaiswal (2012) calculated the statistics of the characteristics of the employees that
participated in the study:
Thirty-seven percent of workers were higher than 50 yr in age. Sixty-four
percent of workers were males. As job types, manufacturing and
managerial/clerical possessed more than 60% of all workers. Ninety-one
percent of workers were working in manufacturing plants. (p. 256-257)
Jaiswal found in the study that sleepiness indeed correlated to occupational injury frequency.
Additionally, he also found more consequences that followed when sleepiness occurred during
labor. Almost 30% of employees experienced some form of occupational injury in a one-year
period, 40% of employees had less than 6 hours of sleep, and 17% had trouble sleeping at night.
Sleepiness on the job increased the likelihood of lingering occupational injury as well as

inefficient sleep habits and depressive symptoms. From these results, Jaiswal noticed an
association of sleeping habits and occupational injury: poor sleeping habits (i.e. insomnia, lack of
sleep, difficulty waking up in the morning) had higher prevalence for occupational injury, but the
male employees had a higher association of poor sleeping habits than females.
DISCUSSION
The purpose of the cross-sectional study was to explore and investigate the correlation
between sleepiness and likelihood of occupational injuries. The results of the study were
consistent of Jaiswals hypothesis as well as consistent with past similar studies. Sleeping
difficulties had a strong correlation with occupational injury frequencies since they hinder the
employees productivity and alertness. Jaiswal advises employees to consider taking short naps
(15-20 minutes) to alleviate the sleepiness if employees cannot obtain adequate sleep at night.
Employees should also consider decreasing work stress to mitigate unawareness and risk of
occupational injury.

Work Cited
Jaiswal, A. (2012). Occupational Injuries Related to Sleepiness. Human Biology Review, 248267. Retrieved from
http://biology1615.weebly.com/uploads/5/5/4/8/5548644/occupational_injuries_related_to_sl
eepiness.pdf