A.

THE NEED FOR SHIFT WORK

Shift wrok, defined as wroking other than daytime hours, is not a recent
phenomenon. Night watches are referred to in earliest written history, and many a
battle was initiated in the early hours to gain an advantage over a drowsy enemy.
The widespread use of three-shift rotations in industry, however, has developed
since the 1920s and represents about one-third of the shift wrok sys-tems in use
today (sergean, 1971)
The earlier reasons for extending hours beyond the daytime shift were based
on a need for continuous service or continuous processes. Examples of service
needs are :
- Police
- Fire
- Hospital staff
- Security or night-watch people
- Road gate or toll colloctors
- Military personnel

These service for often standby, with routine duties being done until an
emergency need for action arises. In some service jobs, it used to be possible for a
persion to “catch 40 winks” between calls, but this is seldom the case anymore.
Night workers in those are expected to perform to the same standard as day
workers in those tasks that are done on both shift.
Continuous processes, such as operating electrial utilities, have also been
longstanding reason for night shift wrok. Bakeries often initiate their shifts in a
early morning hours, as do many africultural occupations. Ropemakers of the
eighteenth century had to wrok nights because the technology the making rope
prevented its being done when the sun was shining (george, 1966)

B. PATTERNS OF USE OF SHIFT WROK

Obtaining figures on the numbers of wrokers engaged in some type of shift
wrok is complicated by different data collection guidelines among countries and
industry groups. In the united states, shift wrok has been defined in a bureau of
labor statiistics survey (1975) as any wrok shift that starts other than between 7.00
to 9.00 a.m. on that basis, about 27 percent of the american wrok force participates
in same kind of shift wrok (Colligan, 1981)
A 1964 survey of manual shifts wrokers in the united kingdom was made in
manufacturing, mining and quarrying (expact coal), public utilities and national
and local gobernment service, laundries. Dry cleaning, motor repairs and garages,
and boot and shoe repair industries (Ministry of labour,1965a; miistry of labour,
1965b). The percentages of shift wrokers on each of the most common shift
schedules were found to be:
- 41 percent on three –shift system (22 percent on continuous 7 –day and 19
percent on discontinuous 5-day)
- 17 percent on double –day shift system
- 23 percent on alternating day and night system
- 12 percent on permanent nights.
- 7 percent on part-time evening employment
- Less than 0.5 percent on other system

In more recent years the numbers of shift wrokers has incresed, and there has
been more acceptance of rapidly rotating shift system and extended hours per
shift with shorter wroks weeks.