Gaining an hour of sleep is something everyone loves in the fall, but when springtime rolls around, we’re not as enthusiastic to “spring ahead” into Daylight Savings Time. And a recent study shows that the effect of Daylight Savings Time on people’s sleep can actually increase the amount of injuries that occur in the workplace.
According to Christopher M. Barnes and David T. Wagner of Michigan State University, the amount of workplace injuries increases more than five percent on the Monday following when we set our clocks forward for Daylight Savings Time. This is because, on average, we lose about 40 minutes of sleep during this time as we adjust to the time change. As a result, sleepy workers are more vulnerable to accidents on those Mondays.
In order to remedy this problem, Barnes and Wagner suggest that employers schedule dangerous work later in the week after Daylight Savings Time, in order to give employees the time they need to adjust to the time change. If that is not possible, employers may also consider scheduling employees to monitor their colleagues as they perform dangerous tasks. This way, there is someone there to help protect at-risk employees from getting hurt.
(Source: Barnes, Christopher M. and Wagner, David T. (2009). Changing to Daylight Saving Time Cuts Into Sleep and Increases Workplace Injuries. Journal of Applied Psychology 94(5).)
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