\"Innovations in Research and Practice Improving Shiftworker Health and Safety\" - the 24th International Shiftwork and Working Time Symposium

Washington State University, Pullman WA

Investigators

Abstract

The Sleep and Performance Research Center at Washington State University seeks one-time funding to host the 2019 International Symposium on Shiftwork and Working Time (?Shiftwork2019?). This biennial event, held since 1969, attracts an international group of scientists, industry members, labor representatives, government officials, health and safety professionals and policy makers with a common interest in working time arrangements, implications thereof for workers and for society, and strategies to mitigate the adverse health and safety consequences of shiftwork. Shiftwork2019 will be a 5-day event held in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, on September 9?13, 2019. The meeting theme, ?Innovations in Research and Practice Improving Shiftworker Health and Safety,? builds on the 50- year history of the event to improve workplace health and safety among those who work nonstandard schedules. This is the first time since 1995 that the event will be held in the US, generating much enthusiasm for the conference from US research institutions, industries, and government agencies. In the US, two in five workers are employed in shiftwork or other nonstandard work schedules. These schedules require workers to alter their sleep/wake cycles and cause circadian misalignment. This leads to well-documented, adverse consequences for performance, safety, health, and well- being. The Shiftwork2019 conference will provide a unique opportunity for working time experts from around the world to meet, exchange the most recent findings on work scheduling and health and safety consequences and countermeasure approaches, and explore collaborations and partnerships. Serving core elements of NIOSH's mission, the conference objectives are to discuss the latest developments in the science and practice of shiftwork, working time arrangements, and health and safety countermeasure approaches; foster international networking, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and early career researcher/practitioner development; and disseminate best practices to workers, employers, and regulators nationally and world-wide. As such, the conference will address multiple NIOSH intermediate goals across several sectors and cross sectors: Construction × Healthy Work Design 7.1; Health Care and Social Assistance × Cancer, Reproductive, Cardiovascular and Other Chronic Disease Prevention 1.4, Healthy Work Design 7.2; Mining × Healthy Work Design 7.3; Oil and Gas Extraction × Traumatic Injury Prevention 6.10; Services × Cancer, Reproductive, Cardiovascular and Other Chronic Disease Prevention 1.10; Transportation, Warehousing and Utilities × Cancer, Reproductive, Cardiovascular and Other Chronic Disease Prevention 1.13, Traumatic Injury Prevention 6.14, Healthy Work Design 7.6, 7.7, 7.8.