The Relationship between Sleep Characteristics and Workplace Accidents

Sleep problems in industries can influence workers’ health. Shift work and its associated sleep problems are quite common among workers in different industries. The aim of this study was to assess sleep quality, insomnia, excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in workers of an automobile factory. This cross-sectional study was conducted during annual periodic examination of workers from a production unit of an automobile factory. A total of 522 workers filled in questionnaires including demographic characteristics, workplace accidents, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), and STOP-BANG [snoring, tiredness, observed stop of breathing in sleep, blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), age, neck circumference, gender]. T-test and descriptive statistics were used for data analysis. The participants had mean and standard deviation (SD) age of 37.24 ± 5.73 years. Of 522 participants, 65.3%, 14.4%, and 3.3% had PSQI ≥ 5, ESS ≥ 13, and STOP-BANG ≥ 4, respectively. Higher scores of PSQI and ISI were associated with significant increase of workplace accidents (P = 0.010 and P = 0.004, respectively). Moreover, participants with rotational shift work significantly had more ISI than the ones with fixed shift work. Poor sleep quality and insomnia were prevalent among studied workers with shift work. Sleep problems also had significant association with workplace accidents. This finding warrants more attention towards shift schedules of the workers and further investigation and management of identified sleep problems.