The Relationship between Shift Work and Its Effects on the Health of the Operational Staff in Abadan Oil Refining Company

shift work is a common and irreversible phenomenon due to its nature. The acute and chronic effects of the shift work on the health have been proven. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between shift work and risk factors to cause cardiovascular, digestive and nervous system disorders in the ooperational occupations of Abadan oil refinery.
this cross-sectional study was performed on 328 workers of the refinery operational staff who were selected by census method. The tool for gathering data was the Survey of Shift workers questionnaire known as SOS. The questionnaire was included questions about the workers demographic information, shift work system, the health effects of the shift work, and the effect of the shift work on the personal and family life satisfaction. Data were analyzed using the SPSS software (version 20).
The results showed that there is a significant relationship between shift work with sleep disturbance (P = 0.001) and job fatigue (P-value = 0.001). The effect of the shift work on overweight workers included 35.97% disorders gastrointestinal, 5.18% blood pressure and 57.4% cardiovascular disorders.
The results of this study showed that shift work is an important and effective risk factor on the health of the oil industry employees. Due to its undesirable consequences, it should be considered.