Previously, I blogged about the research concerning car collisions and heart attacks with the time change. But, to add to the debate, I ran across some interesting research concerning work injuries. The U.S. Department of Labor and Mine Safety and Health Administration found that the number of workplace accidents spikes after Daylight Savings Time changes every March.
Through two separate studies they found that with 40 minutes less sleep for American workers, there was a 5.7 percent increase in workplace injuries, and nearly 68 percent more work days lost to injuries. Also through the use of data from the Canadian Ministry of Transport, it was also found that when Canada went into daylight savings time, there was an 8 percent increased risk of accidents on the Monday after the changeover In the United States, there was a 17 percent increase.
The question is that if there are this many injuries how many other areas are effected? Barnes and Wagner, the Michigan State doctoral candidates who conducted the study, said a logical extension could be mistakes in the office or workplace, such as transposing figures on a spread-sheet or filling the wrong prescription in a pharmacy.
It might be logical that business may want to consider doing less or maybe lightening the work load this day to protect the workers and save big problems.
A founding partner with Bradshaw & Bryant, Mike Bryant has always fought to find justice for his clients—knowing that legal troubles, both personal injury and criminal, can be devastating for a family. Voted a Top 40 Personal Injury "Super Lawyer" multiple years, Mr. Bryant has also been voted one of the Top 100 Minnesota "Super Lawyers" four times.
2 Comments
Daniel 8791
Well the research numbers clearly shown that something is sure going wrong on these days each year. Hopefully this study will see even more of the spotlight in the near future and some helpful decisions can be made to help prevent these errors and often resulting injuries.
Mike Bryant
It's a very interesting thing and it is amazing how important sleep is to so many things that go on. Makes you wonder if more shouldn't been done to deal with these days. Thanks for taking the time to read and post a comment.
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