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Fatigued Workers Can Affect Everyone: Learn About the Most-Sleep Deprived Professions in the U.S.

If a person is working while fatigued, anyone around them or anyone who depends on the work they do can be a victim of that worker’s tiredness. Keep reading to learn about the jobs in the United States that are most likely to have sleep-deprived workers. If you have been involved in a personal injury accident on account of someone else working while tired, contact The Law Offices of Larry H. Parker at 800-333-0000 for a free legal consultation.

The Most Fatigued Workers

According to a study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the occupations that are most likely to have sleep-deprived employees include:

  • Switchboard operators and other communication operators
  • Nurses, home health aides, and psychiatric aides
  • Rail transportation workers
  • Earth drillers, explosive workers, mine machine operators, and other extraction workers
  • Plant and system operators

Of course, these are not the only jobs that often result in fatigue, but they are some of the most common examples.

There Are Reasons These Positions Lead to Fatigue

You may wonder: Why do these specific positions so often lead to fatigue? The answer is that shift workers required to work for long hours and/or during the night can experience disrupted circadian rhythms. Note that the circadian rhythm is like the body’s internal alarm clock and affects everything from hormone levels, digestion, temperature, and alertness.

These issues are so common that it has a name: Shift worker disorder. It can have serious consequences for the health of the workers, but it can have catastrophic consequences in some cases. For example, if a train conductor is required to work long hours and/or overnight, they could lose their ability to make quick decisions or to concentrate. They could even fall asleep. Any of these issues could lead to deadly train accidents.

Shift Worker Disorder Can Have a Long List of Effects

Even worse, there are actually a lot of effects that can be caused by shift worker disorder. This includes slower reaction times, a decrease in cognitive ability, and overall more job errors. This is according to a study that was published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

The Center for Injury Epidemiology also found that a person who works more than one job gets an average of 40 minutes of sleep less than a person who has one job. This may not sound like much, but when you consider how much it is over a week, month, or year, you can see that it does add up.

If you have been the victim of an accident that you believe may have been caused by a worker’s fatigue, then you may have a personal injury case. The best move is to contact The Law Offices of Larry H. Parker at 800-333-0000 for a free legal consutlation. We are standing by to talk to you about your options.