Britain also has a fatal overwork problem | Letters

Regularly working 49 hours or more a week is associated with a significantly increased risk of stroke, writes David Hardman of the London Hazards Centre

Your report on the death from overwork of the Japanese reporter Miwa Sado states that 80 hours of overtime per month is the level at which working hours start to pose a serious risk to health (Journalist died after doing 159 hours of overtime in a month, 6 October). This is far too high a threshold for health problems related to working hours. In 2015, a paper in the Lancet statistically analysed studies from around the world, involving over 600,000 individuals. This found that regularly working 49 hours or more per week was associated with a significantly increased risk of stroke compared with those working 36-40 hours per week. For those working 55 hours per week or more, the increased risk was 33%. There was also a 13% increased risk of coronary heart disease.

This, of course, is aside from the mental health issues that are associated with overwork (and the bullying that often accompanies it), health issues associated with shift working, and the danger posed by fatigued workers in safety-critical occupations. We might also add to this list the health issues associated with precarious employment.

Continue reading... October 09, 2017 at 11:05PM