Category Archives: Management

Good, bad and Indifferent!

Are you a Killer Manager?

Any manager with a ’killer’ work ethic should realise that a happy workforce is a productive one. Having a productive workforce may go some way towards keeping the accountants happy however; the manager who pushes too hard and ignores the health and welfare of his/her employees does so at the peril of their organisation. And hopefully their own career…

I recently highlighted the dangers of driving whilst tired for police officers (amongst others), an issue that probably impacts more upon shift workers than many others. But tiredness is (hopefully) only a relatively minor factor when you consider all the remaining health issues resulting from working shifts and excessive hours.

Many of the negative health impacts that result from shifts and working excessive hours have long been understood, both by the medical ‘experts’ and those who are required to work in this way. In recent years there have been numerous studies and reports to evidence many of the previous suppositions.

In 2005 the BBC reported that; “Employees working split shifts could be harming their health” as a result of research carried out by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The results of another study by a team from University College London, carried out over an 11-year period, highlighted the fact; working for more than 11 hours a day markedly increases heart disease risk. It pointed out that the magnitude of risk goes up by 67% for people who work long hours (see here).

This study might make us think twice about the old adage ‘hard work won’t kill you’ (Professor Stephen Holgate - Medical Research Council)

The lead researcher of the latter report, Professor Mika Kivimäki, suggested this should be “a wake-up call for people who overwork themselves, especially if they already have other risk factors” – I would agree however; many of those workers are ‘overworked’ because of the methods employed by their managers and not from any personal choice.

A further study in the European Heart Journal in 2008, focusing on more than 10,000 British civil servants showed that “a stressful job has a direct biological impact on the body, raising the risk of heart disease” (see here). But ‘stress’ is one of those mainly intangible, and mostly misunderstood, negative concepts that can (and do) have a negative impact upon one’s mental and physical well-being.

What is stress? Stress is caused by two things. Primarily it is down to whether you think situations around you are worthy of anxiety. And then it’s down to how your body reacts to your thought processes. This instinctive stress response to unexpected events is known as ‘fight or flight’…(stress.org.uk)

In humans, as in other animals, the adrenalin rush of this fight or flight process helps us to run faster and fight harder, all physical traits useful to those working within our Emergency Services for example. But the life-threatening events are not the only ones that trigger these physiological reactions. We experience them whenever we come across something unexpected or something (or someone) that frustrates our aims, goals, expectations or conditions of perceived normality.

These latter factors are all prevalent in today’s public sector. Services like the NHS and not least our police service, are currently undergoing unprecedented change. The police in particular are also under what appears to be a sustained and constant barrage of (mostly unfair) criticism and attack from the government and our media. As if the job isn’t stressful enough already! But the down side of mobilising our bodies for survival is; the process also presents negative consequences and medical conditions, ones that can have a profound impact upon our ability to work effectively, let alone personal longevity prospects!

The HSE define work-related stress as; a harmful reaction people have to undue pressures and demands place on them at work. Unsurprisingly HSE statistics show that industries reporting the highest rates of work-related stress in the last three years are within the public sector. Stress at work is a major issue for any organisation, not least those involving public service, but it is also one that almost every element of management has specific responsibilities for preventing.

The HSE produce guidelines about the Management Standards expected to mitigate the risk of work related stress. It defines six key areas that managers need to address, if they want to effectively remove/control those risks. If you are a manager, are you aware of your responsibilities?

Well-designed, organised and correctly managed work helps to maintain and promote individual health and well-being i.e. happy workers. But conversely, as with much of the so-called police reform currently taking place, where there has been insufficient attention to organisation and/or task design along with some frightening examples of poor management, the benefits or assets associated with good work conditions are lost. The common result of this being work related stress.

People who feel they have some control over their working lives are then less likely to have illnesses (Professor Cary Cooper - Lancaster University)

Considering all these health impacts, you would think that much of the political rhetoric about ’doing more with less’ should have fallen on deaf ears by now, unfortunately this isn’t the case. A combination of government enforced austerity measures, along with a predominance of self-interested senior management in the public sector, has prevented it.

The one positive outcome from all this (if you can call it that) is; killer management is likely to mitigate the future financial impacts placed upon our society by an ageing population!

Do Night Shift Workers Suffer Health Consequences? (mcminnala.com)
Fears over diabetes risk for irregular sleepers (time4sleep.co.uk)
Does shift work affect the quality of sleep and weight of our nurses? (time4sleep.co.uk)
Shift Work May Set Stage for Obesity and Diabetes(webmd.com)

Posted in Business Babble, Emergency Services, Government, Health & Safety, Health Services, Management, Police

Road Safety and Sleeping Policemen!

Mar 28

Posted by Dave Hasney

Fatigue?

Browsing through my Twitter feed I noted a somewhat worrying exchange between two policing followers. The content reminded me of a personally harrowing event during the 1980′s.

I was single crewed in a police Mini van, during the final couple of hours of a night shift, heading for what I hoped would be the last job of the night. The interior of the windscreen was clad in a thin coating of ice whilst externally, the limp and inadequate wipers were fighting a loosing battle with the blizzard conditions of a midwinter Yorkshire snowstorm. Not even the van heater, something of a misnomer, could make an impression on those freezing conditions.

Suddenly and without any prior warning, I found my van careering towards a large millstone at the side of the road. If not for my shock induced automatism, and a modicum of prompt and nifty driving skill, serious injury or death which had been imminent, was thankfully averted. The millstone may have been placed to support the village nameplate affixed to it however; it was looking like its last job was going to be a tombstone to mark my final resting place… I had fallen asleep at the wheel, an incident which brings me back to that original Twitter exchange.

The most dangerous part of a night shift completed safely. The drive home…(@TheCustodySgt)

@TheCustodySgt Drove mine up the kerb at 40mph two weeks ago. Madness. Slept in a layby for an hour before continuing…(@MentalHealthCop)

During the early part of my police career officers usually worked eight-hour shifts, and in my area, night shifts ran from 10pm to 6am. That said, they still got tired. Officers rarely had rest days cancelled, overtime was limited and in general, they always received 2, 3 or 4 days away from work after working for seven. Many police officers today would see those working conditions and shift patterns as luxury!

Sometimes we were also obliged to work night shifts alone and for me, this particular near death experience was one of those shifts. So what if something went wrong and/or you needed assistance? My nearest colleagues were fifteen or more miles away and, although available via radio, their help was dependent upon me being physically able to use it.

But all those years ago being a cop was (arguably) a lot less dangerous than it is today. There were greater levels of public respect for policing. Communities within our society usually displayed deeper social cohesion and importantly, violent criminality was far less apparent. But despite these factors, you were still often left with no doubt about your ultimate vulnerability

But it’s important to consider today’s working conditions. Massive reductions in staffing levels, extended working hours, regular shift deviations and often, a distinct lack of any real ’recovery time’ between shift patterns. This all means that officer fatigue is probably an even greater issue than it used to be. To be efficient, effective and safe in policing – cops need their rest.

Four in ten police officers suffering from sleep disorders which affects their performance at work…(dailymail.co.uk)

Tiredness and sleep disorders are a dangerous, they can result in drivers falling asleep at the wheel of a motor vehicle. These issues of fatigue on driving have been well documented and often, are also addressed by government led accident reduction campaigns. Despite this, many senior police managers have a tendency to almost belittle any police officer who has concerns about fatigue in the workplace. “What’s up lad? Spent your day off on the piss?”

These are often the same senior officers who agree to government designed and/or sponsored, but often politically motivated, road safety initiatives. They are happy to deplete staff from already woefully short response teams, then dedicate those officers to the campaign purpose. It’s usually just about ticking boxes and rhetorical public relations exercises. Ones which hopefully, will benefit the career prospects of the kudos seeking leadership. Something that in turn, the politicians are more than happy about after all, policing is all about pleasing the electorate, isn’t it?

But it’s interesting how so many road safety practitioners (and police officers) often equate the dangers of motor vehicles to those of loaded guns; in the wrong hands, or an incompetent/impaired set of hands, their use can often be fatal. Perhaps that analogy has finally been inextricably linked by medical evidence?

Union reps, trainers, and human behavior experts who have been campaigning to get police fatigue recognized and addressed as a critical professional and public safety problem have been given an armory of ammunition for their battle by a comprehensive and complex new study of cops and sleeping disorders…(Police Firearms Officers Association)

In December 2011 a study by the American Medical Association (AMA) found that “more than 40 per cent of police officers suffer from sleep disorders.” The researchers (rightly) pointed out that the problem has “serious implications for officers’ health” but, in addition to personal performance issues, this obviously also, “poses a threat to public safety.”

Although the research was based in the USA, this must be indicative of a similar problem in the UK. But nearer to home, statistical research here has shown that “almost 20% of accidents on major roads are sleep-related and that sleep-related accidents are more likely than others to result in a fatality or serious injury” (DirectGov).

For many, in particular those who work night shifts, it should be even more worrying that, the peak period of danger is during the early hours of the morning. As the RAC point out in the following clip, “Tiredness can Kill.”

The following animation, produced by AlphabetGB, a vehicle leasing business and part of the BMW group of companies, is part of their ’Road To Safer Driving’ scheme. These workshops are designed to promote safer driving within their company and those of their customers.

THINK! provides road safety information for road users, on the topic of driver fatigue, the following video is one part of that process.

The Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) also point out in their advice document (INF159) on the subject; ”although all drivers are subject to the pressures of modern life, many drivers are unaware that some medical conditions can also cause excessive sleepiness/tiredness.” Another pertinent and well documented medical condition is Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA).

OSA Facts from the DVLA

OSA is the most common sleep related medical disorder.
OSA significantly increases the risk of traffic accidents.
OSA occurs most commonly, but not exclusively, in overweight individuals.
OSA sufferers rarely wake from sleep feeling fully refreshed and tend to fall asleep easily when relaxing.
Long distance lorry and bus drivers affected by OSA are of great concern as most will be driving on monotonous roads/motorways and the size or nature of the vehicle gives little room for error.
Estimates suggest at least four in every hundred men have OSA. Sleep problems arise more commonly in older people.

If you have any ‘medical condition’ that impacts upon your driving ability, including EDS or OSA, you are legally obliged to inform the DVLA about it.

The issues outlined here have absolutely nothing to do with “fat lazy coppers swinging the lead” – despite what our government would have us believe. However, all the rhetorical retorts from politicians and police leadership on ”doing more with less” could well come to fruition. Stretching the already taught Thin Blue Line to breaking point means something has to give.

Less police officers (working harder for longer) will ultimately result in more illness, more injury and (sadly) more death. Are we really happy about letting these so-called reforms continue?

Note: “Sleep Disorders, Health, and Safety in Police Officers” - Journal of the American Medical Assn (JAMA). A full copy of the 12-page report (see extract) can be ordered as a pdf document for a fee (see here).