Public Opinion on Maximum Work Hours Conflicts with Official Regulations for Several Professions

WASHINGTON, DC, (April 2) -- The American public favors limiting work hours for many professions, particularly those requiring sustained alertness on the job in order to ensure public health and safety, according to the National Sleep Foundation’s (NSF) 2002 Sleep in America poll. The findings, released today, indicate that the public is at odds with workplace regulations in effect for many occupations that support more grueling schedules for many professionals.

"We often aren’t inclined to ask about how much sleep professionals such as pilots, doctors, or nurses have had in the twenty-four hours before we use their services," said Richard L. Gelula, NSF's executive director. "But in an age of twenty-four hour operations and efforts to streamline workforces, it's a question more of us should be asking."

The poll findings clearly illustrated a wide gap between what the public thinks is a reasonable and safe work schedule for a variety of professionals, and the hours those professionals really work. "These results can be an important barometer for policy makers and others involved in establishing duty hours for the workplace, wherever that workplace may be --in the air, on the road, in a schoolroom or in a hospital room," Gelula added.

Doctors, pilots, fatigue and sleep

The 2002 Sleep in America poll asked about the maximum number of hours certain professionals should work per day in order to perform with "alertness and provide services safely and effectively for respondents and their family members."

Respondents expressed a high level of concern about doctors’ work schedules. If they learned their surgeon had been on duty 24 consecutive hours, 86 percent say they would likely feel anxious about their own safety, and 70 percent would likely ask for a different doctor. Six out of ten said they would be unlikely to assume their procedure will go well.

The poll found some public support for sleeping on the job, if that increases safety. A majority (86%) agreed that a pilot should be allowed to nap during a flight to overcome drowsiness, if another qualified pilot could take over. And 63 percent said a pilot’s maximum workday should be eight hours or less. (Current Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations limit pilots to l6 hours on duty with a maximum eight hours of actual flying time and an eight-hour rest time in each 24-hour period. Napping while on duty is prohibited by FAA rules, even when a qualified co-pilot is present).

And nurses, police, and truckers

On the other hand, there is support for long work hours for some workers compared to other professions cited. Those polled believe a doctor’s work hours should be longer than those of other professionals. More than one-half of those polled said doctors should have a maximum workday of ten or more hours. (Currently, there are no national work-hour limits for physicians or medical residents. According to the American Medical Student Association, residents sometimes work 100-120 hours a week, in 24 and 36-hour shifts).

Nurses came in second for the longest workday with respondents almost evenly split between a maximum day of eight hours (49%) and 10 or more hours (45%). (According to many nursing organizations, understaffed hospitals are requiring nurses to work mandatory overtime consisting of back-to-back eight-hour shifts, or four extra hours on top of a 12-hour shift).

While 50 percent of poll respondents said the workday for police officers and truck drivers should be limited to a maximum of eight hours, about forty percent said the maximum workday for both professions should be 10 hours or more. (A study conducted by Bryan Vila, PhD., author of Tired Cops, indicated that most police departments have no policy limiting the number of daily, weekly, or monthly hours a police officer may work. Because of double-shifts, court duty, and frequent overtime, Dr. Vila found police officers averaged 22.8 overtime hours per month. According to Department of Transportation regulations, drivers of interstate commercial vehicles can drive no more than 10 hours, or be on duty no more than 15 hours without taking an eight-hour break, but they may drive for a total of 16 hours in any 24-hour period.)

Workplace policies and sleepiness

The public believes workplace policies should allow for personal sleep needs, according to poll results. A large majority of respondents (82%) agreed that employees should not be required to work beyond a regular shift if they say they are too tired or sleepy. A smaller majority of those polled (59%) agreed that employees should take a sick, personal, or vacation day of they do not get enough sleep the night before and feel they will not function well at work.

Other highlights of the 2002 Sleep in America poll, along with an executive summary, can be found on NSF’s Web site, www.sleepfoundation.org.

WB&A Market Research conducted the 2002 Sleep in America poll for the National Sleep Foundation using a random sample of 1,010 adults at least l8 years of age who were interviewed by telephone between October 1 and December 10, 2001. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percent.

The National Sleep Foundation is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to improving public health and safety by achieving greater understanding of sleep and sleep disorders, and by supporting education, sleep-related research, and advocacy. NSF is based in Washington, DC.