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Forward Versus Backward Shift Rotation.

Duchon JC; Wagner J; Keran CM

Paper in Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 33rd Annual Meeting Denver Colorado 1989 Oct; :5 pages

10007543

The Bureau of Mines has been involved in the study of guidelines for the design of shiftwork schedules. One popular suggestion offered by shiftwork researchers and consultants is to establish schedules that rotate in a forward direction (day to afternoon to night) rather than backward (day to night to afternoon). This paper analyzes the two primary premises behind these suggestions. Data on subjective sleep times collected from both forward and backward rotators indicate that forward rotation may not be more beneficial than backward rotation. Although the work start times of a forward schedule parallel the direction for faster biological adjustment, sleep times do not. Also, the between-shift intervals for forward direction shifts are not necessarily more conducive to more flexible shift schedule design, given the sleep behaviors of shiftworkers.

19891001

OP;

1990

OP 64-90

TCRC;

Paper in Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 33rd Annual Meeting, Denver, Colorado, Oct 18, 1989

CO;