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On Being Human – Frailties, Vulnerabilities and Their Effect on Performance
Published in Norman MacLeod, Crew Resource Management Training, 2021
It should come as no surprise that the most fatigued pilots feel that they do not recover sufficiently between work periods, have poor sleep quality and experience serious levels of daytime sleepiness. However, the data suggest that all pilots suffer from inadequate recovery, and even the least fatigued group has individuals who suffer from sleep problems. Of particular interest is the 40% of pilots in the sample comprising the moderate fatigue group. The data suggest that, rather than occupying the middle ground, they tend more towards the highest fatigued group in terms of characteristics. If we look at their attempts at mitigation, it seems that the moderately fatigued pilots are most likely to resort to alcohol, initially. Alcohol consumption within 3 hours prior to sleep actually degrades the sleep experience: it is counter-productive as fatigue mitigation. Once physiological fatigue reaches a certain level, it seems that a self-sustaining feedback cycle is set up that, ultimately, will lead to long-term health effects.
Alcohol consumption and the socio-cultural risk discourse
Published in Charlotte Fabiansson, Stefan Fabiansson, Food and the Risk Society, 2016
Charlotte Fabiansson, Stefan Fabiansson
The adult population commonly drink alcoholic drinks at low risk levels most of the time or abstain altogether, but there is a broad range of alcohol consumption patterns, with extremes of daily heavy drinking or occasional risky drinking causing significant risks to public health and safety. Harmful effects caused by alcohol consumption include toxic effects on organs and tissues, intoxication leading to impairment of physical coordination, consciousness, cognition and perception, and behavioural changes. In addition to physical and mental harm, alcohol consumption can also have socio-economic consequences (World Health Organization 2014c). However, in a report to the European Commission, the authors pointed out that the dominance of problem-oriented perspectives has led to a serious imbalance in the study of alcohol, whereby problems affecting only a small minority of drinkers have received disproportionate attention, while the study of normal drinking has been neglected (The Social Issues Research Centre 1998). It is documented that, historically, alcohol consumption was most commonly associated with cultural celebrations and festive occasions, and as such had, and still has, a significant social and cultural role in contemporary society. Indulgences of alcoholic beverages have a long human history, and in the main they provide vital opportunities for social bonding (Becker 1963). Alcohol consumption is possibly inspired by the observation of animals becoming drunk when gorging on fermented fruits and becoming docile.
Dangerous Concoctions: Alcohol, Employment and the Family
Published in Ronald J. Burke, Cary L. Cooper, Risky Business, 2016
Paul M. Roman, Lauren A. O’Brien
Employing organizations have long carried the burden of excessive alcohol use among employees in the form of lost productivity, high rates of turnover, damaged workplace relationships, negative organizational publicity, damaged reputations, and legal liabilities. The reduced efficiency and capacity to perform ordinary work-related tasks leave problem drinkers as a large contributor of lowered rates of productivity. Blum, Roman, and Martin (1993) found that reports from organizational supervisors and co-workers indicate that those employees of the organization who drink more heavily are also more likely to display decreased levels of work-related self-direction along with poor on-the-job interpersonal relationships. Such findings are compounded by research that indicates decreased motor sensory skills, longer reaction times, bad motor performance, limited visual intake, and poor body posture in the 18 hours following alcohol consumption at both low and high levels (Wolkenberg, Gold, and Tichauer 1975). In addition to lowered levels of productivity, rates of absenteeism can also be a highly negative effect of workers’ problem drinking. Decreased productivity as a result of alcohol consumption also has the effect of transferring responsibilities from problem-drinking workers to those who abstain during the work day. As problem-drinking workers struggle to maintain their position within their place of employment, subtle manipulations may occur to transfer daily tasks to other workers who may then become overburdened with not just their own work, but also the work of their problem-drinking co-worker.
Examining the relationship between impaired driving and past crash involvement in Europe: Insights from the ESRA study
Published in International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion, 2021
Apostolos Ziakopoulos, Athanasios Theofilatos, Alexandra Laiou, Eva Michelaraki, George Yannis, Tova Rosenbloom
Driving Under the Influence (DUI) is one of the most critical causes of crashes (Hetland & Carr, 2014; Spaanjaars et al., 2011); DUI of alcohol is considered a significant public health problem (Oh et al., 2020; Owen et al., 2019). Driving is a complex activity that mobilizes physical, mental and social skills. The consumption of alcohol and drugs significantly degrades these skills and generates negative effects (Yannis et al., 2019). It is well accepted that alcohol consumption can lead to risky and unsafe driving and thus, increase the frequency of crashes and related injuries and fatalities. About 40% of all traffic fatalities are associated with alcohol, which is regarded as the most important human cause of severe automobile crashes (Mitis & Sethi, 2012). As a consequence, many countries have imposed strict legal restrictions against driving under the influence (Rezaee-Zavareh et al., 2017).
Work-family role blurring and conflict among South African construction professionals
Published in Construction Management and Economics, 2021
The positive associations between work pressure and work-to-family conflict (large effect), between work-to-family conflict and depression (large effect), and between depression and sleep problems (medium effect) are cause for concern, underscoring the harmful effects of work pressure on family relationships and family well-being, as well as to the health of individual construction professionals. The associated link between sleep problems and alcohol consumption (medium effect) is an exacerbating factor. This has implications for the fiduciary responsibility of companies in their duty of care towards employees. Apart from using an appropriate work design and providing flexibility for employees to better manage work and family responsibilities as noted above, companies can also consider providing wellness and stress management programs to employees so that employees may better cope with stress arising from work–family conflict. Employees can learn positive coping techniques from these programs (e.g. exercise, resilience building) in dealing with stress so that they are more likely to maintain mental health and rely less on negative coping strategies such as alcohol consumption.
Mental health in underground coal miners
Published in Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health, 2018
Alice Constantino Joaquim, Maurício Lopes, Luana Stangherlin, Kamila Castro, Luciane Bisognin Ceretta, Willians Cassiano Longen, Fabiane Ferraz, Ingrid D. Schweigert Perry
On the other hand, the miners' location in the work front or rear, which was not associated to depression or anxiety in this study, finds similarity in the study by Liu et al.8 with Chinese miners. However, the consumption of alcohol, one of the common risk factors for mental disorders,5 was associated to the location in this study. It is necessary to highlight that among the actual alcohol consumers, which are 44% of the sample, about 40% do it predominantly on one or two days a week. We cannot forget that 8.9% of them have the habit of consuming alcohol more times a week. A study performed in Ukraine investigated the consume of alcohol in correlation to anxiety and depression in high-risk occupations, identifying that those individuals presented a more frequent alcohol consumption when compared to other workers, and also a higher risk of anxiety and depression.23 Another study in Australia found out that half the sample had alcohol consumption on a scale of risk. Linear regression analyses showed that factors such as smoking, use of illicit substances, history of alcohol consumption, and higher psychological distress contributed significantly to the consumption of alcohol. Moreover, the study showed that the underground miners had a higher alcohol consumption rate.33 Although there is apparently a restriction in alcohol consumption to one or two days a week, it is important to keep approaching this subject in health promotion programs.