Claire Forshaw examines the night shift cancer threat
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More than 3.5m people are employed as shift workers in the UK. They work in a wide variety of industries including the emergency services, health care, utilities, transport, manufacturing, entertainment and retail.
Although medical research remains scarce and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is not due to publish its own findings until 2011 (Key risk factors are covered in detail in the HSE's new book Managing Shift Workers; Health and Safety Guidance), it is suggested that women who have worked night shifts for more than 30 years have an almost 40% greater risk of developing breast cancer. Those who have worked night shifts for less have a smaller, but still significant, increased risk.
Reasonable care
Employers have a duty to take reasonable care for their employees' safety and to not expose them to unreasonable risks. The standard of care expected of employers in discharge of their duty is well established and in Stokes v GKN [1968] Mr Justice Swanwick set out the “overall test” for “the conduct of
