Professor Peter Buckle (left), president of the Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors, presents the 2011 Liberty Mutual Award to Dr. Jan de Leede (right).
April 25, 2011
HOPKINTON, MA – Researchers from the Netherlands received the 2011 Liberty Mutual Award for their scientific paper, “Effects of the new fast forward rotating five-shift roster at a Dutch steel company.” The paper, published in Ergonomics (Vol. 53, No. 6, pp. 727-738, June 2010), discusses a scientific field study of a shift roster change at a large Dutch steel producer. The winning researchers include John Klein Hesselink, Ph.D., of TNO; Jan de Leede, Ph.D., of the University of Twente, Institute for Innovation and Governance Studies, and ModernWorkx; and Anneke Goudswaard, Ph.D., also of TNO. The award was presented at the recent Annual Conference of the Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors held at the Stoke Rochford Hall, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom.
The winning study investigated the effects of shift systems on worker health and safety. Researchers examined a new five-shift roster at Corus Steel (The Netherlands). The company previously used a backward rotating roster (three night shifts, two days off, three evening shifts, two days off, three morning shifts, and two days off). However, due to health risks in this roster, the company’s medical department proposed a new forward rotating roster (shifts that rotate from mornings into evening). In the new roster, employees worked successively four (two morning, two evening) and two (night) consecutive shifts; where as, the old roster used a three-shift format. Further, the old roster had only two days off following the night shifts versus three days off in the new roster.
The investigation included more than 4,600 shift workers, primarily men (more than 97% male workers) with an average age of 45 years. Almost all of the workers were full-time. The study examined data on reported accidents and absenteeism (due to sickness), as well as information from the health interviews. Researchers compared the data obtained from one year after the new roster implementation to that of the prior year. Further, the researchers evaluated the data of the experimental group (the five-shift workers) with the data of the day workers to control for general company developments.
The researchers found a 0.6% decrease in absence figures, particularly in mid-term sickness absence. Further, the study revealed improvements in health indicators, such as fatigue, musculoskeletal complaints, relationship of work and health, and workload in the year after implementation of the new roster. These positive effects were also stronger for older workers (50+ years old). The results were significantly more positive for the shift workers compared with the control group.
“We are honored to win this award,” says Dr. de Leede, the study’s corresponding author. “Our findings confirm the current ergonomics shift-work recommendations. The results are especially meaningful for older workers. Given the aging workforce, it is one of the measures for older workers to stay fit. It was a satisfying experience to conduct this study within a real-life context and to see the process of changing a shift system involving more than 4,600 people that had been in place for 25 years.”
The Best Paper Award promotes excellence in safety and health research. The annual Award, established in 2005 by the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety and the UK Institute for Ergonomics and Human Factors (formerly the Ergonomics Society), recognizes the paper published in the journal Ergonomics that best contributes to the advancement of ergonomics. The editors of Ergonomics, in conjunction with the Institute’s Honors Committee, select the winner from all of the papers published in the journal over the given year. All papers published in the journal are considered.
“The Liberty Mutual Award celebrates the best research published in Ergonomics,” says Roger Haslam, coordinating editor of Ergonomics. “I am pleased to congratulate Jan De Leede and his colleagues on winning the award. Their paper presents the findings of a major field study, with a large population of workers. We were impressed with its scope, scale, and outcomes. It is an excellent demonstration of the positive impact of ergonomics.”
About Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety
Owned and operated by Liberty Mutual Group, the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety has helped to improve the occupational safety and health of millions of workers for more than 50 years. Through laboratory and field-based investigations, the Research Institute seeks to advance scientific, business-relevant knowledge in workplace and highway safety and work disability. Research findings are shared with the worldwide health and safety community, and are ultimately used to develop recommendations, guidelines, and interventions that help reduce risk and control costs.
About Liberty Mutual
"Helping people live safer, more secure lives" since 1912, Boston-based Liberty Mutual Group is a diversified global insurer and fifth largest property and casualty insurer in the U.S. based on 2009 direct written premium. The Company also ranks 71st on the Fortune 500 list of largest corporations in the U.S. based on 2009 revenue. As of December 31, 2010, Liberty Mutual Group had $112.4 billion in consolidated assets, $95.4 billion in consolidated liabilities, and $33.2 billion in annual consolidated revenue.
Liberty Mutual Group offers a wide range of insurance products and services, including personal automobile, homeowners, workers compensation, commercial multiple peril, commercial automobile, general liability, global specialty, group disability, assumed reinsurance, fire, and surety. Liberty Mutual Group employs over 45,000 people in more than 900 offices throughout the world.
About Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors
The Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors, founded in 1949, is the professional body for researchers and practitioners in the field of ergonomics, with an international membership in excess of 1400. Its aim is to promote the awareness, education and application of ergonomics in industry, commerce, public sector and government.
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