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Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 48 (2017) 376e381

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries


journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jlp

Comparison of objective and subjective operator fatigue assessment


methods in offshore shiftwork
Ranjana K. Mehta a, b, *, S. Camille Peres a, b, Pranav Kannan c, Joohyun Rhee a,
Ashley E. Shortz a, M. Sam Mannan c
a
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3122, United States
b
Center for Remote Health Technologies and Systems, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3122, United States
c
Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3122,
United States

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The oil and gas extraction (OGE) industry continues to experience an elevated fatality rate; OGE workers
Received 26 January 2017 are exposed to intensive shift patterns and long work durations inherent in the OGE environment, which
Received in revised form can lead to fatigue, thereby increasing risks of incidents and injuries. As such, fatigue assessment
5 February 2017
methods play a critical role in identifying and subsequently managing fatigue in offshore operators. The
Accepted 15 February 2017
aims of this observational study were to explore the effect of offshore shiftwork on physiological and
Available online 16 February 2017
subjective fatigue outcomes. Ten male operators (age: 31.3 (6.1) years; stature: 1.72 (0.1) m; weight:
85.24 (9.8) kg) were monitored throughout their daily shifts for six days on an offshore drillship using
Keywords:
Shiftwork
intrinsically safer physiological sensors that recorded various physiological parameters. Additionally,
Heart rate existing subjective fatigue scales from the literature were employed to obtain perceptions of fatigue. Six
Physiological monitor of the ten operators underwent swing shift in the middle of the data collection period. Physiological
Sleep results indicate that overall average heart rate (an indicator of fatigue) were elevated for all operators and
remained elevated for those who started and ended their work on the day shift. Operators' subjective
reports of fatigue were relatively high for acute fatigue and intershift recovery as well as for lack of effort
and sleepiness; however, the physiological measures were not consistently correlated with the subjective
measures of fatigue. The study outcomes identified a critical gap in fatigue assessment in OGE opera-
tions; existing fatigue surveys for the general (or other) working populations are not comprehensive of
OGE operations and are thus not applicable for OGE workers, nor are they validated against physiological
fatigue outcomes in OGE workers.
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction 1331 OGE workers died while working, resulting in an annual fa-
tality rate seven times higher than that for all U.S. workers (BLS,
Worker fatigue is a critical occupational risk that has cost lives, 2015). Fatigue, generally defined as a physiological state of
injured workers, disrupted productivity, with economic losses reduced mental or physical performance capability resulting from
estimated at $18 billion a year (Caruso, 2014; Lerman et al., 2012). sleep loss, circadian phase, and workload, has been implicated as a
This is a big problem, particularly in the oil and gas extraction (OGE) serious risk factor in a majority of the cases affecting worker safety
industry, as OGE workers are exposed to intensive shift patterns (Mason et al., 2015; Retzer et al., 2013). To address this growing
and long work durations, coupled with intense physical and mental concern, both industry and federal agencies have determined that
workload inherent of the OGE environment. From 2003 to 2014, “decreasing fatigue-related injuries and fatalities in the OGE industry”
is one of their top strategic research (to practice) priorities.
In offshore operations, fatigue is predominantly considered a
* Corresponding author. Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, consequence of two sources: an insufficiency of sleep (or poor
Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3122, United States. quality of sleep) and the 24-h circadian cycle in wakefulness and
E-mail addresses: rmehta@tamu.edu (R.K. Mehta), peres@tamu.edu (S.C. Peres),
alertness. Fatigue, due to sleep loss and extended wakefulness, is
Pranav.kannan92@tamu.edu (P. Kannan), rhee@sph.tamhsc.edu (J. Rhee), ashortz@
sph.tamhsc.edu (A.E. Shortz), mannan@tamu.edu (M. Sam Mannan). typically managed through shift and time management. Work

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jlp.2017.02.009
0950-4230/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
R.K. Mehta et al. / Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 48 (2017) 376e381 377

schedules are typically 12 h of work followed by 12 h off-work, in 2. Methods


two shifts, day and night. Structurally, this provides the opportunity
for rest; however, having time for rest and getting rest are not 2.1. Participants
necessarily the same. Night shift workers report not getting enough
sleep during the day, as much as two to four hours less than they Operators were recruited onboard a drillship in the Gulf of
would if working a day shift. Maintenance of peak performance is Mexico using a protocol approved by Texas A&M's Institutional
time-limited and is compromised at night. There is considerable Review Board. Operator recruitment was based on their ability to
evidence that incidents will be more likely to occur between 3 a.m. take time away from their post to speak to the researchers and,
and 6 a.m. in the morning e corresponding with the low point in after being informed of the requirements and purposes of the
the circadian cycle (Mitler et al., 1988). Additional sleep loss is re- study, their willingness to participate. From approximately thirty to
ported when workers transition between shifts (Santhi et al., 2007). forty operators who attended the recruitment event, ten operators
Because ~40% fatalities in OGE workers occur due to transportation volunteered to participate in the study. Upon consent, they
crashes, particularly as workers return home from their offshore completed a set of surveys; a demographics data survey including
shifts (Mason et al., 2015), a recently adopted remediating fatigue age, height, weight; work history survey, i.e., years in the industry
management practice observed in offshore environments are and years in current job (see Table 1). They then participated in a
“swing shifts”. In the swing shifts, workers' shifts (either day or structured interview regarding their perceptions of fatigue (results
night) are rotated mid-way through their stay offshore (Parkes not presented here). The entire protocol was about 1 ½ hours. Shift
et al., 1997; Ross, 2009) to ensure that workers are adapted to times on the rig was categorized into Day (6 a.m.e6 p.m. and 12
day shifts their last day offshore. However, a disadvantage of swing p.m.e12 a.m.) and Night (6 p.m.e6 a.m. and 12 a.m.e12 p.m.) shifts.
shift is that the workers need to adapt to a new rhythm while on Original shift times for each operator was recorded (refer to Table 2)
their offshore assignment; these changes in rhythms introduce and 6 of the 10 operators underwent swing shifts.
concerns for the health and safety of the workers (Lauridsen and
Tønnesen, 1990; Parkes et al., 1997). Despite the 12-h of non- 2.2. Procedures
work, sleep debt due to swing shift work can adversely affect
operator physiological responses and cognitive performance. After study familiarization, various fatigue surveys and a work
Short-term sleep loss is associated with diminished clinical per- questionnaire was administered to each operator. Starting with the
formance, cognitive functioning, memory, and vigilance. Sleep first day of participation, operators were instrumented with phys-
deprivation ranging from 24 to 48 h has shown to impair perfor- iological sensors, which consisted of a sensor belt worn across their
mance across many cognitive domains (Thomas et al., 2000). This is chest and the sensor was attached to the belt (details on sensors
alarming, as drill workers on a typical 14-day rotation will work below). The sensors were instrumented at the start of each oper-
84 h in a week. ator's 12-h shift and returned to the research team at the end of
One of the major barriers that currently impact the develop- each shift.
ment of effective fatigue mitigation practices in OGE workers is the Main study outcomes collected during the data collection phase
assessment of fatigue. Fatigue is a complex multidimensional included the inventory of fatigue scales, as well as the work ques-
construct, and its definition and assessment differs based on tionnaire, collected on day 1, and physiological sensor data
different occupations (Dittner et al., 2004; Witter et al., 2014). collected continuously for 6 days. The study duration was selected
Objective indicators of fatigue may include operational outcomes, based on two considerations, which include minimizing interfer-
such as declines in rig productivity, performance outcomes, such as ence to operators' daily work and addressing the constraints
decrements in operator performance, or physiological outcomes, associated with operators' shiftwork schedules to ensure all oper-
such as elevated heart rate and respiration rates. Subjective in- ators who volunteered could be monitored for the same length of
dicators of fatigue may be obtained using surveys, interviews, sleep time. Some of the operators completed the inventory of fatigue
logs, etc. While the former method offers high precision and val- scales additional times throughout their hitch, i.e., 10 completed the
idity, the latter is a feasible assessment method. The selection of a first surveys, 5 operators completed a second set of survey, and 2
valid indicator to assess fatigue in the complex, multi-component completed a third set of surveysdcreating a total of 17 complete set
tasks of an offshore environment is challenging. Fatigue may be of surveys. Given that not all the operators complete the surveys
distinguished not just in relation to the sources, i.e., sleep loss due three times, these surveys were all treated as individual responses
to shiftwork or intense workload, that aggravate the condition but for statistical analyses.
also to the responses that indicate a fatigued state, i.e., performance
decrement or elevated heart rate. For example, decrements in 2.2.1. Inventory of fatigue scales
performance metrics may indicate a fatigued state but these per- The operators completed several paper-based questionnaires
formance changes alone cannot indicate the source of the fatigue available in the fatigue literature that provided subjective assess-
and thus cannot inform fatigue mitigation strategies. To assess ments of different aspects of fatigue that are commonly experi-
operator fatigue in offshore OGE environments, it is important to enced by OGE operators. The Swedish Occupation Fatigue Inventory
first distinguish the physiological consequences (or cost to main- (SOFI) provided 5 fatigue sub-scale assessments (physical exertion,
tain performance) of operator workload (Lorist and Faber, 2011). physical discomfort, sleepiness, lack of energy, and lack of
This in turn can facilitate development of fatigue mitigation/inter-
vention strategies that are robust and evidence-driven.
The main aim of this study was to determine the relationship Table 1
Descriptive statistics of operators. N ¼ 10.
between shiftwork and physiological responses in operators in
offshore OGE operations. A secondary aim was to explore the Mean SEM Median Min Max
effectiveness of subjective scales available in the literature to assess Age (yrs.) 31.0 2.06 29.5 23 41
operator fatigue levels. Operators employed in offshore OGE oper- Height (inches) 67.7 0.87 67.5 63 72
ations were followed during one of their offshore work assign- Weight (lbs.) 192.1 6.75 190.0 170 250
ments, and quantitative data (inventory of various fatigue scales Years in Industry (yrs.) 8.2 1.95 5.5 2 20
Years in Current Job (yrs.) 3.2 0.55 3.0 1 7
and physiological monitoring) was collected during their shiftwork.
378 R.K. Mehta et al. / Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 48 (2017) 376e381

Table 2 three days after the measure (later in the shift) were obtained. For
Number of operators in each shift. N ¼ 10. those who did not change shifts during their hitch, the middle day
Shift Time Earlier in Hitch Later in Hitch of the data collection period were identified and the average of the
6am 2 3
measures three days before and three days after that middle day
12pm (noon) 5 0 was obtained. Because of the observational nature of the study, this
6pm 1 1 method enabled comparison of the physiological measures of those
12am (midnight) 2 6 who did and did not change shift in a somewhat equitable way,
Note: ‘Hitch’ is used to indicate the duration of the continued work period of an albeit imperfect.
operator employed on the drillship. Operators recruited in this study completed a
28-day hitch on the drillship.
2.3. Statistical analyses

motivation; Åhsberg et al., 1997), the Occupational Fatigue To identify effects of time on hitch (Within: earlier/later in the
Exhaustion Recovery (OFER) provided 3 sub-scales (acute fatigue, hitch), Shift Time (Between: Day/Night), and Swing (Between:
chronic fatigue, and inter shift recovery; Winwood et al., 2005), the whether the person changed their shift day from day to night or
Fatigue-Related Symptoms Questionnaire (F-RSQ) provided 2 sub- vice versa), effects on the physiological variables, separate mixed
scales (physical and mental fatigue; Chalder et al., 1993), and the effects analyses of variance (ANOVA) was done for each of the heart
Fatigue Scale (FAS) provided one unidimensional score of overall rate variables (minimum, maximum, & average HR) for stationary
fatigue (Michielsen et al., 2004). Additionally, a questionnaire on and ambulatory activities, as well as average ambulation during the
working environment, which included items specific to the phys- ambulatory activities. To identify relations between the fatigue
ical, mental, and psychosocial demands, was administered to scales and the physiological variables, Pearson's correlations were
identify work risk factors. done with the survey responses and the physiological measures
from the day the person completed the survey.

2.2.2. Physiological indicators of fatigue 3. Results and discussion


Operators were instrumented with physiological sensors (EQ02
LifeMonitor, Equivital™, Cambridge, UK), capable of logging phys- 3.1. Physiological profiles of operator fatigue with shiftwork
iological data describing physiological status, such as electrocar-
diography, respiratory inductance plethysmography, posture/ Descriptives of the physiological fatigue indicators are pre-
activity, and skin temperature collected at 250 Hz. The validity, sented in Table 3. In general, physiological responses were higher
reliability, and applicability of this system for sleep (van Wouwe during ambulatory activities when compared to stationary activ-
et al., 2011) and ambulatory monitoring of multiple physiological ities. These findings provide support to the formulation of stable HR
parameters during construction and firefighting work have been profiles derived for field research; however, further validation of
previously demonstrated (Gatti et al., 2014; Liu et al., 2013; Savage these profiles are warranted in controlled (simulated) work
et al., 2014). Based on the current work physiology literature, heart environments.
rate (HR) was selected as the primary fatigue indicator in this study As seen in Fig. 1, there were effects for maximum ambulatory HR
as it has shown to be sensitive to changes in physical and mental and Ambulation, while all other physiological indicators were not
fatigue (Borg, 1998; Borg et al., 1987; Hankins and Wilson, 1998), as affected by the study variables (p's > 0.10). The maximum ambu-
well as sleep and circadian issues (Carney et al., 2014; Kang et al., latory HR generally increased over the hitch; however, this effect
2015; Lemmer et al., 2016; Oriyama et al., 2014; Smith et al., 2013). did not reach traditional levels of significance (F (1, 6) ¼ 3.55,
Beats per minute was obtained from the raw electrocardiogram p ¼ 0.109, h2p ¼ 0.371). There was a significant difference between
(ECG) signals (Cardiology, 1996) and artifact readings and outliers the maximum ambulatory HR for the Day and Night early in hitch
were excluded from ambulatory ECG (Crawford et al., 1999; shifts (F (1, 6) ¼ 15.9, p ¼ 0.007, h2p ¼ 0.73) with the Day shift having
Vrijkotte et al., 2000) in conjunction with accelerometer data ob- higher HR levels (MEAN ¼ 198.5 bpm, SD ¼ 11.2) than the Night
tained from the sensor (Pandia et al., 2010; Sweeney et al., 2012). All shift (MEAN ¼ 141.9 bpm, SD ¼ 15.4). There was an interaction
physiological data during the operator's 12-h shift was primarily between shift earlier in hitch and swing (Non-swing/Swing) with
categorized based on activity levels (stationary and ambulatory). the difference in maximum ambulatory HR between Non-swing/
For each activity classification, stable HR bouts (±5 bpm) of at least Swing being much higher for the Day shift earlier than for the
4 min duration were identified over the course of a work day. From Night shift earlier, F (1, 6) ¼ 7.9, p ¼ 0.03, h2p ¼ 0.57.
the identified stable HR bouts the following parameters were The average ambulation increased over the hitch (F (1, 6) ¼ 5.97
computed per activity: the minimum, average, and maximum HR p ¼ 0.05, h2p ¼ 0.50; Fig. 2) and there was an interaction between
levels for each of the 6 days. These parameters provide greater change in ambulation over the shift and Day/Night earlier in the
resolution and sensitivity of overall HR patterns observed across
each activity classification during a shift. Additionally, ambulation
levels were numerically coded; 1: stationary, 2: moving slowly, 3: Table 3
Heart rate (HR) measures for the entire period operators wore the sensors.
moving fast. Average ambulation levels during the ambulatory ac-
tivities (i.e., moving slowly and moving fast) were also calculated. Mean SEM Median Minimum Maximum
There were three main sets of physiological measurements Activity classification: Stationary
necessary for statistical analysis. The first sets were those from the Minimum HR (bpm) 69.4 3.4 68.6 53.2 87.8
day the operators completed the surveys. To capture these data, the Average HR (bpm) 87.4 5.2 84.0 69.7 123.0
Maximum HR (bpm) 121.9 11.4 103.3 89.4 187.6
measures described above for the day the operator completed the
Activity classification: Ambulatory
survey were used. The next two were measurements from imme- Minimum HR (bpm) 71.9 3.4 71.3 56.2 92.2
diately before and after the operators completed a swing shift (for Average HR (bpm) 108.9 7.8 107.0 81.4 152.7
those who changed shifts). To capture these measurementsdfor Maximum HR (bpm) 180.7 15.4 180.3 106.9 263.2
those operators who had a swing shiftdthe average of the mea- Average Ambulation
(scale 1e3) 1.4 0.0 1.3 1.2 1.6
sures three days before the swing shift (earlier in the shift) and
R.K. Mehta et al. / Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 48 (2017) 376e381 379

Fig. 1. Maximum ambulatory HR by Time of first shift (Day/Night earlier in hitch), Time of second shift (Day/Night later in hitch), and change during the hitch (Earlier/Later). Error
bars represent the standard error of the mean. N ¼ 10.

Fig. 2. Average Ambulation by Time of first shift (Day/Night earlier in hitch), Time of second shift (Day/Night later in hitch), and change during the hitch (Earlier/Later). Error bars
represent the standard error.

hitch with there being a greater increase in ambulation over the 3.2. Operator perceptions of fatigue
shift for those who started their shift during the day than those
who started at night, F (1, 6) ¼ 6.27, p ¼ 0.05, h2p ¼ 0.51. All other Descriptives of the fatigue scales are presented in Table 4. In
possible main effects or interactions had p's > 0.06. general, operators perceived higher acute and inter shift fatigue
In general, studies have shown association between swing shifts (from the OFER scale), lack of effort and sleepiness (from the SOFI
and altered physiological changes, and that these alterations scale), and increased Work Demand, Work Pace, and Repetitive
further depend on time of shift (Lauridsen and Tønnesen, 1990; Strain Injury (from the working environment survey).
Parkes et al., 1997). In the present study, the earlier/later in the
hitch differences (or lack thereof) in physiological indicators of fa-
tigue in operators who underwent swing shifts were lower than 3.3. Comparison of physiological and survey responses
those who did not. Against expectations, the operators who started
in the day shift and remained in the day shifts showed the most Pearson correlations of physiological responses from the day the
increase in HR levels. It is likely that their job demanded greater operators completed the surveys and their survey responses is
efforts, which is moderately evident from the ambulation data (see presented in Table 5. The primary purpose of correlation analyses
Fig. 2). It is also possible that environmental factors, such as tem- was to identify whether indicators of fatigue, across objective and
perature, may have influenced HR responses. Due to the small subjective methods, measured operator fatigue similarly. Physical
sample size in each of the sub-groups identified, results need to be discomfort was positively associated with minimum HR during
cautiously interpreted. Finally, even though the HR levels of oper- stationary activities; however although significant correlations
ators on swing shifts, particularly those that began on a night shift between FAS scale and maximum HR during ambulatory activities
and ended on a day shift, remained relatively similar, on an average, and inter shift recovery sub-scale from OFER and minimum HR
most of these operators had HR levels well above the average were found, but opposite to what was expected. Additionally, when
resting HR range of 60e100 bpm. comparing perceptions of work risk factors and physiological re-
sponses, Work Demands was the only risk factor strongly
380 R.K. Mehta et al. / Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 48 (2017) 376e381

Table 4 physiological responses is concerning. These findings, while pre-


Descriptives of surveys and subscales. The response scales are indicated with each liminary, highlights an important gap that an OGE domain-specific
survey. Higher values are indicative of higher levels of fatigue.
fatigue assessment method is needed that is validated against
Mean SEM physiological outcomes of fatigue, particularly given that there
FAS (1e5) 1.76 0.13 exist effective fatigue scales for other industry domains (Åhsberg
F-RSQ (0e8) et al., 1997; Zhang et al., 2015).
Overall 2.12 0.46 In regards to the feasibility of adopting survey-based fatigue
Cognitive 1.47 0.41
assessments for offshore operations, it was observed that on
Physical 0.65 0.21
OFER (0e6) average, it took operators approximately 45 min to complete all the
Acute Fatigue 4.14 0.41 questionnaires and most of the questions and wording were not
Inter shift Recovery 3.94 0.34 clear to them. Future qualitative studies are warranted that deter-
Chronic Fatigue 2.02 0.28
mine the temporal requirements of survey measurements, i.e.,
SOFI (0e6)
Lack of Effort 3.45 0.49
when and how often should surveys be administered. Moreover,
Sleepiness 3.31 0.46 more information is needed on how the surveys need to be
Physical Effort 1.82 0.41 administered. Informal feedback obtained from operators sug-
Lack of Motivation 1.64 0.38 gested that fatigue assessment methods need to be tailored to align
Physical Demand 1.51 0.29
with existing worker behavior on safety reporting methods, which
Working Environment (1e6)
Work Demand 5.28 0.14 in turn could offer better compliance rates and chances of sus-
Work Pace 4.78 0.19 tainability than introducing new reporting behaviors. These initial
Repetitive Strain Injury 4.7 0.21 findings, while preliminary and obtained from one company,
Physical Environment 2.83 0.25 clearly indicate that using fatigue questionnaires from the litera-
Comfort 2.23 0.11
Pain 2.09 0.23
ture is not feasible, comprehensive, or sufficiently relevant for the
Safety 1.98 0.15 OGE workers. This presents challenges in identifying high-risk
workers and developing fatigue management practices that are
targeted and effective in reducing fatigue-related incidents in the
correlated to maximum HR during stationary activities. While re- OGE industry.
petitive strain risk was correlated across several HR variables, the Physiological (and wearable) fatigue monitoring systems are
observed association was against general expectations. gaining rapid attention, particularly in the transportation and
It is clear from this analysis that except for the physical aviation sectors (Borghini et al., 2014; Jung et al., 2014; Lal et al.,
discomfort sub-scale from SOFI, none of the subjective fatigue 2003), however given the hazardous nature of OGE work condi-
scales, or the work risk factor survey, are significantly associated tions, passive or real-time monitoring of physiological indicators of
with any of the HR variables. This could be due to: the low sample fatigue present safety risks due to sensor materials being
size; that these scales are not associated with the attributes of fa- explosion-prone in hazardous volatile rig environments. As such,
tigue associated with HR; or that the existing measures are not subjective fatigue assessment methods may in fact enable viable,
effective at capturing fatigue in the OGE environment. While the safe, and sustainable evaluations of fatigue risks in OGE work en-
physiological profiles highlighted the detrimental effects of shift- vironments. The development of a reliable, sensitive, and valid fa-
work on HR responses, the lack of association between operator tigue assessment survey that takes into consideration not only the
perceptions of fatigue using existing fatigue scales and the various OGE-specific sources of fatigue, but also the barriers

Table 5
Pearson Correlations of physiological responses from the day the operators completed the surveys and their survey responses. Significant correlations are highlighted in bold
and italics and have an*. The measures on Physical Discomfort and Repetitive Strain Injury were the only ones to correlate with more than one physiological measure.

Stationary activities Ambulatory activities Ambulation

Min HR Avg HR Max HR Min HR Avg HR Max HR

Measures of Fatigue
FAS (Usual fatigue) 0.14 0.16 0.19 0.22 0.22 0.54* 0.30
F-RSQ (Overall) 0.02 0.47 0.13 0.29 0.17 0.12 0.34
F-RSQ (Physical) 0.01 0.38 0.34 0.33 0.33 0.43 0.14
F-RSQ (Cognitive) 0.02 0.32 0.04 0.15 0.02 0.09 0.30
SOFI (Lack of Effort) 0.04 0.34 0.17 0.33 0.19 0.11 0.23
SOFI (Lack of Motivation) 0.36 0.01 0.18 0.04 0.23 0.07 0.55*
SOFI (Physical Discomfort) 0.59* 0.12 0.14 0.13 0.25 0.10 0.60*
SOFI (Physical Effort) 0.47 0.10 0.19 0.11 0.26 0.13 0.61*
SOFI (Sleepiness) 0.03 0.41 0.05 0.34 0.15 0.14 0.32
OFER (Chronic Fatigue) 0.33 0.04 0.08 0.11 0.12 0.14 0.38
OFER (Acute Fatigue) 0.02 0.31 0.06 0.32 0.18 0.30 0.13
OFER (Inter shift Recovery) 0.24 0.47 0.10 0.60* 0.27 0.44 0.14
Working Environment
Physical Environment 0.01 0.29 0.47 0.20 0.26 0.01 0.23
Repetitive Strain Risks 0.35 0.54* 0.40 0.32 0.56* 0.63** 0.13
Pain 0.11 0.18 0.11 0.12 0.02 0.29 0.36
Work Pace 0.00 0.48 0.45 0.35 0.35 0.04 0.04
Work Demands 0.01 0.24 0.55* 0.23 0.45 0.20 0.44
Safety 0.37 0.10 0.11 0.12 0.07 0.38 0.11
Comfort 0.20 0.22 0.01 0.39 0.07 0.16 0.30

** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).


* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
R.K. Mehta et al. / Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 48 (2017) 376e381 381

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