Working long hours is a serious health hazard: WHO Study

Working long hours is killing hundreds of thousands of people a year in a worsening trend that may accelerate due to the COVID-19 pandemic, says the World Health Organization in its latest study. It highlighted that 745,000 people died from stroke and heart disease associated with long working hours in 2016. This was an increase of nearly 30% from 2000.

Long working hours are a ubiquitous phenomenon amongst most organizations and companies where the length of time spending on work, comprising main tasks of jobs, related tasks, commuting and travel is too long and detrimental to the health of workers directly or indirectly. It should be noted that this is before the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The joint study by WHO and International Labour Organization showed that most victims (72%) were men and middle-aged or older. And the deaths often occurred much later in life – decades later than the shifts worked. It highlighted that people living in Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific region, which includes China, Japan and Australia, were the most affected.

Maria Neira, director of the WHO’s Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health, said working 55 hours or more per week is a serious health hazard. “What we want to do with this information is promote more action, more protection of workers,” she said.

The study drew focus on the fact that working 55 hours or more a week is associated with a 35% higher risk of stroke and a 17% higher risk of dying from ischemic heart disease compared with 35-40 hour working week.

WHO officials believe the surge in remote working and the global economic slowdown resulting from the coronavirus pandemic may have increased the risks. “The pandemic is accelerating developments that could feed the trend towards increased working time,” the WHO said. It estimates that at least 9% of people work long hours.

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Epidemiological studies have shown the negative effects of long working hours on the risks of cardiovascular diseases, chronic fatigue, stress, depressive state, anxiety, sleep quality, all-cause mortality, alcohol use and smoking, and self-perceived health, mental health status, hypertension and health behaviours. Moreover, excessive working hours increase the risk of occupational injury.