Light treatment improves alertness, health, safety for offshore shift workers
Insomnia ranks as the second most common health complaint globally and is a common problem in offshore shift work environments. Poor quality of sleep can lead to lowered concentration, slower performance and difficulty thinking clearly. In turn, this can lead to increased risks for human error, lower productivity and more downtime on the rig. In this video from the 2017 IADC Drilling HSE&T Europe Conference on 28 September in Amsterdam, Koos Meijer, Founder of KM Human Factors Engineering, discusses a light treatment that focuses on the timing, duration, intensity and color of light exposure to activate and deactivate the brain.
During the last project, more than 150 shift workers were trained and guided in two interactive offshore workshops. The crew reported feeling less fatigued, more alert and more energized. The number of shift workers with a sleep quality grade of 8 or higher, on a 10-point scale, increased from 21% to 62% during the follow-up six months later. In addition, the number of shift workers that reported feeling fatigued during their shift was reduced by more than 80%.
