Shift Workers in Nigeria; Regulating the Hours and Saving Lives

Shift workers are employed to work outside the regular daytime working hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The work in this category is based on an operational schedule characterized by rotation or fixed periods extending evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays. The majority of shift workers perform work deemed ‘Essential’ to the livelihood and stability of an economy. Workers in sectors like healthcare, manufacturing, transportation, Security and emergency services dominate this category. ?The irregular work pattern of this category of workers makes regulation of working hours germane to their welfare. Nations of the world are obliged to implement and enforce labour codes and standards to prevent abuse despite the irregularity in a working environment that requires continuous operations or services.

The level of compliance with global standards concerning the working hours of shift workers differs and the scorecard of Nigeria is tested by recent events and the general welfare of workers

The recent death of a young Nigerian Doctor, Micheal Umoh, who lost his life hours after allegedly working a 72-hour non-stop shift at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, Lagos on the 17th of September, 2023. Doctors under the aegis of the Association of Resident Doctors, LUTH chapter attested to the fact that the young doctor was, in fact, overworked.

“There have been several other reports of medical personnel dying as a result of harsh working conditions and other forms of negligence, thus robbing the country of her best brains.'

Rt. Honourable Benjamin Kalu

The Nigerian House of Representatives on the 10th October, 2023 resolved that Committees on Health Institutions and Labour and Employment Institutions carry out an investigation and report back within six weeks. We are yet to receive an official report in this regard. The effect of being overworked is fatigue, causing the breakdown of the physical and mental health of workers, especially those in this category.

The global standard for working hours is pegged at 8 hours per day and 48 hours per week, excluding overtime hours or 40 hours per week. The International Labour Organization encourages Governments to progressively reduce the normal hours of work from 48 hours to 40 hours while balancing the national needs and industrial customs with the need to avoid wage reduction of workers.

For Shift workers, working 24 hours per shift is inconsistent with the principles of international labour standards concerning working time and permitting a 72-hour working streak is dehumanizing and falls far below international best practices. This is one of several reasons that triggered the migration of medical personnel to saner climes.

Deducing from the established principles and standards applicable to all workers, including those engaged in shift work, the ILO's Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, 1919 (No. 1), the Hours of Work (Commerce and Offices) Convention, 1930 (No. 30), set guidelines for reasonable working hours and conditions. The ILO's Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 1981 (No. 155), and its accompanying Recommendation (No. 164) provide a framework for ensuring the health and safety of workers, which applies more to shift workers than any other categories of workers. In recognition of the peculiar needs of shift workers, adequate provisions must be made for the health, safety, and welfare of this class of workers.

Many countries have national regulations and guidelines that address shift workers and Nigeria is one of the countries yet to make adequate regulations relating to hours of work generally and addressing shift workers specifically. The maximum limit of 56 hours weekly is allowed in extreme circumstances. There is never a contemplation of a 72-hour working streak. A competent authority is empowered to issue regulations determining the number of additional hours of work which may be allowed in the day, after consultations with the employers’ and workers’ organizations.

The Nigerian Labour Act did not make specific provisions that cater for the needs of shift workers. The closest provision that affects this category of worker is section 55 which generally exempts women from night work with the exemption of Nurses and women in managerial positions in the public and private sector. Young persons under the age of 16 are also exempted from night work subject to certain exceptions.

While the above provisions protect women and young persons from undergoing night work, the protection is not extended to shift workers by setting and enforcing the maximum hours a worker is allowed to work and the limit for overtime including the overtime wages payable. The Act is silent on hours of work for shift workers but gives the Minister of Labour and Employment the power to make regulations and this power covers setting a maximum working hours for shift workers to prevent abuse and incidents of fatigue and unfair labour practices as it relates to hours of work. Shift working conditions alter the life-work balance and sleep patterns as excessive working hours can lead to fatigue, as well as cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and mental health disorders. Fatigue can contribute to a higher incidence of accidents, injuries, decreased productivity and poorer quality of work.

There is no doubt that workers in this category are making a huge sacrifice for the greater good and stability of the Nigerian economy and their welfare should be of utmost priority to the Government and stakeholders in the Nigerian labour and industrial sector. The Minister should collaborate with the relevant labour unions and employer associations to draw up regulations that cater adequately for the needs of this category of workers in all sectors of the economy. This is the pathway to preserving our human capital and saving the lives of Nigerian workers.

?Reference

1.???? Forty-Hour Week Convention, 1935 (No. 47)

2.???? The ILO Hours of Work (Industry) Convention (No. 1) of 1919

3.???? The Nigerian Labour Act

4. Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, 1919 (No. 1)????

5. Hours of Work (Commerce and Offices) Convention, 1930 ( No.30)

6.???? Fourty-Hours Week Convention, 1935 (No.47)

7.???? Punch Online News 10th October, 2023.