Standard working hours may connote the need to work 8 hours a day, five times a week, but in reality many industries and businesses work on a completely different hourly system. Leaving aside office work and occupations associated with typical white-collar work, a large discrepancy in the hourly system is noted among occupations that require physical labor. Thus, a miner's work month will look slightly different from the hours of a forklift operator, construction worker, warehouse worker or operator at a production line. Which industry has the shortest and longest working hours?
1. construction industry
At the first place of our list, according to data published by the Central Statistical Office, is the construction industry in general. This is where the most hours of work per week are recorded, with an average of more than 42 hours. Interestingly, more working hours per week are faced mainly by construction workers employed in the private sector, for whom 10-hour shifts often seem to be standard. Why such a demand for more working hours? The construction industry is highly dependent on the prevailing weather conditions outside, and while much work can be done in heavy rain or cold temperatures, any delay caused by the worse conditions has to be made up somehow. Tight deadlines and work that depends on suppliers of construction materials are also often a problem.
How do long working hours affect safety in the construction industry? Above all, workers must be given a minimum of one and preferably two longer breaks during which they can recuperate and regain their concentration. The more fatigue at the end of a shift, the greater the risk of accidents, and no employer can afford them.
2 Warehouses and shipping
Employees in warehouses and loading centers, where shifts also often last 8-10 hours a day, must also prepare for slightly more than the standard 40 hours of weekly working time. Both those who operate forklifts and those who operate shelving or machinery in the sorting center often work two or three shifts, ensuring maximum efficiency of the facility during all hours of operation.
But what does working such hours look like in terms of health and safety? Workers here can count on adequate breaks and better regulation of the microclimate in the work environment than the previously mentioned construction workers. Forklift operators, however, are required to maintain maximum focus at all times - even minor mistakes can pose a risk here. The use of appropriate safety and health and safety products can significantly improve productivity even when the workload exceeds an eight-hour workday.
3 Oil rigs
Oil rig workers typically work 12 hours a day in a mode that is quite unprecedented in other heavy industries. Due to the need to be away from home and the inability to return home at the end of a shift, employees on oil rigs work in a 14/14 or 28/28 mode, meaning they work 14 days at a time and return home for 14 more days, or 28 days at a time, respectively. This is hourly by far one of the most demanding occupations, but both the pay and, above all, the safety measures in place are adjusted so that workers can demonstrate the highest efficiency throughout the working day.
4 Metallurgical industry
Employees performing their tasks in an environment with a warm microclimate should be provided with appropriate working conditions and adequately measured working hours. In the case of the metallurgical industry, where temperatures at the furnaces remain very high, many employers use shift work, with single shifts lasting no more than 6 hours. The overheating human body tires much faster, which also forces the employer to use additional solutions to guarantee optimal working conditions for employees even where the use of more durable and heavier protective clothing is a necessity.
5 Mining
As with the above, the work of miners involves a high risk of warm microclimates. As a result, hourly working hours are being reduced to 6 hours in many mines, although many also continue to use 8-hour shifts. Three-shift, round-the-clock work is still common here, allowing underground work to move forward continuously. Miners work less among the aforementioned industries, but the risks involved in their work do not allow the daily working hours of a single worker to be extended. What's more, miners are likely to retire much sooner than the other professions mentioned. And all this is precisely due to the effort and risks they are exposed to every day.
Hourly working hours depend largely on the requirements of the industry in question, but also on the working conditions it provides. In the context of occupational health and safety, one rule of thumb can usually be followed - the more difficult the working conditions and the greater the danger to employees, the shorter the working hours and the greater the chance to recover and return to full concentration. Only in this way, with the support of the right health and safety products, can full occupational safety be ensured in any environment today.
