Labour Research April 2003

Health & Safety Matters

Safety breaks

Regular breaks cut the risk of incidents at work, new research shows. Based on a study at a car plant in the UK, researchers say that regular short breaks - such as 10 minutes every hour - can cut the risk of accidents. They say: "Regular rest breaks seem to be an effective way to control accumulation of risk during industrial shift work."

"Rest breaks and accident risk", P.Tucker, S.Folkard, I.Macdonald, The Lancet, vol.361, 2003, available online at www.thelancet.com/