Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of working night shifts on the mental health of workers.

Reducing ill health at work is an important area of focus for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), as outlined in their strategic objectives. One of the ways this is achieved is supporting employers to protect their workers’ mental health and keep them in the workforce. Having considered the impact of shift work on health and safety, HSE has published guidance for employers to support them in managing the risk (Managing shift work [HSG 256], published in 2006) which includes many factors that are relevant to mental health.

Under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 all employers have a duty, so far as it is reasonably practicable, to protect the health, safety, and welfare at work of all their employees. Specifically, the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require employers to assess health and safety risks to employees and to put in place arrangements to control those risks. Therefore, if an employer assesses shift work as a risk to mental health, they should introduce control measures including those outlined in the guidance.