If the socio-economic crisis that has derived directly from the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has, in many instances, necessitated shifts in income-earning pursuits that require millions of people the world over to change jobs and frequently, experience adjusted working hours, the World Health Organization (WHO) is cautioning against extended working hours that can result in serious health issues.
A recently released study by the WHO is making no secret of its caution that working more than fifty-five hours per week can have a longer term deleterious impact. “Working 55 hours or more per week is a serious health hazard,” Director of the WHO’s Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health, Maria Neira is quoted as saying.
Nor does the WHO make any secret of the fact that the timing of the report is not unrelated to the prevailing circumstances, declaring that the extant, and, for many countries, seemingly worsening COVID-19 pandemic, could be making things worse.
The WHO’s perspective on working hours and health is articulated in what, reportedly, is the first global study of the loss of life associated with longer working hours, a paper published in the journal Environment International. The study says, among other things, that 745,000 people died from stroke and heart disease associated with long working hours in 2016, marking a nearly 30% increase from 2000. Worryingly, the study suggests that as much as 9% of the total global population could be working ‘long hours’ to the extent of running health risks.
Neira says that the WHO is seeking to use the information regarding the links between working hours and health to “promote more action, more protection of workers.”
