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Fatigue and short-term unplanned absences among police officers

Samantha Riedy (Sleep and Performance Research Center, Washington State University, Spokane, Washington, USA) (Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, Washington State University, Spokane, Washington, USA)
Drew Dawson (Appleton Institute, Central Queensland University, Wayville, Australia)
Desta Fekedulegn (Bioanalytics Branch, Health Effects Laboratory Division, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA)
Michael Andrew (Bioanalytics Branch, Health Effects Laboratory Division, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA)
Bryan Vila (Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Washington State University, Spokane, Washington, USA) (Sleep and Performance Research Center, Washington State University, Spokane, Washington, USA)
John M. Violanti (Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, School of Public Health and Health Professions, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, New York, USA)

Policing: An International Journal

ISSN: 1363-951X

Article publication date: 30 April 2020

Issue publication date: 2 June 2020

481

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to assess whether shift work, sleep loss and fatigue are related to short-term unplanned absences in policing.

Design/methodology/approach

N = 367 police officers from the Buffalo Police Department were studied. Day-by-day work and sick leave data were obtained from the payroll. Absenteeism was defined as taking a single sick day on a regularly scheduled workday. Biomathematical models of fatigue (BMMF) predicted officers' sleep–wake behaviors and on-duty fatigue and sleepiness. Prior sleep, fatigue and sleepiness were tested as predictors of absenteeism during the next shift.

Findings

A total of 513,666 shifts and 4,868 cases of absenteeism were studied. The odds of absenteeism increased as on-duty fatigue and sleepiness increased and prior sleep decreased. This was particularly evident for swing shift officers and night shift officers who were predicted by BMMF to obtain less sleep and have greater fatigue and sleepiness than day shift officers. The odds of absenteeism were higher for female officers than male officers; this finding was not due to a differential response to sleep loss, fatigue or sleepiness.

Practical implications

Absenteeism may represent a self-management strategy for fatigue or compensatory behavior to reduced sleep opportunity. Long and irregular work hours that reduce sleep opportunity may be administratively controllable culprits of absenteeism.

Originality/value

Police fatigue has consequences for police officers, departments and communities. BMMF provide a potential tool for predicting and mitigating police fatigue. BMMF were used to investigate the effects of sleep and fatigue on absenteeism.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Support: The Buffalo Cardio-Metabolic Occupational Police Stress study was funded by CDC/NIOSH grant 1R01OH009640-01A1 and NIJ grant 2005-FS-BX-0004.*Shared senior authorship.We thank InterDynamics for providing the first-author with a FAID Quantum Research License.Disclosure statement: Drew Dawson, PhD derives income from royalties associated with the use of FAID Quantum. The remaining authors do not have any disclosures to report. The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Citation

Riedy, S., Dawson, D., Fekedulegn, D., Andrew, M., Vila, B. and Violanti, J.M. (2020), "Fatigue and short-term unplanned absences among police officers", Policing: An International Journal, Vol. 43 No. 3, pp. 483-494. https://doi.org/10.1108/PIJPSM-10-2019-0165

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

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