Long working hours and short deadlines can cause heart attacks and may kill.
These are the latest health warnings published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health today.
The report reveals that the risk of a heart attack the day following a high-pressure work deadline is increased six-fold.
TUC General Secretary, Brendan Barber commented:
“This research highlights the need for all employers to take workloads and working hours seriously and ensure that company working practices are not putting workers’ health and lives at risk.”
Barber also warns that stress is not only a concern for senior management:
“The report shows that stress is not just an executive or senior management issue but a problem for all workers from lorry drivers, bullied into falsifying their driving hours records, to garment workers, overworked and working at speed to fulfil last minute orders. Britain has to move away from a ‘just-in-time culture’ to an organised and responsible approach to working time to protect the health and welfare of working people.”
The TUC say that workers in the UK continue to have the longest hours working hours in Europe and yet are still expected to work to full capacity and beyond to meet unfeasible deadlines.
