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  • Health and well-being of rotation workers in the mining, offshore oil and gas, and construction industry: a systematic review

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Original research
Health and well-being of rotation workers in the mining, offshore oil and gas, and construction industry: a systematic review
  1. Bernard Yeboah-Asiamah Asare1,2,
  2. Dominika Kwasnicka3,4,
  3. Daniel Powell2,5,
  4. Suzanne Robinson1
  1. 1School of Population Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
  2. 2Health Psychology, Institute of Applied Health Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK
  3. 3Faculty of Psychology, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Wroclaw, Poland
  4. 4NHMRC CRE in Digital Technology to Transform Chronic Disease Outcomes, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  5. 5Rowett Institute, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK
  1. Correspondence to Bernard Yeboah-Asiamah Asare; bernard.yeboah-asiamah{at}postgrad.curtin.edu.au

Abstract

Introduction Rotation work, characterised by travelling long distances to work in isolated areas where workers typically rotate consecutive days working and living on-site with periods at home, is increasingly used in the resources and construction sectors globally. Such employment practices may have an impact on workers’ health and well-being. This systematic review explores the impact rotation work has on mental and physical outcomes in rotation workers in the resources and construction sectors.

Method The PubMed, Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Scopus databases were systematically searched on 1 May 2020 to identify quantitative, qualitative and mixed-method studies addressing the health of rotation workers published in peer-reviewed journals. Findings from the studies were summarised narratively.

Results Of 6268 studies retrieved, 90 studies were included in the review. Studies suggested higher prevalence of psychological distress in onshore rotation workers and higher overweight/obesity rates among rotation workers as compared with the general population. We found more sleep problems and higher levels of smoking during work periods compared with off-site days; and higher alcohol intake during off-site days compared with on-site days. Workers generally perceived their physical health status as good. High-perceived job demands (such as workload, repetitive work) were associated with mental distress and exhaustion, sleep problems and perceived poor physical health status, while high-perceived job resources (such as job clarity/control, support) were associated with low mental distress and exhaustion, less smoking and alcohol intake, and better sleep.

Conclusion Rotation work is associated with several poorer health behaviours and outcomes, such as sleep problems, smoking, alcohol consumption and overweight/obesity. Interventions needed to improve rotation workers’ health should include maximising available job resources and reducing job demands. Further longitudinal studies are needed to explore the long-term health effects of rotation work and the short-term contextual effects of the different aspects of rotation work.

  • systematic review

Data availability statement

All data relevant to the study are included in the article or uploaded as supplemental information.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2021-005112

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    Data availability statement

    All data relevant to the study are included in the article or uploaded as supplemental information.

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    Footnotes

    • Handling editor Seye Abimbola

    • Twitter @kojo_asiamah, @@dkwasnicka, @@DanPowell83, @@RobinsonSuz

    • Contributors BY-AA, DK, DP and SR conceived and designed the study protocol. BY-AA drafted the initial manuscript. DK, DP and SR reviewed and contributed to the initial question development, search strategy, study selection criteria, study reviewing, summary and assessment. BY-AA drafted the article and DK, DP and SR have reviewed and approved the final written manuscript.

    • Funding The study was funded by Aberdeen-Curtin Alliance Curtin International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (CIPRS). BY-AA is a recipient of Aberdeen-Curtin Alliance PhD CIPRS and Research Stipend Scholarship.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.