Press Releases for 2005

END THE EXPANSION OF NIGHT-WORKING - ASHFORD'S EXPANSION SHOULD NOT BE BASED ON RUINING HEALTH

17th March 2005

There is a lot of evidence that night-working is seriously damaging to the health of night workers (1).A lot of this work is related to supermarkets: not just those with 24 hour opening but all supermarkets as they depend on long-distance night movements of heavy good vehicles for deliveries. They also depend on shelf-stackers who work outside opening hours. Richard Boden, Green Party Candidate for Ashford, and a long-time campaigner against the transport and environmental implications of supermarkets, comments:

"There is a night working epidemic in the UK, which is making an appearance in Ashford through our community's growing number of night-time jobs. I think 24 hour drinking will add to these jobs, but my main concern is the tendency of large supermarket chains to cause increasing numbers of people to work at night. This is extremely damaging to health. Research suggests that:"

Night working is more damaging to health than smoking 20 cigarettes a day
night working by women is strongly associated with increased risk of breast cancer
ulcers amongst night workers are 8 times greater than amongst other people
night working increases coronary heart disease by 40%, compared to the rest of the population
mental health problems, beginning with depression and mood swings, are 15 times more likely amongst night workers

"This is appalling, and will impact upon the NHS. I will campaign for new regulations to reduce night working as it is clearly damaging to public health. It would be good if supermarkets in particular went from periodically checking the mental state of their night staff to making a systematic attempt to radically reduce night working." ENDS c204 words

FURTHER INFORMATION: Richard Boden on 01233 813303 or 812398. Alternate contact: Steve Dawe, on 01233 645167 or 07747 036192. Contact address as above.

Notes:

1. This data has been usefully collected: see Aida Edemariam A hard day's night The Guardian, 1st March 2005.

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29th March 2005