Shift work caused fatigue-related disability, Nova Scotia worker’s compensation tribunal rules

HALIFAX (Feb. 6, 2002) — A workers’ compensation tribunal in Nova Scotia has ruled that sporadic work schedule caused a Michelin production worker’s debilitating sleep disorder in what may be a precedent-setting case for companies that use shift workers.

The Workers Compensation Appeals Tribunal said Richard Ross, a 34-year-old production worker at Michelin’s tire plant in Bridgewater, N.S., experienced enough sleep disruption, exhaustion, and inability to work to constitute personal injury. The panel accepted Ross’s claim that he suffers from “shift-work maladaption syndrome,” a sleep disorder recognized by the American Psychiatric Association.

The board denied Ross’s workers’ compensation claim in November 1999. The Jan. 25 decision was made on appeal.

Ross told CBC Radio yesterday he would typically work shifts of midnight to 8 a.m., 4 p.m. to midnight, and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. rotating within a seven-day period, with two days off. He said alternating day and night shifts left him so beset by fatigue that he was unable to sleep for more than three hours at a time without medication.

His cumulative sleep debt over time created “great concern about his physical safety,” the 17-page decision said. Although Ross never actually had a workplace accident, the tribunal said he suffered a “personal injury by accident” after 14 years of rotating shifts.

Michelin, which employs 3500 people at three plants, has 30 days to appeal the decision to the province’s Court of Appeal.

The case could set precedent in other provinces. In its decision, the panel said it is “not aware of any Canadian jurisprudence dealing with the treatment of shift-work maladaption syndrome under workers’ compensation law.”

“If it were a national precedent, it would undermine fairly significant segments . . . of our manufacturing (sector),” Peter O’Brien, vice-president Atlantic of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, told The Chronicle-Herald newspaper. “Quite frankly, my first reaction . . . was astonishment. Workers’ compensation is designed to take care of people who have injuries. This is not an injury, and it is beyond anything I’m aware that has been awarded anywhere in this country. I talked to some of my confreres this morning, and they’re astonished. The potential for abuse here is ridiculous.”

Ross will receive disability and workers’ compensation benefits. He said he wants to get a job at Michelin that does not involve shift work. Ross said Michelin is paying his tuition for college courses in chemistry.