GENEVA (Reuters)

Working long hours is killing hundreds of thousands of people a year in a worsening trend that may accelerate further due to the COVID-19 pandemic, said the World Health Organization on Monday (May 17).

In the first global study of the loss of life associated with longer working hours published in the Environment International Journal today (May 17), long working hours led to 745,000 deaths from stroke and heart disease in 2016.

An increase of almost 30 per cent from the year 2000.

“Working 55 hours or more per week is a serious health hazard,” said Maria Neira, director of the WHO’s Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health.

“What we want to do with this information is promote more action, more protection of workers,” she said.

The joint study, produced by the WHO and the International Labour Organization, showed that most victims (72 per cent) were men and were middle-aged or older.

Oftentimes, the deaths occurred much later in life, sometimes decades later, than the shifts worked.

The study also showed that people living in Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific region — a WHO-defined region which includes China, Japan and Australia — were the most affected.

Overall, the study – which drew data from 194 countries – said that working 55 hours or more a week is associated with a 35 per cent higher risk of stroke and a 17 per cent higher risk of dying from ischemic heart disease compared with a 35-40 hour working week.

The study covered the period 2000-2016, and so did not include the COVID-19 pandemic, but WHO officials said the surge in remote working and the global economic slowdown resulting from the coronavirus emergency may have increased the risks.

“The pandemic is accelerating developments that could feed the trend towards increased working time,” the WHO said, estimating that at least 9 per cent of people work long hours.

WHO staff, including its chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, say they have been working long hours during the pandemic and Neira said the United Nations agency would seek to improve its policy in light of the study.