Skip to main content
IOSH Magazine: Safety, Health and Wellbeing in the world of work - return to the homepage IOSH Magaazine logo
  • Visit IOSH Magazine on Facebook
  • Visit @ioshmagazine on Twitter
  • Visit IOSH Magazine on LinkedIn
Non-verbal communication
How to build trust
March/April 2023 issue

Main navigation

  • Home
    • Browse previous issues
    • Member accolades
    • Member tributes
  • Health
    • Mental health and wellbeing
      • Bullying
      • Drugs and alcohol
      • Mental health
      • Stress
      • Wellbeing
    • Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)
      • Ergonomics
      • Manual handling
      • Vibration
    • Occupational cancer
      • Asbestos
      • Hazardous substances
      • Radiation
  • Safety
    • Incident management
      • Chemicals
      • Electricity
      • Fire
      • First aid
      • Slips and trips
    • Non-health related fatalities
      • Road safety
      • Work at height
    • Risk management
      • Confined spaces
      • Disability
      • Legionella
      • Lifting operations
      • Lone workers
      • Noise
      • Personal protective equipment
      • Violence at work
      • Work equipment
      • Workplace transport
  • Management
    • Human factors
      • Accident reduction
      • Behavioural safety
      • Control of contractors
      • Migrant workers
      • Older workers
      • Reporting
      • Safe systems of work
      • Sickness absence
      • Young workers
    • Leadership and management
      • Employee involvement
      • Management systems
    • Management standards
      • ISO 45001
      • ISO 45003
    • Planning
      • Assurance
      • Compliance
      • Emergency planning
      • Insurance
    • Rehabilitation
      • Personal injury
      • Return to work
    • Strategy
      • Corporate governance
      • Performance/results
      • Regulation/enforcement
      • Reputation
    • Sustainability
      • Human capital and Vision Zero
  • Skills
    • Communication
    • Personal performance
      • Achieving Fellowship
      • Career development
      • Competencies
      • Personal development
      • Professional skills
      • Qualifications
    • Stakeholder management
    • Working with others
      • Leadership
      • Future Leaders
  • Jobs
  • Covid-19
  • Knowledge Bank
    • Back to basics
    • Book club
    • Infographics
    • Podcast
    • Reports
    • Webinars
    • Videos
  • Products & Services
  • Management
    • Human factors
      • Sickness absence
      • Accident reduction
      • Behavioural safety
      • Control of contractors
      • Migrant workers
      • Older workers
      • Reporting
      • Safe systems of work
      • Young workers
    • Leadership and management
      • Employee involvement
      • Leadership
      • Management systems
    • Management standards
      • ISO 45001
      • ISO 45003
    • Planning
      • Assurance
      • Compliance
      • Emergency planning
      • Insurance
    • Strategy
      • Corporate governance
      • Performance/results
      • Regulation/enforcement
      • Reputation
    • Sustainability
      • Human capital and Vision Zero
  • Health
    • COVID-19
    • Mental health and wellbeing
      • Bullying
      • Drugs and alcohol
      • Mental health
      • Stress
      • Wellbeing
    • Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)
      • Ergonomics
      • Manual handling
      • Vibration
    • Occupational cancer
      • Asbestos
      • Hazardous substances
      • Radiation
  • Safety
    • Incident management
      • Chemicals
      • Electricity
      • Fire
      • First aid
      • Slips and trips
    • Non-health related fatalities
      • Road safety
      • Work at height
    • Risk management
      • Confined spaces
      • Disability
      • Legionella
      • Lifting operations
      • Lone workers
      • Noise
      • Personal protective equipment
      • Violence at work
      • Work equipment
      • Workplace transport
  • Skills
    • Communication
    • Personal performance
      • Career development
      • Competencies
      • Personal development
      • Qualifications
      • Professional skills
      • Achieving Fellowship
    • Stakeholder management
    • Working with others
      • Leadership
      • Future Leaders
  • Transport and logistics
  • Third sector
  • Retail
  • Mining and quarrying
  • Rail
  • Rehabilitation
    • Personal injury
    • Return to work
  • Utilities
  • Manufacturing and engineering
  • Construction
  • Sector: IOSH Branch
    • Sector: Northern Ireland
    • Sector: Midland
    • Sector: Merseyside
    • Sector: Manchester and North West Districts
    • Sector: Ireland East
    • Sector: Ireland
    • Sector: Edinburgh
    • Sector: Desmond-South Munster
    • Sector: Qatar
    • Sector: Oman
    • Singapore
    • Sector: South Coast
    • Sector: South Wales
    • Sector: Thames Valley
    • Sector: Tyne and Wear
    • Sector: UAE
    • Sector: West of Scotland
    • Sector: Yorkshire
  • Healthcare
  • Sector: Fire
  • Sector: Financial/general services
  • Sector: Energy
  • Education
  • Sector: Communications and media
  • Chemicals
  • Sector: Central government
  • Catering and leisure
  • Agriculture and forestry
  • Sector: Local government
  • Sector: IOSH Group
    • Sector: Financial Services
    • Sector: Sports Grounds and Events
    • Rural industries
    • Sector: railway
    • Public Services
    • Sector: Offshore
    • Sector: Hazardous Industries
    • Sector: Food and Drink
    • Sector: Fire Risk Management
    • Education
    • Construction
    • Sector: Aviation and Aerospace
Quick links:
  • Home
  • Categories
  • Topics
  • Health
  • Mental health and wellbeing
  • Wellbeing
Healthcare
Retail
News

Night shifts not linked to breast cancer risk, new study finds

Open-access content Monday 10th October 2016
From the archive:  Just so you know, this article is more than 3 years old.

Night shifts not linked to breast cancer risk, new study finds

The study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, questioned 522,246 Million Women Study, 22,559 EPIC-Oxford, and 251,045 UK Biobank participants on shift work and then followed them for incident cancer. The results were combined with data from seven previously published studies (covering 1.4 million women in total) from the US, China, Sweden and the Netherlands.

Researchers found that women who had worked night shifts (including those who had done so for up to 30 years) had no increased risk of breast cancer compared with women who had never worked shifts.

In the Million Women Study, EPIC-Oxford, and UK Biobank respectively, 673, 28 and 67 women who reported night shift work developed breast cancer. The combined relative risks taking all ten studies together were 0.99 for any night shift work, 1.01 for 20 or more years of night shift work, and 1.00 for 30 or more years night shift work.

The findings contradict a 2007 review by the International Agency for Research on Cancer that said shift work disrupted the "body clock" and was a probable cause of cancer. This was mainly based on animal and lab studies.

The latest work builds on a Canadian study of 1,134 breast cancer sufferers and 1,179 women of similar ages without the disease which found the risk factor was apparent only in those working nights for more than half a normal working life.

Dr Ruth Travis, lead author and a Cancer Research UK-funded scientist at the Cancer Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford, said: "We found that women who had worked night shifts, including long-term night shifts, were not more likely to develop breast cancer, either in the three new UK studies or when we combined results from all ten studies that had published relevant data."

The research, Night Shift Work and Breast Cancer Incidence: Three Prospective Studies and Meta-analysis of Published Studies, was funded by the HSE, Cancer Research UK and the UK Medical Research Council.

Sarah Williams, Cancer Research UK's health information manager, said: "This study is the largest of its kind and has found no link between breast cancer and working night shifts. We hope [this] news reassures women who work night shifts."

Professor Andrew Curran, chief scientific adviser for the HSE, which commissioned the study, added: "This study has shown that night shift work, including long-term shift work, has little or no effect on breast cancer incidence in women. However, there are a number of other known risks with shift work that employers must take into consideration when protecting their workers' health and safety."

On average, one in seven (14%) women in the UK have ever worked nights and one in 50 (2%) have worked nights for 20 or more years. Each year in the UK around 53,300 women are diagnosed with breast cancer and around 11,500 die from the disease.

You may also be interested in...

 UN programme has improved garment factory conditions in developing countries, study finds

Monday 26th September 2016
The independent review by Tufts University in the US, published today, reviewed the Better Work programme – a partnership between the UN’s International Labour Organization and the International Finance Corporation set up in 2007 to improve garment factory working conditions.
Open-access content
The two inward-opening spring-loaded gates on the platform were badly worn

 Decco’s loading platform was 'disaster waiting to happen' before fall fatality

Monday 10th October 2016
Nick Phillips, senior environmental health officer at Chiltern District Council, which brought the prosecution, told IOSH Magazine that the victim had worked for the company for around six months but had been moved to the goods- in department just one week before the accident.
Open-access content
Image credit: ©Sonny Meddle/REX/Shutterstock

 Tesco divisions' communication failure bring £500k fine

Thursday 6th October 2016
The Tesco Maintenance employee was part of a team carrying out repairs to the roof and gutters of the Tesco Express store in Liscard Village, Wallasey, Merseyside on 13 June 2014 when the incident occurred. He sustained minor injuries after falling 9 m through a fragile skylight onto the shop floor.
Open-access content
Image credit: ©iStock/R_Jasson

 Managers believe work outranks home, say one-third of employees

Tuesday 25th October 2016
The survey carried out by YouGov for counselling group Relate and its Scottish partner, Relationships Scotland found that 33% of respondents agreed that their employer assumes the most productive employees put work before family life. The same proportion believed their boss thoughts the ideal employee is available 24 hours a day, while over a fifth (21%) felt that attending to caring responsibilities (children or partners) was frowned upon at work.
Open-access content
GB Health and Wellbeing Week 2016

 Health and Wellbeing Week set for October launch

Friday 16th September 2016
Major employers including Costain, Heathrow, the Metropolitan Police, Thames Water and Transport for London (TfL) have signed up to provide information to help other organisations promote workforce health and wellbeing. The founder members are encouraging employers to organise activities and events during the five days, focusing on improving occupational health and employee fitness.
Open-access content
©iStock/MichaelLanghoff

 Unions call for end to high-heel dress codes

Wednesday 14th September 2016
The motion was proposed by the Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists (SCP) which noted companies can legally require female employees to wear high heels in workplace dress codes. The SCP said problems associated with short-and long-term injuries that are caused by inappropriate footwear are still prevalent in the workplace, despite TUC guidance in 2009 on the subject.
Open-access content

Latest from News

web-morrison-shutterstock_1205515750.png

  Morrisons’ £3.5m fine is ‘a warning to all employers’, says council

Friday 24th March 2023
Morrisons supermarket has been fined £3.5 million for failing to ensure the health and safety of an epileptic employee who died after falling from a shop stairway.
Open-access content
jfc

 IOSH launches new five-year strategy

Tuesday 21st March 2023
IOSH launches its new five-year strategy this spring. It will build and act on the reshaped purpose and ambition gained during WORK 2022, which ran from 2017 to 2022.
Open-access content
web_Cranes-on-construction-site_credit_iStock-1352083784.jpg

 Risk & Compliance software provider collaborates with HSE and Costain to improve risk management on worksites

Friday 17th March 2023
A Belfast-based Risk & Compliance software provider has been collaborating with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and construction giant Costain as part of an ongoing project to unlock artificial intelligence’s (AI) potential in improving the management of risks on worksites.
Open-access content

Latest from Healthcare

web_p12-15_News-Update-NHS-staff-applauding--Getty--1220619354.png

 The critical role of healthcare workers

Wednesday 9th September 2020
The critical role played by health workers in protecting patients, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic – and action to better support this essential workforce – is brought to the fore on World Patient Safety Day.
Open-access content
Image credit: web_traffic-warden_iStock-139960986.

 Union launches guide to protect gig economy workers

Friday 13th September 2019
The public service union Unison has published a new guide for its health and safety representatives to explain how the gig economy has affected its members and what support they can provide.
Open-access content
Photo credit: iStock-159345206. The research was undertaken by researchers at Boston University

 Serious workplace injuries increase suicide risk, US study finds

Tuesday 3rd September 2019
People who have sustained serious workplace injuries are at increased risk of suicide or fatal overdose, according to a study published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine.
Open-access content

Latest from Retail

web-morrison-shutterstock_1205515750.png

  Morrisons’ £3.5m fine is ‘a warning to all employers’, says council

Friday 24th March 2023
Morrisons supermarket has been fined £3.5 million for failing to ensure the health and safety of an epileptic employee who died after falling from a shop stairway.
Open-access content
web_hordes-shopping-on-black-friday_credit_rblfmr_shutterstock_1255683580.png

 Black Friday: a safety nightmare?

Friday 25th November 2022
One of the most anticipated and busiest shopping events of the calendar year is upon us – but how can retailers keep customers and staff safe? We look at how they can mitigate the risks.
Open-access content
web_Crowded-shopping-center_CREDIT_Canadapanda_shutterstock_165419309.png

 Black Friday: a retailer's perspective

Friday 25th November 2022
Lee Bennett is a health and safety manager at British Land, which owns more than 50 shopping centres and retail parks across the UK. He tells us how he has bene planning for one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
Open-access content

Latest from Wellbeing

gl

 The impact of burnout

Thursday 2nd March 2023
Burnout, moral injury and moral distress are bubbling up in the workplace. But how are these concepts connected?
Open-access content
women-working-at-standing-desk_credit_iStock-1198229555.png

 Standing desks contribute to small improvements in workers’ stress and wellbeing, study finds

Thursday 18th August 2022
A randomised control trial has found that office workers who use a standing desk alongside other interventions that encourage them to sit less and move around reduced their sitting time by an hour a day over one year.
Open-access content
web_man-marking-out-6-feet-distance_credit_iStock-1262291587.jpg

 EU-OSHA analysis of new and emerging risks: stronger OSH protections needed

Thursday 4th August 2022
A new report from the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) has underlined the need for stronger OSH protections in response to the growing focus on psychosocial work to support wellbeing and productivity, changes to working practices brought about by COVID-19 and technological advances in the economy.
Open-access content
Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linked in
  • Mail
  • Print

Latest Jobs

Senior Health and Safety Manager

Reading
Up to £65000.00 per annum + Great Car Allowance & Benefits
Reference
5452983

Regional Health and Safety Advisor

Northampton
Up to £53000 per annum + Travel & Excellent Benefits
Reference
5452982

Global Health, Safety and Environment Director

Up to £150000 per annum + Excellent Benefits
Reference
5452980
See all jobs »

Sign up for regular e-alerts

Receive the latest news and features, free to your inbox

Sign up

Subscribe to IOSH magazine

Receive the print edition straight to your door

Subscribe
IOSH Covers
​
FOLLOW US
Twitter
LinkedIn
YouTube
CONTACT US
Contact us
Tel +44 (0)20 7880 6200
​

IOSH

About IOSH
Become a member
IOSH Events
MyIOSH

Information

Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Cookie Policy

Get in touch

Contact us
Advertise with us
Subscribe to IOSH magazine
Write for IOSH magazine

IOSH Magazine

Health
Safety
Management
Skills
IOSH Jobs

© 2023 IOSH • IOSH is not responsible for the content of external sites

ioshmagazine.com and IOSH Magazine are published by Redactive Media Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part is not allowed without written permission.

Redactive Media Group Ltd, 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ