I recently came across an article in the Globe & Mail. It discussed issues facing night-shift workers and included some interesting comments on Work Life Balance.

Ms. Williams wrote that work-life balance “is a self-defined, self-determined state reached by a person able to effectively manage multiple responsibilities at work, at home and in the community.”

‘A self-defined, self-determined state.’ Hmm, an interesting way of saying that it is different for everyone.

This state is difficult for full-time workers to reach at the best of times, she wrote.

Really?

Sarcasm aside, the article discussed how cutting back on sleep is used to squeeze more into a day. This is more prevalent for night shift workers and rotating shift workers, with up to 70 percent of these groups cutting back on sleep to get more done.

I don’t know about you but I find this information concerning, particularly in light of events like the recent tragedy involving Sunrise Propane. Since the explosion occurred at 3:40am, I can’t help but wonder if sleep deprivation played a role in this. How many large and small tragedies can be traced back to human error and how often is sleep deprivation the cause of that error?

Part of this is an individual problem, a conscious choice made by the 70 percent of people who cut back on sleep. However I feel that a larger portion of this problem is societal in nature. More and more, people, businesses, and governments are having to do more with less resources.

The most recent news regarding the Maple Leaf Foods listeriosis recall has now shifted to allocating blame to the Federal Government of Canada and to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency as reports surface indicating that the CFIA had started allowing the industry to play a greater role in the inspection process. This same ‘blame game’ was played regarding the Sunrise Propane explosion.

I don’t pretend to know the answer but in a democracy the buck doesn’t stop with the Prime Minister or President, it stops with the people who elected them. Given the upcoming elections in both Canada and the US this responsibility is something that we should all keep in mind.