Extended working hours in shift work and its impacts on productivity, health and safety in South African deep mines

Extended working hours in shift work and its impacts on productivity, health and safety in South African deep mines | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Extended working hours in shift work and its impacts on productivity, health and safety in South African deep mines Ewembe Yuka Fontama, Steven Michael Rupprecht This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9010467/v2 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 2 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Abstract The increasing mining depth is reshaping the operational realities of South African underground mines. The South African deep-level gold and platinum mining industry operates within a legislated 8h (500-minute) shift system that was historically considered adequate to complete a full daily mining cycle, including drilling and blasting. However, as mines have matured and operations have extended deeper underground with longer horizontal distances to working places, the effectiveness of this shift arrangement has increasingly been questioned. Consequently, gold and platinum mines are beginning to adopt extended working hours to increase the effective hours that underground mine workers work. This study investigates how extended working hours and different shift systems influence productivity, health, and safety performance in South African deep-level mines. To achieve this aim, the study analyses and compares the productivity and fatigue-related safety outcomes between the conventional 8-hour shift and extended 10-hour, 12-hour, and continuous operation (Conops) shift systems. The study also identifies optimal shift patterns that balance production efficiency with occupational health and safety in deep-level mining. It was found that the extended 12-hour double-shift system achieves optimal blast and limits challenges related to lengthy travel times before workers arrive at the work face. The system also aids continuity of operations, which helps achieve efficient operations. Environmental Engineering Shift work shift hours occupational health and safety mine legislation mine production Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. This study obtained Ethical clearance certificate issued by University of Johannesburg FEBE- FEPC Ethical Clearance committee No. UJ_FEBE_FEPC_01377 Date: 17 October 2024. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 2 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9010467","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":601124656,"identity":"3165e611-7d35-4834-84b4-b1b317ed0fe6","order_by":0,"name":"Ewembe Yuka Fontama","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0001-1152-5385","institution":"University of Johannesburg","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ewembe","middleName":"Yuka","lastName":"Fontama","suffix":""},{"id":601124657,"identity":"ffa42423-4413-4a42-b50b-d9c001584191","order_by":1,"name":"Steven Michael Rupprecht","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAw0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBADOQaGA8SqZYNQxqRrSWwg2kHy85uPSXzccS99w8EDjB9+MNTJE9RicIwtTXLmmeLcDQcOMEv2MLAZErTOgI3H2Ji3LQGkhUGagYGHkaAW+Tb+z8Z/2xLSDYC2/GZgkLAnqIXhGA/jY8a2hASgFjagLQaEw8HgWJrhw962BMOZBw62WfYYJCQTdljz4QcHfrYlyPPdOHz4xo+KOlvCDoMDiYNAxQbEqwcCfhKMHwWjYBSMgpEFAKIcPC4c6nTJAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2462-2819","institution":"University of Johannesburg","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Steven","middleName":"Michael","lastName":"Rupprecht","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-02 13:04:35","currentVersionCode":2,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":true,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":true,"humanSubjectConsent":true,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9010467/v2","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9010467/v2","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[],"financialInterests":"\u003cp\u003eThe authors declare no competing interests.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis study obtained Ethical clearance certificate issued by University of Johannesburg FEBE- FEPC Ethical Clearance committee No. UJ_FEBE_FEPC_01377 Date: 17 October 2024.\u003c/p\u003e","formattedTitle":"Extended working hours in shift work and its impacts on productivity, health and safety in South African deep mines","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"University of Johannesburg","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Shift work, shift hours, occupational health and safety, mine legislation, mine production","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9010467/v2","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9010467/v2","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThe increasing mining depth is reshaping the operational realities of South African underground mines. 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