During the past year, Alta Manufacturing had thirty percent more on-the-job accidents than nearby Panoply Industries, where the work shifts are one hour shorter than ours. Experts believe that a significant contributing factor in many on-the-job accidents is fatigue and sleep deprivation among workers. Therefore, to reduce the number of on-the-job accidents at Alta and thereby increase productivity, we should shorten each of our three work shifts by one hour so that our employees will get adequate amounts of sleep.

In this memo, the vice president of Alta Manufacturing concludes that the company should shorten each of its work shifts by one hour so that its employees will get more sleep. He feels that the new schedule will reduce the number of on-the-job accidents at Alta’s plant. To support his conclusion, he refers to Panoply Industries where the work shifts are one hour shorter than the Alta’s and where there were thirty percent fewer on-the-job accidents. However, I do not find it logically convincing because some of the assumptions on which its recommendation rests are highly questionable. Here are some reasons why.

First of all, Alta and Panoply might be manufacturing in different industries. Different industries have different industry-specific risks. No matter how long or short the work shifts are, some jobs are inherently more dangerous. For example, workers work at a meat-packing plant have a higher risk of injury than those who arrange silk flowers because electric saws and sharp knives contribute to higher industry-specific risks. Comparing the rate of accidents at Alta with that of Panoply Industry may be irrelevant.

In addition, the vice president assumes that worker fatigue is a problem, but he provides no evidence to support his assumption. Furthermore, management cannot control how workers use their extra hour for free time, while management wants the workers to sleep an extra hour. Workers might use the extra hour to drink, to play mahjang or even to take a part-time job.

In conclusion, without the correlation between extra sleep and worker safety, it is foolish to implement such a plan. Even if extra sleep does decrease the work-related accidents, the vice president cannot compare the accident rates between two different industries because certain industries, by nature, will have higher industry-specific risks. Evidently, the faulty analogy and oversimplification make the argument unsound.