Some questions say a lot about the questioner

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Sully re-posts a question by economist Robin Hanson…

Why Do We Prohibit Long Hours?

Safety is the primary concern. Work 80 hours in a cube, typos ensue. 80 hours on a forklift, fatigue sets in, reaction time degrades and life and limb may be lost.

And we don’t really prohibit all the long hours we should. Sometimes because of worker shortages other times because of pressures on workers. Overtime is not a strong deterrent to companies pushing shift/wage workers past the limits of safety. Health care field is one where those restrictions don’t really hold. Ask a registered nurse who works night shift how many times they only work 37.5 to 40 hours a week:

Health care workers are placed in systems and settings where errors are bound to happen. That is, the systems are designed to achieve a particular set of goals, but inadvertently produce a certain level of errors. For example, health care workers are sometimes expected to work 24-hour shifts to ensure patients are cared for and have some continuity of care, although it is known that overwork and fatigue lead to decreased mental concentration and alertness.