Does a 12-hour Shift Affect Brazilian Workers’ Mental and Physical Health?

This study aims to analyze the impact of the 12-hour work shift on the indices of physical and mental health, sleep, and work-family conflict of Brazilian road traffic inspectors. This project was run in a Brazilian highway concession company, based on developing a previous organizational diagnosis focused on Quality of Life at Work, which pointed out potential illness risk-carrying work organization aspects. Among them, the work shift was the target of dissatisfaction among operational workers. The project was carried out in three stages: stage 1: demand identification; stage 2: a survey was carried out with workers, based on the application of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index; Physical Health Questionnaire; Work-Related Damage Assessment Scale (WRDAS), and Work-Family Conflict Scale (WAFCS); stage 3: results, diagnoses, and actions presentation. The survey counted on the participation of 42 road traffic inspectors in the company, representing a participation rate of 87.5% of the staff holding this position. All the participants were men, mostly aged 28–37 years (57%), with high school education (55%), married (71%), and with children (67%). As for the variables evaluated by the instruments, a high incidence of poor sleep quality (40%) was observed, while most had a good quality of sleep (57%). As for the variables related to physical, mental health, and social work-life relationship, the tools employed did not show negative impacts. The results obtained with this research were used to suggest preventive actions.