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The first indent requires that workers who carry out night and shift work benefit from appropriate measures tailored to the nature of their work. Recital 7 points to the fact that ‘the human body is more sensitive at night to environmental disturbances and also to certain burdensome forms of work organisation’. The Commission’s proposal also stated that the aim was to take into account ‘the more demanding nature of these forms of work and the problems which usually occur when shift work cycles change’ (362). In this light, Article 12 means that the protection granted to the workers should take account both of the fact that the workers carry out night or shift work, and of the conditions in which they carry out their work. As to what protective measures could be taken, the Commission’s Explanatory Memorandum gave the example of scheduling rest periods and breaks246, but the Directive does not specify.
Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-25 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.