To err is human. In everyday life, human error is present on every corner. Human error is defined as “an error made by a person rather than caused by a poorly designed process or the malfunction of a machine such as a computer.” (Encarta, 2009) To simplify this definition, people make mistakes. Human error can manifest itself in the form of human behavior or conduct that can be categorized as undesirable, unacceptable, negligent, inattentive, forgetful, careless, harmful, poor communication, human. performance that is extremely variable or exceeds the limits of that expected, or an inappropriate form of risky behavior. An error may be harmless, it may be detectable and correctable, or it may be used to predict future problems (Peters, 2006). Many references to human error are associated with high-profile disasters. Public concern over these high-profile disasters puts human error in the spotlight. Here are some examples of disasters caused by human error: the Tenerife runway collision in 1977, the Three Mile Island collision in 1979, the Bhopal methyl isocyanate tragedy in 1984, the Challenger and Chernobyl disasters in 1986 and the Piper Alpha oil rig explosion in 1988. Although these disasters bring human error issues into the spotlight, the impact of human error on manufacturing operations can be just as damaging. All of the disasters described above occurred during a period of night shift work. Shift work involves alternating teams of workers, each working a certain "shift" and generally performing the same tasks so that operations can be continued for longer than a single worker allows. Shift work schedules necessarily require some workers to work for periods of time...... middle of paper ......ng questionnaires intended for the convenience sample formed the basis of the study. This data was collected over a period of three weeks. The questionnaires were evaluated and descriptive statistics via means and standard deviations were used to describe the effect on job performance. This study shows that all age groups are subject to exposure to physiological and psychological risks caused by night work, as indicated in their subjective response. It also shows that shift work is linked to work fatigue and accident rates (Hayajneh, 2008). Throughout the literature review, it appears that most research and studies support the fact that accident rates and shift work are linked. The studies examined in this literature review compare and contrast different aspects of business functions with similar results in terms of accident rates and shift work data..