KiwiRail has prohibited around 2,500 of its employees from taking melatonin and Zopiclone due to concerns about workplace safety.
According to a KiwiRail spokesperson, the decision was made following guidance from the organisation’s chief medical officer, Dr. Simon Ryder-Lewis, who is also a specialist in occupational medicine.
“KiwiRail’s chief medical officer has independently reviewed the use of Zopiclone and melatonin by safety-critical workers at KiwiRail. This review considered the medical evidence regarding these medications as well as regulatory practices in rail and other comparable industries, both in New Zealand and internationally,” the spokesperson said.
“Based on this assessment, the chief medical officer has determined that neither medication is compatible with safety-critical work at KiwiRail.”
Under KiwiRail’s Fitness for Work Policy, all employees are required to inform their managers or supervisors about any circumstances, including the use of prescription medications, that could affect their ability to work safely.
Meanwhile, Deputy head of the University of Auckland’s Department of Anaesthesiology Guy Warman said that it is common for shift workers, especially those working overnight, to experience fatigue during their shifts and struggle with poor sleep when off duty.
“People then seek ways of improving their sleep through medication and other means.”
Warman explained that melatonin differs from other sleep medications, which typically act as sedatives.
According to Warman, melatonin is not really a sleep drug but a hormone that is produced in very small amounts by the pineal gland in the brain. It naturally interacts with receptors in our central biological clock to help regulate our sleep-wake cycle.
“However, in pharmacological doses, it can be taken to shift our biological clock and reduce sleep onset latency, which is the amount of time it takes to get to sleep.”
He said they should be taken in the right amounts and at the right times to ensure positive and safe results.
Rail and Maritime Union’s Take
Rail and Maritime Union health and safety organiser Karen Fletcher stated that KiwiRail informed employees in safety-sensitive roles who take melatonin or Zopiclone would be temporarily removed from their duties.
Fletcher added that the union was not involved in the decision-making process.
“We first heard about it when the staff got in touch with us and said, ‘What’s this all about?’ They’ve been taking melatonin and Zopiclone for years and even decades, prescribed by a doctor, and sometimes the rail medical doctor,” Fletcher said.
She said the ban applies to staff in high-risk, front-line positions, many of whom operate heavy machinery.
“Shift workers have to sleep at odd times of the day and night, and [sleep medication] has been really helpful for them.”
“They take it to be fit for work because if they don’t sleep, they’re at risk of working in a fatigued state.”
“What will happen to our members if they’re unable to transition off these meds that they’ve been using for decades in some cases?”