I work third shift for an Indiana company, and often I am required to stay on the job for sixteen hours or more at a time...my scheduled hours are 10 to 6:30, I never get advance notice of these long shifts, and some weeks it is as many as four days that I am forced to work double shifts plus take care of paperwork, and it comes up to 17 or more hours, and I am expected to be back at work the next night...I am hourly but can they force this many hours on me? I work as a group leader in a factory and I have to operate overhead cranes and sometimes forklifts, and I see this as also being a safety issue when I've hardly slept all week...can someone tell me if I have no choice but to keep doing this?

Barring a contract or CBA that states otherwise they could require you to work 24/7. I don't particularly think it's right but there really aren't any laws ( barring a very few specific occupations) that address max. hours.

OSHA might get involved if the hours were significant enough to fall under the "General Duty" clause but that is a pretty high bar to meet. Unfortunately these issues usually aren't looked at closely until there is an accident and by then it's too late.

If you truly feel that you are too tired or not alert enough to operate the equipment let your supervisor know.