Shift Stuff

I just finished browsing the UFLAC's proposal on the 48/96 shift schedule. My big takeaway: they use lots of primary colors and childrens' book fonts in the report.

Not too many years ago, I was employed at very busy public safety agency where I drove big trucks with flashing lights and two (!!!) sirens required at all times during Code 3 operations.

This particular agency operated on a 24/48 shift schedule. One day on, two days off. Year-round, every year. On paper, it wasn't such a bad schedule. Bust your ass all day and all night at a busy house and get two days off as reward--one day to recover, one day to enjoy. At a quiet house, you'd run a few calls, sleep all night and go home relaxed and refreshed. If you wanted to take five days off, you simply had to burn one vacation day--10 days off and it was only two vacation days. Better yet, find a trade and burn no vacation days.

Sadly, life isn't lived on paper. The biggest drawback of the 24/48 was the overtime issue. At the time, this particular agency had a constant staffing shortage. There was a mandatory overtime list everyday that was eight people deep. On average, you were on the list twice a month. The theory went that one time you'd be near the top and the second time you were supposed to be farther down. Generally, the list didn't go much past poor bastard three or four, though some days it went way deep. It was pretty much a given that if you were number one or two on the list, you'd for sure get hit for overtime the next day.

Suddenly, your 24/48 would turn into a 48/24. Technically, if you were at a busy house the day before you got hit for overtime, then you were supposed to be sent to a quiet house if your number was called and vice versa. However, people generally didn't call in sick or take vacation days at the quiet houses--but they would suddenly be stricken by middle of the night ailments just hours before they were scheduled to report for a 7 a.m. shift at a busy city station. So, more often than not, you filled the holes where they opened.

You had a little more control when you made a trade, since you generally knew where the other person worked and agreed to it beforehand. But the deal with the devil on trades was that you'd get a free five-day but end up having to repay it with a 48/24. That, of course, was tacked on to your two or three days of potential forced overtime each month. So, in any given 10 day per month work cycle--you could do at least two 48s if you got hit for OT, or more if you had to repay a trade or for whatever reason volunteered for an extra shift.

Long story short, the money was good, the exhaustion, not so much. I never fell asleep at the wheel while driving, or had a major screw-up on the job (that I remember; I was too tired most of the time to recall much of what happened after about 10 p.m. on the back half of a 48). I did, however, sleep through a few loud tones going off and fluorescent lights going on, sleepwalked through the fire station and fell asleep on the steering wheel waiting for my partner to drag his or her ass out of bed. There were plenty of drives that I just plain don't remember and more than a few pissy words exchanged with the general public who had utilized 911 and expected a fresh-faced sympathetic responder to show up at 3 a.m. to deal with whatever they needed.

(Sidebar, but important:Even if I did remember any major fuckups on the "important" parts of my job, why the hell would I ever admit them? I mean, I could blame it on the 48 and lack of sleep and all that, but still, where's the incentive to admit mistakes of major consequence--other than a solid moral compass, of course.)

Instead, they got an asshole who'd been on duty for going on two days and had been running calls that whole time. Now, the LAFD has more than 104 stations and a goodly number of those run only a few calls a day--some only a few calls a week (FS 23, FS 40, FS 8, FS 69, FS108, cough cough). But it only takes one exhausted paramedic, Engineer or A/O to fuck up big time. Granted, many LAFDer's already work 48s and 72s on trades, etc., something that can be just as dangerous. But to make every front line employee work a 48 isn't good business. Some folks just aren't made for it. Mental acuity, reflexes, judgment, decision making skills--they all fade rapidly when start to hit that wall in the middle of a busy 48. What if all of above are in short supply with some guys (and gals) to begin with? What if you're riding a busy 800 RA's and (even scarier) the guys on the busy paramedic RA's, say nothing of engineers or A/Os driving the heavy stuff "Emergency" all over town?

It's one thing for a slower department like Beverly Hills or El Segundo to go on a 48/96, but the LAFD?

And institutionalizing a system that puts anyone on overtime automatically on a 72 isn't a great idea. Despite assurances that systems will be in place to rotate folks from busy houses to quiet ones, etc. etc., the reality is that staffing demands rule the day. Fill the holes with warm bodies.

My previous employer only started to learn the hard way when a guy driving a big old Freightliner ambulance at 7 a.m. (on the tail end of a 48) flipped the truck on the freeway when he fell asleep. Wasn't a great experience for his partner or patient in the back.

The Problem...

...with a blog, my friends, is that one must actually update it once in awhile to remain current. Clearly, I stumbled through October and skipped November entirely. That's not to say that public safety took a break during the same time.

I'll be back with some fresh stuff again this week, aiming for a strong 2007 finish.

Let me just say this: I heard from a birdie that the LAFD union membership is strongly considering a schedule change from the current 3-4 Kelly shift to a 48-96 (two days on, four days off). Here's the union puffery on the issue. Generally, I'm unilaterally against this kind of schedule, but I haven't totally read through the issue.

Once I do, I'll elaborate on it when I've got more time.