12-hour shifts on an oil rig: maximum shiftwork

12-hour shifts have their own rhythm. Nowhere is that more true than for workers on an off-shore oil rig who work 14 days in a row, followed by 14 days off. The challenges to alertness, health, and family life are significant. But having two weeks off each month is appealing, as are the wages, which look even more appealing when you consider that for the two weeks on the rig food is provided and there aren't a lot of chances to actually spend money.

This 12-hour shiftwork schedule and shiftwork lifestyle is common on offshore oil rigs. It is also used in Australia to run operations that are far from population centers and workers are flown in for 2-week tours of duty.

For more about this unique type of shiftwork, read Life on a rig in the Gulf of Mexico from the Shreveport Times (Louisiana, USA)

12-hour shifts best kept to not more than 8 consecutive days, according to study

Workers scheduled for more than 8 consecutive 12-hour shifts operate under fatigue-induced impairment comparable to being drunk, according to a study of Australian miners by researchers at James Cook University (Queensland, Australia). The miners' schedule has them working 14 days in a row. Researcher Dr. Anthony Carter says that after 8 days of such work, worker's performance is similar to a person's with a blood alcohol level of .05.

The study's authors recommend limiting strings of 12-hour shifts to no more than 8 days.

Source: The Australian Business

Related Posts:
* Shiftwork schedule factors: work-rest ratios and predictability
* Recognizing fatigue in shiftworkers
* Best practices for managing a shiftwork operation

Chicago police department considers 12-hour shift work schedule

Police in Chicago (Illinois, USA) are considering moving to 12-hour shifts and a 3-day work week. Among the benefits potential benefits cited are more time to decompress with family, and the fact that after a longer shift, off-duty officers are less likely to go out drinking after work.

The Fraternal Order of Police is advocating a schedule that involves 6 days on and 3 off with an 8-hour shift work schedule, but says it is open to the 12-hour shift proposal.

As we've noted in previous posts to this blog, many police departments are moving to 12-hour shifts, often at the behest of officers or their unions.

The Chicago Sun-Times has more information on this in their article 12-hour shifts, 3-day week for cops? New boss considers change that could cut down on drinking after work which appeared in the February 13, 2008 paper.

Other recent National Shiftwork Information Center posts on length of shifts for police departments:

* Police officers fight to keep 12-hour shift schedule
* Another police force embraces 12-hour shifts
* Police change to work 10-hour shift

Other police-related shiftwork posts can be found at: http://shiftworkinformation.blogspot.com/search/label/police

Legislation (and pay raises?) in Pennsylvania nurses future?

The Philadelphia Inquirer published an article It's past time to relieve nurses
In Pa., they can be forced into extra shifts that discusses the forced overtime for nurses that can have them working 18 or even 24 hours straight.

While 12-hour shifts are increasingly commonplace -- very often by the demands of the shiftworkers -- shiftwork experts say that overtime beyond that should be infrequent, and limited in length to not more than 16 hours while a substitute is found. There clearly is a safety issue for both the nurses, the patients they serve, and others on the road when the fatigued nurses drive home.

The article mentions that state legislators are considering a ban, but that will not solve the problem. The problem is driven by a shortage of trained nurses. The solution doesn't lie in legislation alone. More nurses will need to be attracted to fill the gaps. That calls for a market solution -- raising the rate of pay to attract more nurses. That's the only way a new equilibrium will be found.

Managers of 24/7 operations, particularly those that absolutely must operate round-the-clock, and require skilled labor, should take note. Overworking employees creates extra costs and liabilities, and ultimately will drive employees away exacerbating the labor shortage.

I'm not advocating any particular action on anyone's part but the

Shiftwork schedule factors: work-rest ratios and predictability

As part of our continuing discussion of shiftwork scheduling factors, today we're talking about time on the job compared to time off. We'll also discuss the predictability of the schedule. A fixed or regularly rotating schedule may be daunting at times but an unpredictable schedule, such as those worked traditionally on the railroads takes an even greater toll.

The more a person works, the less time he or she will have for rest. People who work an 8-hour shift will have 16 hours left in a day to do everything else, and also to get some rest. People who work a 12-hour shift have only 12 hours to do everything else and to rest. In a situation like this, the extra work hours mean more tiredness and less time for rest.

This is a two-edged sword. For example, many times a worker's home responsibilities, such as taking care of children, cannot change from day to day. So, if workers do overtime or a 12-hour shift, they still must take care of home duties. Since these duties take the same amount of time every day, workers may sacrifice rest and sleep after a long workday.

This example shows us how important the length of shift can be in terms of stress and fatigue.

When looking at work versus rest, we also must consider how many breaks are taken during the shift and the length of breaks. Depending on the type of work and length of the day, several short breaks might be better than a few long breaks. Short breaks might be better particularly for jobs requiring heavy physical labor.

How tired a worker is also depends partly on how many days in a row he or she works. Fatigue builds up over several workdays, as well as over a single workday. This happens especially when a per-son gets less sleep between workdays than on rest days. As we mentioned earlier, a worker might not get enough sleep between long workdays because of home responsibilities. So, if a person works several days in a row, for example, six or seven, a good deal of sleep might be lost. Then the worker feels quite tired during the last one or two shifts.

How Regular or Predictable?
Most jobs have a very regular, set schedule. A worker usually knows the schedule ahead of time. Even if the shift times change, a worker will know several days before-hand. This makes it easy to schedule other non-work activities, such as making sure somebody is at home when the children get there. Other jobs are not so regular or predictable.

For example, health care workers might respond to emergencies that keep them on the job much longer than expected. Or, they might be on call for such emergencies. At a factory, a breakdown or a last-minute call for a product might keep workers at the plant working overtime. Railroad workers sometimes work off a “call board.” This means they can be assigned to a train at the last minute to move a “just-in-time” order of goods.

If workers cannot predict their schedules, it is difficult to get adequate rest. Maybe they just get to sleep when they are called back to work, or maybe they have just worked a long shift when an emergency happens. So, they stay at work a few more hours. Maybe they are on call and never get deep, satisfying sleep because they are always listening for the phone. Some people call this “sleeping with one eye open.”

Another police force embraces 12-hour shifts

Yesterday I wrote about a police department in Illinois where officers were holding out on signing a new contract unless they can continue to work 12-hour shifts rather than reverting to an 8-hour shift schedule. Today I learned about the Nobelseville, Indiana police department which has just switched to a 12-hour shift schedule.

Capt. Brad Arnold of the Noblesville police believes the shift change will reduce sick time, allow officers to use vacation time more efficiently and eventually save the department money by alleviating "a lot of overtime." And how do the officers feel about this change? To quote one officer, Lt. Tony Craig, "It's a simple godsend."

Read the full story at Putting more police on roads
Officers now work 12-hour shifts, which can put 11 cops out on the road at one time.

Ed

Police officers fight to keep 12-hour shift schedule

Police officers in Brookfield, Illinois, USA are fighting to keep the 12-hour shifts they have worked under since 2004. Prior to that time they worked an 8-hour shift schedule. Changing from 8-hour shifts to 12-hour shifts has been in vogue over the past decade or so. Initially many shiftworkers and unions opposed such a move but many have come to embrace it -- much to the surprise of many people not familiar with the shiftwork world.

Why? With a 12-hour shift schedule you get a lot more days off. And there can be many other advantages as well. In this case, police officers have refused to sign off on a new contract, which would increase their pay, until they get the shift length issue resolved. Foregoing increased pay ... I'd say they feel strongly about it. The police department is wanting to revert to an 8-hour shift schedule because the 12-hour shifts incur greater overtime charges. With appropriate training and proper implementation alertness and performance on 12-hour shifts can be maintained at safe levels without additional health risks.

I hope the dispute will be worked out soon, for everyone's sake. If all parties are flexible, there are ways to maintain cost neutrality when switching between 8-h0ur shifts and 12-hour shifts.

You'll find more details in "Cop contract will go to arbitration: Brookfield officers want to keep12-hour shift schedule" which appeared in the January 9, 2008 edition of the Riverside/Brookfield Landmark.

Shiftwork schedules: fixed or rotating

Although some might think workers who always work the night shifts adapt or get used to their work times -- usually the longer somebody does something, the easier it becomes. Over time, many nightshift workers develop techniques to better maintain their alertness but the fact is most nightshift workers are not able to fully adapt and therefore, at least some time, they work in the fog of fatigue.

This fatigue happens because most nightshift workers revert to a day schedule when they're off from work, since that's when most of the world is awake during the day and sleeping at night. Also, many of the errands and chores that accumulate while we're working must be done during the day.

As a result most nightshift workers return to a day schedule so they never completely allow their sleep and body rhythms to adapt to being awake at night. They also sleep less during the day, so they don't recover from fatigue. This fatigue can carry over from day to day. Over several days, fatigue can accumulate to unsafe levels.

People working rotating shiftwork schedules face a similar situation. Because the shift times are always changing, they can never completely adapt to a set shift work schedule. Rotating shiftwork schedules are often used because they are considered fairer to all workers. Everybody in the workforce takes their turn at both the popular and unpopular shifts. Rotating shiftworkers are always trying to get used to changing work times.

This is not easy, which is why rotating shiftworkers have more complaints than other workers about physical health and psychological stress. Research has shown that rotating shifts have special features that might affect a person's ability to get used to the schedule.

I'll talk about those special features in future posts. -- Ed

Source: Plain Language About Shiftwork (NIOSH)

Shiftwork schedules: time of shift

Yesterday, I talked about the factors you need to consider when creating shiftwork schedules for a 24/7 shiftwork operation. Today, I'm talking about the time of day a shift is worked and the implications for shiftworkers.

Twenty-four hour operations usually are usually divided into two or three shifts. Start and end-times depend on the length of the shift.

• Day shift (also called morning or first shift) starts around 5 to 8 a.m. and ends around 2 to 6 p.m.
• Evening shift (also called afternoon or second shift) starts around 2 to 6 p.m. and ends around 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.
• Night shift (also called third, “graveyard shift,” or “mid” shift) starts around 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. and ends around 5 to 8 a.m.

A shiftwork schedule which calls for workers to work 12-hour shifts has two shifts per day – a day shift and a night shift.

Why is the time of shift important?
Because people who work in the late night or early morning hours often feel sleepy and fatigued during their shift. This happens because their body rhythm (also called a circadian rhythm) tells them to be asleep at those times.

Night workers also must sleep during the day, when their circadian rhythm tells them to be awake. Because of this, day sleep is short and feels “light” or unsatisfying. Often, night workers don't get enough sleep during the day to combat nighttime fatigue and sleepiness. Also, day workers sometimes must wake up very early to go to work. This might cause them to cut off their sleep, which makes them feel tired during the day.

Shiftwork schedule times also determine when a worker can see family and friends. Many social events take place in the evening, which means they might be missed by evening or night workers. Parents who work the evening shift might not see their children during the week because they are at work when the kids return from school. If this happens too often, it can be stressful.

In future posts, I'll talk about the other factors to consider when creating a shiftwork schedule or rota -- length of shift, start times, direction of rotation, rotation schedules, etc.

Source: Plain Language About Shiftwork (NIOSH)