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Permalink Reply by Patrick Coughlin on January 16, 2015 at 9:57pm

Sam:

What does your call load analysis tell you? For the majority of fire departments, the call load for fire and EMS incidents drops to near zero between midnight and 8AM. In those cases, crews on 24-hour shifts are generally well-rested, which argues against 10/14 shifts.

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Permalink Reply by Zachary Wolf on January 20, 2015 at 4:32pm

Most departments that run a 24 on rotation in my area have just transitioned to a 48 on 96 off model instead but are running around 6-10 thousand calls a year out of anywhere from 3-17 stations so not alot of calls per unit leaving a fair amount of sleep most of the departments when they did do the 24 on 24 off model went with a modified detroit schedule which was 24 on 24 off 24 on 24 off 24 on 3 days off to give about 9 shifts a month now with the 48 model they are running between 10 and 11 shifts a month all depends on call volume and what all you are running on

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Permalink Reply by Sam Wassell on January 23, 2015 at 1:34am

Hey guys sorry i havent replied. Busy week...

Patrick, our department doesnt have a breakdown of time of calls, but we do our fair share of midnight to 8 am calls.

Zach I think the model that you guys are talking about is based on a 3 platoon or 56 hr work week. We're doing a 4 platoon 42 hr week and i cant see that changing.

I was hoping someone had access to some of the studies done on the effects of 24hr shifts? Google keeps bringing up some Dr Linda Glazman reports from '92 and '96 but i cant find them anywhere.

Does anyone know if there dept has done any internal studies into benefits/negatives of the 24 hr shifts?

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Permalink Reply by Zachary Wolf on January 23, 2015 at 1:54pm

I dont know where to find studies but I saw a recent one.... I think on facebook of all places that shows the wear and tear on a body after 8 hours... Im sure fdny or one of the bigger departments that run 12s vrs 24s would have studies that go against the 24 hour model but not sure of any besides the few that you are mentioning

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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on January 24, 2015 at 12:03am

Sam,

What are some of the questions being asked?

What is your deparment size (stations and personnel)?

How many stations are doing this trial?

What is your call volume?

 

I don't know about specific studies.....and quite honestly I don't care to do research just to satisfy the topic. So that means I don't have anything available on hand. What I can say is our dept has the California schedule (24 on, 24 off, 24 on, 24 off, 24 on, 96 off). We looked at the 48/96 schedule and it was shot down significantly by the membership. We never worked the 10/14 hr shift, but know of people who do it. It is perspective again, those who do a 48/96 seem to love it, those who work a 10/14 seem to love it, those who work a 56 hour seem to love it. When it comes to actual studies, there is some stuff out there AGAINST the 48/96, but haven't seen too much pro or con the 24 hour shift. 24 hour shifts tend to be the norm and quite frankly if what you are doing is what you may decide to go woth, I can see that as a nice schedule.....5 days consecutive as opposed to 4.

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Permalink Reply by Nick Morgan on February 9, 2015 at 7:24pm

Hi Sam,

It really depends on your call load and what your members are comfortable with.  My department works the 24on/24off/24on/24off/24on/96off and we have many companies that run an average of 3-5 runs between midnight and 8am.  Sleep deprivation over time can become a real problem for very busy companies that run a lot of calls at night.  However, our system is workable.  Many of our suburban departments have gone to the 48on/96off schedule and love it, but our workload would probably make that untenable.  The 5 days off sounds good!  Experiment and get honest feedback and see how it works for your FD.

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