Police Air support unit or HEMS roster.

[EC145Pilot]

Good evening,

I am planning on changing our roster in the Air Support Unit I'm in charge of. We presently have crews on immediate alert from 8 Am to 18 Pm every day and on alert 45 minutes during the night. For an Air support unit it seems inadequate. I'd like to change that to a 24 hours immediate alert (well 10 minutes at night).
I don't have to follow any JAR duty hours regulation although it would be silly no to try to stick as much as possible to it. I am thinking about implementing 12 hours shifts, with a 7 days on/7 days off roster...but it might not be the best one.
If any of you would like to share his (her) roster I'd be very much interested. I know that the Norwegian Police Air support unit has a very interesting roster, but I can't remember it!

Cheers

[Flying Bull]

Hi EC145Pilot,

sharing rosters isn´t just telling one.
You have to think about how many A/C you wan´t to get get in the air with how many pilots/crews available, also working when somebody is on vacation/ill etc. - while thinking about the weekly/monthly/yearly hours, someone has to do.

Thinking about a 12 hr roster, some like it but if you want flight saftey, you better forget about it cause at the end of a long shift you get tired and make more mistakes, which might leed to desaster.
We change to a 12hr roster once a year around chritmas / new year - and all are whishing, that there isn´t another flight at the end of the shift....
Murphy hits you easily and then you do 13 or 14 hrs instead of 12....

We run 9 hrs shifts, from 6 to 15, from 13 to 22 and from 2130 to 0630, having time for retreving information or passing it along to the next crew.
You would need the roster, which run over 6 weeks, to see, when we work and when we have time off.

Greetings Flying Bull

[MightyGem]

Seven days is too long to do 12 hour duties. Apart from the fatigue factor, when working 12 hours a day, plus travelling time, you have very little time to do anything else. Police units that do 24 hour shifts in the UK generally do 12 hour shifts of 2 day shift, 2 night shifts and then 4 days off. There is one unit that does 5 days, 5 off, 5 nights, 5 off.

The advantage of the 2/2/4 is that you are only getting up early to go to work for two days, then you have a day "off". You then only have to work for two nights before then having 4 days off. From my experience, the only advantage of the 5 day system is the 5 days off.

[What Limits]

My favoured option for 12 hour shifts is

4 days
4 off
4 nights
4 off

[ROTORVATION]

I've done the two twelve hour days followed by two twelve hour night routine before, followed by four days off. It's horrendous, and until someone has experienced it you will never understand... Our staff turnover rate was ridiculously high, and the shift system got reworked in the end.

Figure out an eight hour shift pattern instead, you'll have happier staff!

[Helinut]

In the UK the police 24 hr shift patterns are effectively all "immediate response" so sleeping or napping are either not allowed or not practical.

I understand that it is the case that the UK CAA will now only accept new 12 hours shift pattens on the basis that Might Gem suggests. It isn't really 4 OFF though, as you finish on a 12 hour night shift at say 0700 in the morning, so the first OFF day is partly spent sleeping.

My personal favourite is the one mentioned by What Limits. It requires the same numbers of pilots but involves fewer shift changes (which are the thng that screws up your body clock). Whilst you only get 3 days OFF 50% of the time, you also get 4+ days OFF the oither 50%.

One UK ASU has gone 24 hours with 9 hr shift patterns. Obviously you need more pilots. The shift pattern they use is not one that I would like to work myself. It has a small proportion of days OFF. It might be the better option if you were very busy.

I have also worked the 5 ON 5 OFF pattern that has been mentioned. The sets of 5 nights are noticeably more fatiguing, and I would not recommend that.

I think the picture would be very different if you aren't required to do immeidate response at nights. It also makes a difference how much you fly, of course. Paradoxically, I have found the quieter Units more fatiguing than the moderately busy ones. Certainly, it is more difficult to be properly awake and fit to fly if you have kept awake from 1900 until 0545 without any flying. On the other hand, I have flown at Units where you regularly do 6 or 7 flying hours in a night shift. I had to call a halt for flight safety reasons on some occasions on those shifts just to have a break and get some food.

[Lightning_Boy]

What about 5 days 3 off, 5 nights 3 off which a certain ASU work? :ugh:

[SASless]

The US EMS industry generally works the 7/7 roster....7 days, 7 Off, 7 nights.

The night shift is a killer....in more ways than one. Long about day five...you are tired...day six...you are really tired...and day seven just cannot end fast enough.

Night shift starts with interrupted sleep....I know of no one that stays on night shift when off duty as we all try to lead somewhat normal lives and that means awake days...sleep nights.

The trick to surviving night shift is to try to start your shift with a "Sleep Credit" by taking a good long nap before arriving for that first shift and planning your time between shifts so you sleep as long as possible and arise just prior to going to work. Arriving at work with a sleep deficit particularly on day one sets the stage for a very tiring week.

The 2/2/2 roster described by some sounds good....except you are rotating shifts rapidly but at least you are not on duty but the two nights in a go.

Perhaps a 4/4/4 is closer to the right answer....as you get a good long break away from work and plenty of time to rest. Fatigue can be cumulative...and that is the dangerous part. You arrive at work tired and don't realize it.

Anything longer than the 4/4/4 would set you up for the same problems as the 7/7/7 in my view.

The fallacy of the nine hour shift is you now work more days in a row....and rotate between three shifts. The longer you can be away from work for a real break is better in my view.

[Brilliant Stuff]

We do two sets.

7 days 6 off 5 nights 3 off 10hr shifts

7 days 5off 5 nights 4 off 10hr shifts

Fatigue is the watchword. I usually stay up late the two nights before my set of nights. I also try to have a nap before each night shift. Usually if you have a busy night shift you last better compared to one nothing happens.

In my last job we would do 6 consecutive nights once a month which we did from the comfort of our own bed.:ok::ok::ok::ok: In 6 years I got called out 10 times:ok::ok::}:}:}:}

[handysnaks]

We do 5 days, 5 off, 5 nights 5 off. 07:30-07:30 12 hr shifts.
napping for the pilot is not frowned upon. Mightygem highlights the problem of 2 days 2 nights 4 off with his mention of the 'day off' prior to starting your first night shift. It isn't a day off, it's a rest pewriod prior to a long night duty. 12 hour (night shifts in particular), shifts work as long as you treat them in the correct way, realise they are arduous and prepare for them with adequate amounts of rest beforehand.

[timex]

With Handy on this one, we work 5/5 5/5 and AFAIK all of us are very happy with the routine.

[Thud_and_Blunder]

I used to work Handysnak's 5-on, 5-off and found it the best 24-hour system so far - so long as you live close-by during your duty days-or-nights and can get decent uninterrupted rest when away from work. Ideal for units in expensive-housing areas; people who normally live away from the unit but can get good, low-cost accommodation (I used to stay in a nearby police station, another unit's Snr Pilot stays on a houseboat) for the 5 days on duty benefit the most. For such people it beats the 4-on, 4-off system because the latter requires many more home-duty journeys per year than Handysnak's arrangement.