Something from what ASA are aiming at
Flexibility - specifically rostering and a desire to move to a fatigue based system.
Apologies to those whose knowledge of fatigue predictive tools is little or non-existent. Ours is based on past and future shift runs to predict your decision making abilities, but not how tired you are.
Using the ASA system ( which apparently the company who sold it to them aren't happy about, and told ASA they are using it incorrectly) leaves you with scenarios like this-
Controller rostered for a 7am-3pm shift the next day,then asked to cover for night shift that night 11pm-6am instead.This is on the back end of a run of shifts.
Fatigue was assessed by machine that he would just break the limit. The limit is 80. (80 what, I have no idea).. ASA have a habit of lopping 15 minutes here and there to get under magical limit. (This is one part of the reason that the designers are unhappy with ASA).
Controller works the shift, then the Supervisor notices that the 7am-3pm shift has not been deleted from the fatigue computer.
Out of interest he asks the machine to reassess the fatigue rating, wondering how high it will go. Drumroll. The machine has dropped the fatigue rating way DOWN, supervisor checks again and again, and can't work it out.At the top of fatigue then one hour break followed by a full shift and now he's LESS tired.
Sends off query to company that designed it.
Company sends back reply. Now, apparently based on this system your body clock 'resets' when the sun comes up.
So next time you've been up all night, just stay up until the sun comes up, and you'll be right. I've done it before and to a certain extent its true, but to build rosters based on that kind of logic to work constant 24/7 shifts is ridiculous.
Last edited by max1; 4th Jul 2008 at 00:38.