Safety Naps?

[JPINFV]

...because it's unreasonable to expect someone to be at work for 24 hours straight without sleep time.

[EMS49393]

Last year I got screwed into working 48 hour holidays in a busy metro station because I was new to this particular company. I think I got a total of 3 hours of sleep that entire time, and it was a crappy three hours. I began seeking alternative employment after that. I'm not interested in risking my life for a job anymore, especially when a company has so little regard for the safety of its employees that it allows such scheduling.

I believe you should be allowed to sleep when you can if you work longer than a 12 hour shift. If your house chores are finished, napping should be fair game, period. It's really often the case with rural EMS areas that you don't run a thing until 9pm and you're up all night. Then you get to come home and waste your entire first day off sleeping because you're exhausted. And people wonder why the burn out rate is so high in EMS. Hummmm...

[spenac]

I will be pulling a 120 hour shift starting saturday. I love long shifts. In fact if all EMS went to 12 hour or less I could not work EMS. Now in busy services I could see doing away with 24's. I disagree with any service not allowing you to sleep when you get the chance. Thankfully my service you go to your bunk and sleep when you want to. We do have a policy of being quit after 10pm as some would sleep during day then be noisy at night disturbing those sleeping at night. The public should not see my sleeping area.

[firedoc5]

Actually, from what I have been told (haven't done any research on the issue, minor issue and I'm just too damned busy these days) there are several studies that have been done in the last decade or so that shows that constant "fight/flight" type "lifestyle," along with the "startle" that comes with obnoxious "tones" for dispatch can actually damage the heart over time. Potentially one of the reasons why MI's might be so common in FD. This was one of the reasons that Phoenix Fire (and those they dispatch for) have the "Heart Saver" Tones. The ones that go from soft to loud.

When I got on the FD full time, between 8:00 to 17:00, no TV, no sleeping (even reclining in a chair "dozing off". It was business at all times. After 17:00, you could kick back, eat, TV, whatever. But you still had so many station duties it was rarely 21:00 before you were actually "done" for the day.

When you did finally get to bed, they were old retired hospital beds. But every time we got a call and that claxtin went off, while I was asleep, it gave me chest pain and almost an anxiety attack. It was like that for a little less than seven years for me. That's one reason I stayed up very late, and sometimes didn't go to bed at all.

The only cool thing we had if we went to bed at the main station upstairs, we did have a fire pole. It originally came out of a FD in PA in 1888.

[Dustdevil]

Ya know, it's actually amazing that this is still an issue in EMS. At least once this year, if not more, we have had news articles here at the City in which a fatal ambulance wreck resulted from the EMT falling asleep at the wheel. It is not an uncommon occurrence. The DOT has regulations and standards regarding the balance of rest times for professional drivers that apply to truckers and bus drivers. Of course, they are involved in interstate commerce, which we usually are not, so I don't believe we are at all covered by such regulations. They do, however, establish a national standard that it is negligent to ignore. And incidents like the wreck earlier this year can and will result in significant liability for the employer who insists on an atmosphere that results in under-rested drivers and medics alike.

Unfortunately, and again, the ugly head of "tradition" not only prevents the profession from growing in this respect, but it literally kills people. And any manager who allows it should be held personally liable for such stupidity. It's poor risk management that simply cannot be defended on any level, and proof positive of incompetent management.

[firedoc5]

Ya know, it's actually amazing that this is still an issue in EMS. At least once this year, if not more, we have had news articles here at the City in which a fatal ambulance wreck resulted from the EMT falling asleep at the wheel. It is not an uncommon occurrence. The DOT has regulations and standards regarding the balance of rest times for professional drivers that apply to truckers and bus drivers. Of course, they are involved in interstate commerce, which we usually are not, so I don't believe we are at all covered by such regulations. They do, however, establish a national standard that it is negligent to ignore. And incidents like the wreck earlier this year can and will result in significant liability for the employer who insists on an atmosphere that results in under-rested drivers and medics alike.

Unfortunately, and again, the ugly head of "tradition" not only prevents the profession from growing in this respect, but it literally kills people. And any manager who allows it should be held personally liable for such stupidity. It's poor risk management that simply cannot be defended on any level, and proof positive of incompetent management.

Amen, bro. I lived that life style too long and I know it's only by the grace of God I was not one of those who dozed off. I believe it might even have something with me now having migraines.

[UMSTUDENT]

Yeah, I had another bad night. Got one good hour of sleep right before I got off. Was up all day, and right as we dozed off we got a call for a MVC with reported rollover. Got canceled, came back, finished documentation, and right as I was getting in bed we got a call in the outskirts of our area for chest pain.

Totally BS. I'm also being told that I may get reassigned to a station with a more consistent, steady call volume during the entire shift!

[Don1977]

Yeah, I had another bad night. Got one good hour of sleep right before I got off. Was up all day, and right as we dozed off we got a call for a MVC with reported rollover. Got canceled, came back, finished documentation, and right as I was getting in bed we got a call in the outskirts of our area for chest pain.

Totally BS. I'm also being told that I may get reassigned to a station with a more consistent, steady call volume during the entire shift!

If its that bad for you, maybe its time for another job..... :roll:

[Laura Anne]

As I sit here and attempt to read these posts at work, I am literally nodding off in my chair. :sleepy1:

My job has weekly rotating stations. Depending on which station your at depends on if you can 'squeeze' in a nap. A new policy was put in effect to 'punish' the employees by not allowing us to rest anymore. Basically, they're endangering our lives by this ridiculous new rule they put in effect.

This new rule has NOTHING to do with sleeping; it has to do with the employees making up a list to assist the admin by coming up with ideas, questions, comments, concerns we all have and yet never get answers for. I figured writing down all the aforementioned would be a helpful, positive thing.....silly me. :roll:

This is ONE example of the place I work for.....1 step forward, 12 steps BACK!!!! :evil:

[firedoc5]

If its that bad for you, maybe its time for another job..... :roll:

That's sort of what I thought. We'd run all day, and if it was a good night we'd only have 3-5 calls with getting an average of 45min. to an hour sleep at a time. That's why I stayed up for as long as I could, so I wouldn't be woke up that often.