Originally Posted by auxie

Originally Posted by StickyEnd

I was allowed to sleep on duty when I was in the army. TBH, I would rather have the fire brigade not being busy. It kinda bugs me that almost all jobs are now run by office worker types that think that it is appropriate that everyone should be busy throughout a shift.

Exactly, most of the twats whining about people sleeping on a nightshift have never worked anything but a 9-5 dayshift, put those wankers on a 12 hr rotating day /night shift and see how they get on

My opinion has nothing to do with shift work. Some shift type jobs should require being busy while at work. Take manufacturing as an example; if it is required that you work to a routine, it is reasonable to expect that workers are close to constantly productive. When it is an emergency service it is different. If they are anywhere near to being busy when there is no emergency occurring we will be in trouble when one or more does.

edited to fix quotes.

[quote="StickyEnd"][quote="auxie"]

Originally Posted by StickyEnd

Originally Posted by jarrod248

Originally Posted by auxie

I was allowed to sleep on duty when I was in the army. TBH, I would rather have the fire brigade not being busy. It kinda bugs me that almost all jobs are now run by office worker types that think that it is appropriate that everyone should be busy throughout a shift.

Exactly, most of the twats whining about people sleeping on a nightshift have never worked anything but a 9-5 dayshift, put those wankers on a 12 hr rotating day /night shift and see how they get on

My opinion has nothing to do with shift work. Some shift type jobs should require being busy while at work. Take manufacturing as an example; if it is required that you work to a routine, it is reasonable to expect that workers are close to constantly productive. When it is an emergency service it is different. If they are anywhere near to being busy when there is no emergency occurring we will be in trouble when one or more does.

It's fair does when it is a generally predictable job. Unfortunately it's not, so you have to aim for hour coverage and accept that there are times when the folks aren't otherwise engaged. That's a no-brainer.

[quote="auxie"][quote="jarrod248"]

Originally Posted by auxie

Originally Posted by StickyEnd

Originally Posted by jarrod248

Originally Posted by auxie

I was allowed to sleep on duty when I was in the army. TBH, I would rather have the fire brigade not being busy. It kinda bugs me that almost all jobs are now run by office worker types that think that it is appropriate that everyone should be busy throughout a shift.

Exactly, most of the twats whining about people sleeping on a nightshift have never worked anything but a 9-5 dayshift, put those wankers on a 12 hr rotating day /night shift and see how they get on

I worked 12 hour nights for many months without a night off and I wasn't allowed to sleep and was busy throughout the night, very busy. I'd have loved to have been able to sleep - I could not have done so.

As said, working as a security guard your expected to be awake all night, thats what they pay you for ......you should have worked harder at school mate.

So as a registered Nurse with 20 years experience you'd think it was ok to get my head down then?

People, Please fix your quotes. Posters are being quoted as saying things that they did not say.

Originally Posted by jarrod248

Originally Posted by auxie

Originally Posted by auxie

I was allowed to sleep on duty when I was in the army. TBH, I would rather have the fire brigade not being busy. It kinda bugs me that almost all jobs are now run by office worker types that think that it is appropriate that everyone should be busy throughout a shift.

Exactly, most of the twats whining about people sleeping on a nightshift have never worked anything but a 9-5 dayshift, put those wankers on a 12 hr rotating day /night shift and see how they get on

I worked 12 hour nights for many months without a night off and I wasn't allowed to sleep and was busy throughout the night, very busy. I'd have loved to have been able to sleep - I could not have done so.

My bold. Jarrod, serious question. was that continual night shift or a combination of earlies, lates and nights? Reason I ask, is that they are completely different beasts (I've worked both).

Also, as a nurse, you will be aware of the health risks involved in shift work; especially nights. This is not a dig, as I am looking at both sides of the coin here.

Originally Posted by Recce19

Originally Posted by jarrod248

Originally Posted by auxie

Originally Posted by auxie

I was allowed to sleep on duty when I was in the army. TBH, I would rather have the fire brigade not being busy. It kinda bugs me that almost all jobs are now run by office worker types that think that it is appropriate that everyone should be busy throughout a shift.

Exactly, most of the twats whining about people sleeping on a nightshift have never worked anything but a 9-5 dayshift, put those wankers on a 12 hr rotating day /night shift and see how they get on

I worked 12 hour nights for many months without a night off and I wasn't allowed to sleep and was busy throughout the night, very busy. I'd have loved to have been able to sleep - I could not have done so.

My bold. Jarrod, serious question. was that continual night shift or a combination of earlies, lates and nights? Reason I ask, is that they are completely different beasts (I've worked both).

Also, as a nurse, you will be aware of the health risks involved in shift work; especially nights. This is not a dig, as I am looking at both sides of the coin here.

It was continual night shifts without a night off for many months - exactly what i'd posted.

OK, thanks for your responce Jarrod. I personally found continous night shift the easier to deal with. Continually changing my sleep pattern was/is a killer. IIRC, most work place accidents/incidents happen between 01:00 and 03:00.

Right, back on thread... :D

I'm starting to wonder if some of the folks on here, who are moaning about Firefighters are just trying to wind us up and get a response. This is due to some people sounding like absolute idiots with no idea what they're on about.

I'm a Firefighter, but have also been in the Paras, worked as a Copper and done some night-shifts on a City Centre Ambulance. I've also worked night shifts in a warehouse and as a security guard, so I KNOW a little about ALOT of the jobs being mentioned.

The biggest difference between Firefighters, and any other type of night shift (apart from fire-fights with armed forces) is the level of energy the body uses in heat. It MASSIVELY wears your body down. So I'm so sorry if we have a 40 minute rest inbetween calls if we're VERY lucky in the night shifts.

How many Coppers, Security Guards, Paramedics or Warehouse workers have you seen collapse due to energy loss? NONE, I'm sure. I've worked all of those jobs, and I've never seen it. I HAVE however, seen quite a few Firefighters come out of fires, after their 2nd or 3rd entry into the building, looking for people to save, just collapse.

We need the rest of a night time, as that's when we get most of our calls. If you don't see why, I'll rapidly explain...... Fires in the day, usually get seen early, and delt with by those already in the building. While workers go home, or house users go to bed, the fire grows as much as it wants, until we're called out to deal with in it's HUGE state.

As for not striking...... I agree. I also think we shouldn't strike, and that's why I vote to not strike on these issues and I tryy my best to get others to follow my thinking.

As for the wages being alot...... Oh please...... It's a shit wage when you look at what we have to learn, train for, re-learn, re-train for and risk our lives for.

As for fitting bloody smoke detectors, I also agree that it should be conducted by lower paid individuals, so us guys can just train, prepare our kit and respond to 'calls'.

If you can't quite see my points, I'm at a loss as to how to show you the common sense involved here.

You've never collapsed in a heap due to exhaustion/energy loss as a copper? You must be hard as fcuk as I've seen people so tired from fighting with people they've vomitted and passed out and during Mutual aid (public order work) people are always dropping like flies... Everywhere! I can oly assume you had your eyes shut whilst on duty. I myself have rolled away from fighting on the floor when colleagues have arrived and just stayed their for a minute or two to compose myself as I'm not a mixed martial artist and fighting is one of the most strenuous, tiring things I have ever done.

Do you remember my hint about going from informed poster to crying arrse... You're not far off it mate. Water Wasters are not the only people who have it hard and fire is not the only life threatening thing civvies face. I imagine The coastguard will tell you that Cold Water can just as easily kill/exhaust people.

Water fairies do a good job. Don't make them come across as Barrel Chested Self Worshipping knights of the realm though.

Thermal_Warrior,
For the reasons of exhaustion you mention it seems sensible to reduce the night shift from 15 hours to 12 doesn't it?