24 hour work shifts

[WRENCH]

does anyone have any good studies on 24 hour shifts ? we are looking for positive advantages to the town that can be used to convince them why it is good for the town to allow us to change schedules. reducing sick time is not one of them as we have very low sick leave already and they know it. we currently work 10/14.we are a small dept, 28 men.

email wrench1988@yahoo.com
Rich Meier
Cranford Fire Dept
7 Springfield ave
Cranford NJ 07016
908-709-7360

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[NUMBY]

I have a question first. How many are currently on duty throughout the day?

[WRENCH]

curently we have 6 on duty with no one off on nights. on days we have 6 on duty no one off, but with the addition of 0 to 3 steady week day inspectors depending on the day of the week and how many of them are on days off. they can however be assigned to the shift to fillout the 5 man minimum. they also respond to all fire calls when on duty.they are also subject to recall when off duty for working fires.

[Truckie from Missouri]

You might look into how the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act applies to y'all in NJ. Out here most paid departments work on some sort of 24 hr shift schedule averaging 56 hours a week.

On my department, we work 8 out of 9 shifts in a pay period, and there are 13 pay periods a year. The ninth shift we are given a Kelley Day, translated into 13 unpaid days off a year. (I like this arrangement, personnaly.) When we work an overtime shift, the first 12 hours are at straight time, then anytime worked after that is at time & a half. That was explained to me that it is because of the FLSA and the "fireman's rule".

One argument you might try is that by switching to a 24 hr shift, you won't need 4 shifts, instead only need 3 shifts, and the personnel from the fourth shift can be integrated onto the other shifts, thus INCREASING manpower and SAFETY of those on duty. Another advantage is that with the added staffing on each shift, there is a larger pool of personnel to fill positions left vacant by kelley day, sick leave, vacation, etc.

Good luck to y'all in your venture!

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Proud Member of IAFF Local 3133!

Stay safe.

Ken

***DISCLAIMER***
All postings I have &/or will post are strictly my opinions. I am representing only myself here, not the IAFF, Local 3133, or my employer. No animals were/will be harmed from the production of this disclaimer. Thank you.
***END OF DISCLAIMER***

[FitzBFDT2]

This reply is 1st for Ken,

Here in NJ, over 99% of the paid departments work 42 Hour work weeks. Either 24 on/72 off or some combo of 10's and 14's. The thought of increasing manpower with the consolidating of shifts from 4 to 3 is noble, but that would last only until attrition had made its ugly way through the rank & file.

I think Richie would agree with me on that. Richie, we went to 24's on Jan. 1, 1999. The only reason we got them is because the Mayor had no objection to it. The cities know it can only benefit them, they just are busting our balls.



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Kevin M. Fitzhenry, bfdt2@injersey.com
Firefighter, Truck Co. 2
City of Bayonne (NJ) FD
www.bayonne.net/bfd/ (http://www.bayonne.net/bfd/)

[fireman116]

We currently work 24 on 48 off with no kelly days. This is great for many reasons. First we work a 56 hour work week on a 21 day pay period and are guarenteed 9hrs o.t. The second benefit is being able to work a side job. Many guys have a second job and this schedule allows them to due that. Third is the time off, if you take 1 shift off you get 5 days in a row and so on. Hope this helps.

[SCOOZ233RFD]

We Are Currently Looking At The 24 / 72 Schedule And I Am On The Commitee To Present This To Our Union And Members. I Have Been Trying To Make Up A 4 Year Schedule To Show The Rotation And To Make Sure That The Same Groups Are Not Working All Of The Holidays. Rather Than Re-invent The Wheel, I Was Wondering If Anyone Had Schedules With A 4 Year Rotation. The Leap Year Screws Up The Rotation A Little. We Currently Work 3 Tens 2 Off 3 14's 4 Off. With 4 Groups In The Rotation. Any Help S Greatly Appreciated

[onebugle]

Firehouse has a shift calender which you can generate for any year and any combination of shifts. It's located on the webpage. At the top scroll onto "Services", the shift calender is at the bottom or go to the following link:

http://www.fire-ems.net/calendar/make.cgi

[gunnyv]

Only one shift change every 24 hrs will cut overtime due to runs at shift change by 50% or more, we are generally much busier in the afternoon than in the morning.

[lexfd5]

We're on a 24/48 per commonwealth statute. The bad part is my platoon ends up with the major holidays two years in a row becuase of leap year. It used to stink really bad, but with our new contract the major holidays are paid at time and a half....good or bad?

[firefighter236]

http://mississaugafirefighters.org/24/24H%20Committee.htm

This link has loads of information regarding the 24 hour shift, benefits of working it and differant shift schedules...check it out

[fireirishDFD217]

The dept. I work for full time is 24 on 48 off. We run three shifts. Batt. 1, Batt. 2, and Batt. 3. If you are only working 6 per day already, then a three shift program shouldn't be a problem. Instead of 6 per shift you would then have 8 per shift. Plus the schedule is easy for firefighters to keep up with. You know you'll be working evry third day. You can even buy calenders that have a three shift color code on them. We like it because it gives us more time to work our other jobs in between shifts. And when we take vacation days we only take one shift off butt end up off for five days.