48on 96off shift schedule

I brought up the idea to change from the kelly shedule (3's and 4's) to the 48 hours on and 96 hours off to my dept. There is about a 70% interest in a trial. The non supporters feel that 48 hours is too long away from home even though you get a four day every time you come off shift. The BC's who are not in favor fear that the 2nd 24 will be a wasted day because guys will not be motivated.
I know parts of California, Washington, and New Mexico use this schedule.
If you use this schedule, or know someone who does, please respond with pros and cons.

Working 48's on a regular basis dosent seem to be healthy. If you sleep all night, that is one thing, but around hour 36 when I am pulling a double shift I start getting a little crazy. Even if you are sleeping at night, you begin to feel like a caged animal when you are at the firehouse too long. I worked 57 hours straight one time, and it was not good. It seems that 48 hours is too long for a mom or dad to be away from their kids. Just my opinion.

Hey mikeylikesit, thanks for your opinion. we are not the busiest dept. The busiest station we have averages 8-12 fire/ems calls per 24 hour.
Benefits to the 48/96, you always go home on a four day. thats 60 four days per year, 27 full weekends off, and half the trips into work ( 5 per month ).

Hey:
I currently work a 4 on 4 off shift on an 8 day rotation, we are trying to get our chief to switch to a 24 hr shift. 24 on 24 off 24 on 5 days off. 48 hours seems like a long time to me. I don't know if this helps. Good luck with your shifts,

Big C

I have to agree with Mikey. I have been to the busy stations and if I had to run a 48 hour shift I wouldn't only be placing my crew in danger, but the other people on the road while I was either driving the piece or driving home. I too would begin to feel like the caged animal. It may work well for some areas that are a little slower but the stations that run all day and night you start to push the safe driving limits of the operators. I know that most laws require at least 8 hours of sleep for truck drivers between 10 hour shifts. But to let someone drive a piece for 48 hours with very minimal sleep is crazy unless you can guarentee them that sleep that the law requires.
I do like the 96 hour off time though that would be real nice to have.

...that would make for a really, really long shift for subs or overtime.

I prefer 24/48's over that anyday.

48 hours is a very long time and in my opinion becomes unsafe. I feel that if you have a busy first 24 hours and do not get the proper rest, you are not only putting yourself and the public in danger, but your fellow coworkers. Would you trust someone driving a fire truck to the scene of a call who has slept 2 hours in the past 40 hours? In addition, pwc606 is right- you spend 48 hours straight you begin to feel like a caged animal. I mean you spend 48 hours straight with anyone and you are bound to start becoming annoyed and sick of them. 24/48's in my opinion work the best for 3 shifts. Be safe!

The schedule my fire department works on is three 24 hour shifts in five days then four days off. For example, work Monday, Wednesday, Friday, off Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Go back and work Wednesday, Friday, Sunday, off Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Seems to work for us.

The Loveland-Symmes Fire Dept. in southwestern Ohio near Cincinnati switched to 48 on/96 off within the past year. The guys I know on this department all love it. They really like the 4 days in a row off. They also like the fact that if they are working on a project they get two days in a row to work on it. They're moderately busy, so even the people on EMS get sufficient sleep.

Career department is 4 shifts on and then 4 straight off then 4 more shifts and then 6 days off.
X-O-X-O-X-O-X-O-O-O-O-X-O-X-O-X-O-X-O-O-O-O-O-O
Works out really well and everyone seems to like it
I think 48 straight is not overly healthy but not an uncommom practice.

I work a 4/6 schedule like Mark440. That fourth shift in the tour can be grueling.

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I've heard nothing but good things from people who work the 48/96 schedule. There are a lot of us in my department that would like to try it out. It would really cut down on commute time, and you wouldn't have to do housework or inventory the rig on that second day. I think the down-side would be trades or overtime, where you could be working 72 hours straight or more.

I work for an EMS agency that works 4 on 4 off.......I hate it. I think four is too many to work. We run 30-40 calls a day, its just too many and you dont get enough sleep.

The local fire dept runs a good schedule that we want our EMS company to change to. They work 24 on, 24 off......then 24 on, 48 off.....then 24 on, 72 off. I think its a great schedule and wish we could switch!