Looking for Duty Schedules That work

[REMSCHIEF]

I am looking for new ideas for duty schedules. Currently my staff works 2 nights on/4 nights off, but it is no longer filling the need. The schedule has once again become too time consuming and difficult to predict. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. Thanks


Right now, these are 12hr night shifts for volunteers. Looking for some type of better rotation/idea.

[keysim331]

Could you be a little more specific on what you work now and what your needs are, do you need 24's, 12's, 8's? Do you just work nights?

[Jonathan Bastian]

My prior FD went to shifts as well for volunteer coverage. We started it at the station level, however. My station started w/ 12 hour blocks. We made it a source of pride that we would turn a wheel for any call during the coverage period. We did find, however, that some people couldn't commit to 12 hour blocks. The standard block was 1800 to 0600, but some guys had to leave for work at 0500 or couldn't get off work until 2000, so they didn't sign up. We then broke it down further into 6 hour blocks, then eventually 4 hour blocks.

Everyone was required to take 2 shifts as a minimum, and people fell into a routine (taking the same nights and shifts). We had a few gaps, but overall it worked well.

You can always try asking your people what would make them sign up...

[canmed]

I work 12 hr. shifts (there are some that are 10 and 8 but they're days only)
My rotation consists of 2 weeks of days then 2 weeks of nights.
this is what it looks like:
week1- work mon, tues, fri, sat , sun
week2- work wed, thurs
week3- work mon, tues, fri ,sat ,sun
week4- work wed, thurs

First 2 weeks are all day shifts
second 2 weeks are all night shifts and then you revert back to days and on and on
It work well in the sense we have every second weekend off and days off in the middle of the week too.
I dont have any complaints!!!!!

[OARMedic]

A set 24 hour shift works well. 24 hrs on, 48hours off. The shifts are set. You always work with the same crew. Switches can be made between personnel and coverage can be made for vacations. Since fire service is exempt from the "over 40 hours" over-time rule, the hours are not a problem. The other pluss is you get 2 days off in a row and one day of vacation gets you 5 days off.

[kghemtp]

The fire service is NOT exempt from overtime, while you are correct about the 40 hours part. 53 hours is the cutoff for straight time, and all work past that is time and a half (federal law). 24/48's give an average of 56 hours per week, thus being 3 hours OT. Good luck!

[42VTExplorer]

2 Departments here in vermont use 24/72 (4 Shifts total, 2 firefighter/emt-i's, a firefighter/emt-i (Officer, 3 captains and 1 deputy chief are shift officers), and sometimes a third firefighter/emt-P

And dont forget all that 'on-call' time , or 'coverage'