In these situations, the less frequent shift exchanges occur, the less chance there is that a crew will be busy on scene of an emergency, which would delay and disrupt the shift exchange process.Īnother way the 24-hour shift benefits the organization is that it provides employees who can work in excess of 40 hours per week. In the case of a medical response, patient treatment and transportation can also be a lengthy process. The same holds true for other types of emergencies, such as complex automobile extrications and hazardous material leaks and spills. In the case of a working structure fire, fire crews can be on scene for several hours, if not longer. The benefit of infrequent shift exchanges is a result of the significant amount of time required to handle emergency calls. The 24-hour shift provides several benefits for the organization: infrequent shift exchanges, employees who can work more than 40 hours per week, and consistent coverage throughout the year, including weekends and holidays. The Kelly Day usually occurs every six to 10 shifts depending on the agreed upon and/or negotiated work week. There are many variations of the 24-hour shift, but for the purpose of this discussion, we will focus on a schedule where an employee works 24 hours on duty and gets 48 hours off along with a Kelly Day (a day off occurring at a prescribed interval required to keep an employee from working too many hours during a pay cycle). Why is that? Let’s dig into the answer by first addressing the 24-hour shift. In contrast, many utilize some form of a 12-hour shift. Other fire departments as well as other public safety organizations, such as police, 9-1-1 communications and those in the medical community, have the same requirement to provide services 24 hours a day but few, if any, utilize a 24-hour shift.
To accomplish this, many fire departments utilize a 24-hour shift. The nature of public safety establishes a need to provide services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. In essence, I was being asked, what is the most efficient work schedule for the fire service? The exercise proved to be quite interesting and may shed some light on an interesting topic. Recently, I was given an assignment to conduct a comprehensive review of various shift schedules and ultimately submit a proposal for one that was more efficient than our current 24-hour shift.
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