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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Fighting fatigue, and fires

By: Editorial

Posted: 02/2/2011 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

(DALE CUMMINGS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)

The effects of shift work, particularly the frequent changeover between day and night shifts, on personal health and safety are well-documented. Less is known about the effects specific to firefighters, but the trend to 24-hour shifts has swept through Ontario departments. Now Winnipeg firefighters are considering putting the shift change on the table at contract negotiations this fall. Who will benefit?

Is a firefighter on the 20th straight hour sufficiently alert to respond to an emergency? Is he or she better prepared than a counterpart who is on the second of consecutive 14-hour night shifts, as happens in Winnipeg now?

A tiny body of research, largely that of an occupational health specialist in Wisconsin, favours 24-hour shifts over the alternative combination of 10-hour and 14-hour shifts many departments use. The specialist, Linda Glazner, also qualifies that the 24-hour shifts work best when there is a long break between them and when firefighters get to sleep during their shifts. Further, one rotation model for the 24-hour shift option allows a five-day break.

That sleep time is not possible, according to the Winnipeg firefighters' union, which believes this city's fire departments are the busiest in Canada. No firefighters nap during their shifts, says union president Alex Forrest. The concern, then, is how the city's busy stations can adapt to the 24-hour shift. Mr. Forrest speculates the current rehab system, which sees units from other, less busy stations spell off firefighters who have had hectic shifts, might be expanded.

Mr. Forrest says the discussion in Winnipeg (a referendum will be held in a couple of months as to whether moving to 24-hour shifts becomes a bargaining item) is split roughly between younger and older members. Younger firefighters are better at weathering the longer shifts, some have found, while older members are worried a 24-hour shift would compound the fatigue that sets in after a 14-hour shift to the detriment of their health and ability to serve.

Most firefighters in the United States work 24-hour shifts and a number in Canada are following suit of their Ontario counterparts. The longer shifts bring management issues -- how do you calculate sick time when a firefighter misses 24 hours of work? But more importantly, that a significant minority is opposed to 24-hour shifts cannot be discounted. If a quarter of the workforce is unable to maintain the pace, the quality of emergency service would suffer.

Other jurisdictions have used lengthy pilot projects to test the 24-hour shift. Chief Jim Brennan must weigh the scant research that supports moving to longer work periods against the impact on his firefighters and paramedics (who would need to be consulted as well), not all of whom are ready for a dramatic shift in shifts.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 2, 2011 A10

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