5.6 Research: Shift work Schedule

When first looking at the shift schedule, the cycle between days on verses days off seems adequate; however based on the reports of extreme fatigue and inadequate sleep from the workers tells us that there is something wrong.  This schedule consist of four separate teams working a rotating shift cycle of six days on, two days off and rotating every eight days to the right; morning shift moves to swings, swings to night and night to days etc.  This can be visually seen below in the “Current Shift Schedule” attachment.   After evaluating each of the three shift duration we can see that the Day shift is 8.5 hours (0700 to 1600), Swings is 10.5 hours (1530 to 2400) and Night is 8.5 hours (2330 to 0800).  This means the individual who are assigned the Swing shift work 2 hours longer than the other two shifts.  Furthermore we can see that those working the Day and Night shifts work an average of 51 hours per week while those working the Swings shift work an average of 63 hours per week.  This means that Swings shift works approximately 23.5% more hours per week.

             In order to reduce fatigue, the following schedule is being proposed and is based on personal experience as deployed airmen.  It still consists of four separate teams; however they are now working nine days on, three days off rotating every 12 days; this can be visually seen below in the “Proposed Shift Schedule” attachment.  By having a slower rotational schedule, personal should be able to “adjust their circadian rhythm gradually” to their current shift (Chang, Chen, Wu, Hsu, Liu & Hsu, 2014).  Like the previous schedule, the rotation is to the right; Days to Swings, Swings to Night, Night to Days, etc.  However since there were no foreseeable justification for having one shift longer than the other; this proposal adjusted the shifts to be the same length of 8.5 hours each.  This permits a 30 minute turnover at the beginning of each schedule shift.  Additionally the schedule shift times have been changed in order to more closely follow a natural circadian rhythm cycle.  The new shift hours consist of the following; Days from 0600 to 1430, Swings from 1400 to 2230 and Night from 2200 to 0630; this can be visually seen below in the “New Shift Schedule” attachment. 

            When comparing the current to the proposed schedule there are many pros and cons; however it is important to recognize that there are a lot of unknowns.  For starters, we were not given the flight duration or the number of MQ-1B flown each day.  Additionally we are not given how many personal are working each shift and if they are actually scheduled to fly or perform other duties.  With that being said, the first cons of the current schedule is that it somewhat complies with Air Force Instructions (AFI) 11-202 Volume 3 governing Flight Duty Period.  It states that the “maximum flying time is 56 flight hours per 7 consecutive days, 125 flight hours per 30 consecutive days and 330 flight hours per 90 consecutive days” ("General flight rules," 2014).  In this case looking at the current schedule; only the Day and Night shift would comply with this regulation having only 51 hours per week.  On the other hand, with the new Proposed Shift Schedule each shift will perform a maximum of 56 hours per week.  This does not including the turn over period (since actual flight operations during handoff would not be conducted by off-going crew).  Additionally this regulation is only applicable to actual flight time, not any additional duties before or afterward each shift; that area is govern by AFI 11-202v3 Chapter 2.1 Crew Rest.  This section states that “crew rest is compulsory for aircrew members prior to performing any duties involving aircraft operations and is a minimum of 12 non-duty hours before the Flight Duty Period Begins” (“General flight rules,” 2014).  Outside of the AFI, the only pro is that the work week is shorter by 3 days.  However this can propose a potential issue.  For starters, by having a schedule that is shorter in rotation means that the personal will have a harder time adapting their circadian rhythm to their work hours (Chang, Chen, Wu, Hsu, Liu & Hsu, 2014).  Additionally this may cause “anxiety and a decrease in performance” (Chang, Chen, Wu, Hsu, Liu & Hsu, 2014).  If the current schedule is maintained, studies have shown that there is an increase likelihood that an “accident, error, injury and or fatality” occurring ("Shift work and," ).  For these reasons is why the Proposed Shift Schedule is longer; it adheres to AFI 11-202v3 and should permit a more stable rotational schedule that allows adaptation by crews.

          In order to maintain a rotational schedule that shifts to the right evenly, the number of days on verses off is 3 to 1 (3 on 1 off; 6 on 2 off; 9 on 3 off; 12 on 4 off etc.).  Another option for reducing stress, sleeping disorders and fatigue is to utilize a fixed schedule and would have been my preferred choice for this exercise given the stability it provides. I have personally experienced both.  In my most recent deployment I was assigned to the night shift (which is one of the three possible shifts; days, nights and mids).  Each shift consisted of one individual per shift working 8 hours a day minimum, but usually does not exceed 12 hours.  This was maintained throughout the duration of the entire deployment (approximately 60 days) with no time off.  This was only permitted because I was not actively flying at the time.  On the contrary, while I was flying, I was assigned to a night shift.  This consisted of nine days on alert standby for combat flight operations (maximum of 12 hours per day; but could not exceed AFI 11-202v3 per week), followed by one day off and then three days mission planning (day time shift) for the other crews before returning back to flying status.  This eventually evolved to seven days flight status (night shift) and seven days mission planning (day shift) with no days off for 120 days.  Each schedules involved moments of fatigue, but were acceptable overall.  Out of the three given, I most preferred the first; every day for 60 days.

Reference

Chang, Y., Chen, H., Wu, Y., Hsu, C., Liu, C., & Hsu, C. (2014). Rotating night shifts too quickly may cause anxiety and decreased attentional performance, and impact prolactin levels during the subsequent day: a case control study. BMC Psychiatry, doi: 10.1186/s12888-014-0218-7

Shift work and sleep. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-topics/shift-work-and-sleep

U.S. Department of Defense, Department of the Air force. (2014). General flight rules (AFI 11-202 Volume 3). Retrieved from website: http://static.e-publishing.af.mil/production/1/af_a3_5/publication/afi11-202v3/afi11-202v3.pdf