UAS Squadron Shift Proposal
As requested, a
review of the squadron’s current 6 day on 2 days off shift schedule, (6/2
schedule) has been conducted and a proposal is submitted for a revised
schedule. The current 6/2 schedule has
generated numerous complaints of fatigue and disrupted sleep patterns and is
proving to be problematic. In a study of
1464 UAS operators and noncombatant airman Chappelle, Salinas, and McDonald
(2011) reported a great deal of dissatisfaction with the 6/2 schedule so it is
not surprising that this command had the same results.
Burgess (2007)
suggests that rapid rotation of shifts is detrimental to allowing the body to
adjust to new sleep/wake cycles and it is therefore not surprising that complaints
of extreme fatigue have become commonplace from the UAS crews. Adjustments to the circadian rhythm occur rapidly
in the first 3 days of change and more slowly thereafter with shift changes of
7 days or less producing no permanent circadian rhythm shift (Burgess,
2007). Consequently the existing weekly
rotation schedule places the team members in a continual state of circadian
adjustment thereby contributing to fatigue. Research supports that the optimal shift cycle
rotation is a forward rotation specifically days, swings, nights (Burgess,
2007). Although this is the rotation
currently in use, its’ effectiveness is undermined by the brevity of the cycle.
There are two
generally accepted schools of thought relating to shift cycles, particularly
night shifts. One suggests a short
rotation, no more than 3 days, and the other suggests a longer rotation,
typically two weeks or more. The idea of
the short cycle is that the body does not have time to adjust its’ rhythm so
therefore the circadian cycle is not interrupted. The idea of the long cycle is to allow the
body to fully adjust; there is no definitive consensus within the research community
as to which is preferable (American College, 2003). However, there appears to be a general
consensus that a 4 to 7 night cycle of night shifts is probably the worst
possible scenario and should be avoided, the body just begins to adjust to the
new cycle and then is thrown into another cycle (American College, 2003). This can be avoided by repeating the cycle
for a longer or shorter period. After
researching various options a 4/2x cycle is presented. This cycle is also commonly
referred to as the Metropolitan rota (Miller,
2012) and consists of 2 day shifts, followed by 2 swing shifts followed by 2
night shifts followed by 2 days off
(Appendix A, Table 1).
My personal
experience, primarily through long deployments and at sea cycles in the U.S.
Navy, has been that longer cycles tend to allow for a stabilizing routine to
take place however excessively long, say in excess of 3 months, shift rotations
tend to create morale problems and possibilities of animosity between shifts. Consideration was given to attempting a 12
hour shift as is typical for aircraft maintainers aboard Naval vessels underway
however given that Chappelle, Salinas, McDonald (2011) stated a major complaint
of UAS operators was working approximately 50 hours per week the idea was
discarded and the decision made to remain on an 8 hour shift schedule and keep
the work “week” to under 50 hours.
The
proposed cycle allows for a normal shift of 8 hours with no more 48 hours per
normal workweek, exclusive of any operationally mandated or situational
overtime, accrued during a standard week.
The only negative is the idea of a 6-day workweek however, when taken in
context this is far preferable to a 4 or 5 day work week with 12-hour shifts. Additionally, in an 8 hour cycle, coverage of
a missing operator can be obtained by extending by 4 hours the shift of one
team member in the preceding and proceeding shift without violating the12 hour
maximum operational time allowed for UAS pilots under AF instruction 11-202,
Volume 3, General Flight Rules (USAF, 2014).
References
American College of Emergency Physicians
(2003, August). Circadian rhythms
and shift work. Retrieved from
https://www.acep.org/Clinical---Practice-Management/Circadian-Rhythms-and-Shift-Work/
Burgess, P. (2007, April). Optimal
shift duration and sequence: recommended approach for short-term emergency
response activations for public health and emergency management. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1854972/
Chappelle, W., Salinas, A., McDonald, K. (2011, April). Psychological health screening of remotely
piloted aircraft (RPA) operators and supporting units. Retrieved from http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a582856.pdf
Miller, J. (2012, April). White paper: Shift plans with seven
consecutive shifts. Retrieved from
https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/crm/docs/Shift_Plans_with_Seven.pdf
USAF. (2014, November 7). Air Force Instruction 11-202, volume 3,
General Flight Rules. Retrieved from
http://static.e-publishing.af.mil/production/1/af_a3_5/publication/afi11-202v3/afi11-202v3.pdf
Appendix A
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