Is 2 days off a week an unacceptable aspiration in the modern railway or otherwise world ?

[Haywain]

Several TOCs have 4-day weeks for drivers, so we are moving in that direction albeit slowly.

Requirements for shift working mean that the x-day week doesn't exist for many people. In the 1980s I worked permanent nights and that was on a 4 night week basis. In the railway the shift pattern alternated between early and late shifts, and we worked 14 days in every 21.

 

[Krokodil]

If you read his post he doesn't refer to his grandfather specifically, he refers to:

Therefore, I think my point is entirely valid.

Fair enough

 

[12LDA28C]

Requirements for shift working mean that the x-day week doesn't exist for many people. In the 1980s I worked permanent nights and that was on a 4 night week basis. In the railway the shift pattern alternated between early and late shifts, and we worked 14 days in every 21.

I'm not suggesting that a driver works 4 days every week. But averaged out over a set timeframe, many TOCs employ drivers on an average 4-day week basis. And it is usually still on an alternating shift pattern earlies and lates.

 

[Haywain]

I'm not suggesting that a driver works 4 days every week. But averaged out over a set timeframe, many TOCs employ drivers on an average 4-day week basis. And it is usually still on an alternating shift pattern earlies and lates.

Oh, I understand that. However, few jobs involving shift work outside of factory type settings conform to the 'standard working week'.

 

[E27007]

The industry does have limits covering all of these things, and on top has limits on the working time between breaks and how long the breaks must be. I'm actually rather surprised that in 4 pages no-one has actually said so. The rail industry is heavily unionised and whilst has a responsibility to maintain these limits and for the most part, they do so. I spent 20 years working in Travel Centres and even there 'Hidden' restrictions were adhered to.

The RSSB had an App for calculating the fatigue level of working hours and shift patterns for safety-critical railway workers. Note the word "had". RSSB removed the App from their website with an explanation
Contrary to the purpose of the App to plan down worker fatigue to lower levels, employers had been using misusing the App to actually justify wide-spread implementation of shift patterns and rostered hours which only just missed overstepping the upper limits.
The equivalent of puposely driving a car with the engine revving at all times just below the red zone of the rpm meter