Night shift fatigue (RAIB report)

[theageofthetra]

The RAIB have just issued this report into the low speed Kings Cross buffer collision earlier this year. Can this please be a discussion into the fatigue issues raised rather than the incident itself which has its own thread.

I have a feeling this report could lead to changes.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...-at-kings-cross-station-london-15-august-2017

This accident demonstrates the importance of:

• effective and comprehensive fatigue risk management on the part of both individuals and organisations, including not just controls on working hours but also suitably timed breaks, preparation for duty and the appropriate use of mitigations

Cause of the accident
The accident occurred because the driver was suffering from fatigue and apparently experienced a microsleep in the last few seconds of the approach to the buffer stops.

he driver was fatigued because this journey was at the end of a relatively demanding night shift, which was her first night shift after a period of rest days, and because she was not sufficiently well rested.

On the night before the accident, her shift started at 21:55 hrs, and was due to finish at 06:30 hrs on 15 August 2017, for a total shift duration of 8 hours and 35 minutes. RSSB advocates a limit of 8 hours for the first night shift in its guidance document on controlling fatigue associated with first night shifts....

 

[Bletchleyite]

Personally I'd find it a lot easier to work permanent nights/permanent 3am starts or whatever than to keep swapping back and forth. The body generally (or at least mine!) prefers a fixed sleep pattern.

 

[SPADTrap]

Pertinent as I struggle to sleep in preparation for a week of nights starting tonight!

 

[Sunset route]

The first night shift is always the worst, as that's the one where you are or nearly awake for 24hrs by the time you finished your shift and in most cases driven home which could be up to an hours commute in the morning rush. But on the whole I don't find night shifts that fatiguing, it the the early shifts which are the killers (especially at my location). The only problem we have at our location is rotating off of night shifts (we call it night shift lag, a bit like jet lag but without the nice holiday). But our location has just been split into two links and half the staff (the ones that really struggle with shiftwork especially nights) have decided to go onto a 12hr roster and the other half feel perfectly happy with the 8hr roster so are keeping that.

But at the end of the the day a rotating shift pattern will always be fatiguing and that's something that railway workers working at the coal face are going to have to get used too one way or another. Because no company is going to employ staff above what they deem necessary to make a commercial return and to have a nice padded out roster will require a lot of unproductive staff just to increase the rest day ratio.

 

[David57]

I too find that a regular start time helps your body into a routine, it's only when you stop shift working, you realise the harm its doing...

 

[Bletchleyite]

But at the end of the the day a rotating shift pattern will always be fatiguing and that's something that railway workers working at the coal face are going to have to get used too one way or another. Because no company is going to employ staff above what they deem necessary to make a commercial return and to have a nice padded out roster will require a lot of unproductive staff just to increase the rest day ratio.

Surely though there is an option to *not* pad it out - just to keep the rosters the same for a much longer period, e.g. perhaps 2 months of nights then 2 months of days - or even to simply employ night workers and day workers as they take on new staff who would stay on that shift pattern all the time?

They did it for the night Tube - for a different reason, obviously, but I bet it helps.

 

[RPM]

I concur it is the whole drivers' shift pattern that leads to fatigue, rather than night shifts alone. That said, I don't know many drivers who would feel comfortable about phoning in to say they are too tired to work. I certainly wouldn't.

 

[Sunset route]

Surely though there is an option to *not* pad it out - just to keep the rosters the same for a much longer period, e.g. perhaps 2 months of nights then 2 months of days - or even to simply employ night workers and day workers as they take on new staff who would stay on that shift pattern all the time?

They did it for the night Tube - for a different reason, obviously, but I bet it helps.

To have a separate night shift cover would mean extra staff required for rest day cover and extra staff required for GPR cover. Then if your going to implement this at an existing location which staff are you going to force to work permanent nights as there will never be enough volunteers to work such a roster. But as I've said the problem with a rotating roster is not the night shift but the early shift. To be well rested for early shift would mean going to bed not much after 6 or 7 pm and that doesn't fit well into modern life with our families. So early turn is always minimum sleep, late turn is always sleep recovery shift and night turn is either a good full spleep is your able to cope with nights or only half a sleep (a bit like early shift) if you can't really cope with nights.

 

[highspeed990]

I can't shift my sleep clock either, I don't know how they do it, perhaps they need to give them a day off to stay up 24 hours so they aren't extremely tired.

 

[pitdiver]

I did rotating shifts when I worked for LUL as a Stn Supervisor. 7 earlys then 7 nights. Ialways found that the transition days were the worst. Finish a week of nights at 0700 on the Monday morning then back to lates on the Tuesday. At the start of the seven nights it wasn't bad but at the end it was grim. I never knew what to on the Monday.

 

[DarloRich]

luckily i rarely work night shifts now but i have done in the past and have worked on call. I hate night shifts. They mess with my brain. I have no idea how anyone does them. However on call was worse. Getting woken by the phone at 02:47 on a Sunday and told to get somewhere sharpish is never good. A couple of days of that has just the same effect as you don't sleep properly on edge for the phone or pager as was.

 

[6Gman]

There are worse shift patterns. Nurses, for example, often work earlies, lates and nights in the same week!

Crazy!

 

[johntea]

I've experienced 'micro sleep' myself since around the age of 16, where I'll just zone out all of a sudden and then all of a sudden jump and bring myself round again! (Had it happen in meetings at work which is quite awkward!).

Did go to the doctor but they didn't find anything significant, I do work normal shifts but every so often do a week on call too which disrupts your sleep quite badly as you're always paranoid of the phone going off!

 

[SPADTrap]

While I find them fatiguing I have a very understanding girlfriend who gives me all the space I need to sleep when I want to so I can manage it, its just part of our responsibilities. There are some rostering practices that need changing but other than that its just part of my job. I've recently struggled with the switch back onto 'days' though. Personally I prefer shifts as it gives me more time to do things when its quieter (generally). I struggled with 9-5 when I went from shifts to 9-5 when I started as a trainee driver.

 

[class 9]

It's interesting that in that report it's mentions that the RSSB recommends max 8h35 shift on the first night shift.
All the freight companies as far as I know don't take the slightest bit of notice to recommendations, only if things are legislated.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Hated working night shifts with a passion , nothing worse than that 0300 to 0430 trough , when you are willing 0700 to come. Thankfully did not have to do too many.

 

[Bromley boy]

There are worse shift patterns. Nurses, for example, often work earlies, lates and nights in the same week!

Crazy!

Platform staff at my location seem to have a link where they do about seven nights in a row, and that comes around every four of five weeks.

How anyone can stand to do that is beyond me. How are you supposed to have any kind of family or social life around shift patterns like that?

The killer with the drivers’ shifts is how irregular they are, a week of earlies with progressively earlier starts 0600 0500 0400 etc (although it’s never a round number) is worse for fatigue than nights.

My link has only two nights and you can generally get away around 0230 once you’ve done your driving and preps. It’s slightly dubious to do this but sitting in a deserted depot in the dead of night for hours on end is quite depressing!

Nights seem to be popular, as they generally involve very little work, so it’s easy to swap them away.

 

[G136GREYHOUND]

It's a killer. And getting worse. I can feel it altering my DNA these days . It's become impossible to share a bed . You can finish early hours Sunday and then be in at Dawns crack on Monday . I have no hesitation whatsoever in calling in on turns like this and saying : I'm too tired . I won't be in. I'm sure it makes me unpopular but a buffer stop collision would make me more unpopular. It's daft, another example of how the railway is stuck in the dark ages. I'm supposed to be on a 4 day week so how come I end up in work for 7 days on the bounce ?

 

[High Dyke]

There are worse shift patterns. Nurses, for example, often work earlies, lates and nights in the same week!

Crazy!

Sometimes relief signal(wo)men do as well.

It can be all about how shift patterns are managed. A recent joint TU/Network Rail safety event looked into fatigue, and how it can affect both work and home life. The important thing is to not sit in silence. If a person is fatigued be it due to roster patterns, health matters or external issues they should not be afraid to advise their manager of the matter. Nobody should be in a position where a fatigued state of mind and body puts them and others at risk.

 

[83G/84D]

There are worse shift patterns. Nurses, for example, often work earlies, lates and nights in the same week!

Crazy!

So do railway staff - quite often.

 

[BestWestern]

There are worse shift patterns. Nurses, for example, often work earlies, lates and nights in the same week!

Crazy!

Which of course should be illegal! If railway staff, bus drivers, lorry drivers, pilots and so on have safety cushions around working hours, then I'm damned sure nurses should! Utterly shameful.

 

[83G/84D]

Sometimes relief signal(wo)men do as well.

It can be all about how shift patterns are managed. A recent joint TU/Network Rail safety event looked into fatigue, and how it can affect both work and home life. The important thing is to not sit in silence. If a person is fatigued be it due to roster patterns, health matters or external issues they should not be afraid to advise their manager of the matter. Nobody should be in a position where a fatigued state of mind and body puts them and others at risk.

I agree entirely and having worked shifts for over many years I do struggle with it. I am sure my health has suffered partly because of my shift patterns. I have sought medical advice and have cut down on overtime and tried to ensure I get enough sleep.

Other little things I have done have helped as well. It's about a good work life balance.

 

[BestWestern]

I have a feeling this report could lead to changes.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...-at-kings-cross-station-london-15-august-2017

I doubt it. The unfortunate Driver was apparently on her initial night shift following a period of rest days, so it's likely the TOC will point the finger firmly at her and suggest she didn't prepare herself. Don't forget a tired Driver on Tramlink killed people, and the operator's answer apparently was to install cameras to spy on anyone who wasn't wide awake. That speaks volumes, regretfully.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Which of course should be illegal! If railway staff, bus drivers, lorry drivers, pilots and so on have safety cushions around working hours, then I'm damned sure nurses should! Utterly shameful.

It is shameful just how badly the NHS treats staff, taking advantage of how massively committed these people are to their jobs. We should have much more respect (and willingness to pay for) those people who are there to keep us alive and healthy.

 

[dangie]

I worked for nearly 40 years in the power industry, 25 of those in a power station control room. We worked a 5 week rota. Roughly it was:
EEE-O-DDDD-S-O-EEEE-OO-NNN-OOO-DDD-O-NNNN-OSSOO
E=evenings
D=days
N=nights
S= could be E, D or N
O=day off

The night shift started the day. So you could be 'day off' on Friday but had to go into work on Friday night (classed as Saturdays shift).

 

[ChiefPlanner]

It is shameful just how badly the NHS treats staff, taking advantage of how massively committed these people are to their jobs. We should have much more respect (and willingness to pay for) those people who are there to keep us alive and healthy.

My wife is a community midwife - she did 0800 to 1800 yesterday , with no real breaks and was first on call - called out to the other end of the county at 2045 , did the neccessary and then before returning home had another job come in at 0400 , and was home at 0935 this morning. That is not safe , especially driving back in peak traffic after that amount of night work on top of a long day , which had in itself been preceded by 3 long days.

She was booked to work today and clearly did not , there will be an inevitable backlog to do on Tuesday. She retires in 12 months , and will not miss the long days or especially the "on call" rota. One never sleeps properly on those instances anyway , as I found out in my so called career , dealing with at one time 1 in 3 , and later, permenant , though not reactive call out.

 

[EM2]

Platform staff at my location seem to have a link where they do about seven nights in a row, and that comes around every four of five weeks.

How anyone can stand to do that is beyond me. How are you supposed to have any kind of family or social life around shift patterns like that?

That's exactly what my nights are (and have just finished as it happens). Five nights of eight hours and two nights of twelve hours BUT with a full seven days off afterwards, so it's like a week's annual leave after four weeks work.
The first night is hard, but I tend to 'hit the wall' at about 3am on night six. That's when I hit the caffeine and sugar, then I tend to have a bit of 'second wind' as the end is in sight and I know that wonderful week off is coming up.
I don't think I'll be doing it much longer though, I'll be fifty in a couple of years, it'll be twelve years of shift work, and I think it'll be time for a 9-5 then.

 

[Sunset route]

I'm not going to write my current roster down as it a bit of a complex one, but it rotates over 65week with night shift every 5th week. It can be a bit of a fatiguing one as the staff (at the time) wanted their rest days grouped together to get a long weekend off every 5 weeks, so the rest day spread is not as good as it could of been.

But from when I joined the signalling grade with British Rail we have gone from night severy 3 weeks with double on and a double off of nights (i.e. Late Saturday, early Sunday then nights Sunday, then coming back off nights nights Saturday, late, Sunday then early Monday).

After the signallers restructuring and the RDRs were displaced into resident signalboxs we then went to nights every 4 weeks.

Now at my current location we work nights every 5 weeks.

It improving, but as I said earlier it's the shift rotation and earlies most that most of my colleagues find so fatiguing.

 

[IKB]

There are worse shift patterns. Nurses, for example, often work earlies, lates and nights in the same week!

Crazy!

The default shift pattern for Met police (999 teams) is earlies, lates and nights in the same week (2x2x2). Nights finishing at 7am after driving a police car all night long, sometimes without a break. Unless you nick someone at 6am and you're there until 9 or 10 am. Some teams do 7 night duties on the bounce stood outside. Grim! You don't realise how ill you feel until you stop doing those patterns.

Nightshifts are definitely not good for your health and prone to shortening your life expectancy. There was a recent study published about the lack of sleep during the night on your circadian rhythms (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circadian_rhythm#Disruption).

I couldn't do freight or signalling for that matter. Too many nights. At least with a TOC you can plan your time better and potentially give away your occasional nights to someone who likes doing them.

 

[Ploughman]

When I was involved with Track Renewals as a Site Engineer, it was quite common for me to turn up at the office in a morning and nearly complete a full day in the office before the phone rang and the booked night shift Tech dropped out.
Could I cover the job?
So 07.30 - 15.00 then a couple of hours kip, 2 - 3 if lucky then out on site 21.00 - 07.00
When booked on nights myself, I could never get a full 8 hours before or after a shift but used to do 2 - 3 hours if possible before and maybe 4 when I got home. I often heard every presenter on R2 over a 24 hour period.

The worst shifts were on blockades when instead of 8 hour shifts on site, 06.00 - 14.00 - 22.00 - 06.00 someone decreed we would do 9 hours on site which meant every day we rolled 3 hours forward 06.00 - 15.00 - 00.01 - 09.00.
By the end of 9 days you did not know what day it was.
Never doing that again.