Change in Working Hours

[MHaldron]

So at my current station we work a 224 12hr duty system.

Well we are now being told we are to move to a shift duty system. Essentially 2 watches of 22 on our station. We are to work 10hr days and 14hr nights, work more days than nights on a self rostering basis. However the system isn’t acknowledging that the night is 4 hours longer than the days so we will work 26.8 days more than a day crewed station.. also only 4 to be on shift at night per truck, so if anyone calls in sick there is no resilience and as such that truck will be taken off the run and the remaining firefighters then sent around the county to cover any other shortfall if required....

Anyone ever heard of this or similar?

[Luminoki]

Ahh Warks already have 726 different shift patterns, one extra isnt going to hurt 😜

Isnt the first truck at Leamington crewed on a SR basis? Or is was when i read up on the recruitment info in 2017. I thought 12 hour shifts were the only way that SR could work if the arrangement stipulates there nust be an annual number of hours worked ( such as Kents way i think ) otherwise ive read you have a quota of days a nights you have to complete annually

[Crog]

Kent has an annual number of hours to work, but this is split between day and nights of standard 9/15 hours. I don’t have long service, so do 68 days and 68 nights. I then have 14.5 bank days, of which 13 are taken up by station training days and core skills training. The day and half left over is what I owe and is used for short notice sickness cover (have already covered that for the year, so already in overtime for any cover I provide). Never done 224 and only know this. From my point of view, I wouldn’t change it (other than to have watched again, as we don’t have them) and the majority I’ve spoken with wouldn’t want to go back to 224. It’s a good model and works well if crews put the effort in. Within this, we do standard days and nights, but also do 24’s. 

[MHaldron]

This is to appease the HMICFRS who commented that the brigade has too many shift systems, so they have gave them all new titles so on paper there’s only 3 systems, but each of those systems has different systems within it so it’s still the same amount of different systems within the brigade 🤦‍♂️. It’s more an issue where we will work 18 more days per year than nights, and have other stations working 28.8 days less per year for the same money. Also only rostering 4 people per machine accepting that if one person calls in sick they will take the truck off the run. Seems crazy to me!! 

[Keith]

Call the men with the white coats, more lunacy.

Lets call all these half baked schemes for what they are, papering over the cracks in the system because we don't have the personnel and funding to effectively run a proper fire service.

[Messyshaw]

@Keith Whilst the fire service funding is difficult across the UK, how the hell are you guys in Northern Ireland getting on?

With no Assembly sitting for what, 18 months now, how on earth dies the NIFRS cope with funding longer term strategic stuff like recruitment and infrastructure renewal?

Gotta be tough

[Keith]

Don't want to take this too far of topic, but surprisingly the lack of politicians isn't the problem. More so with getting funding from the government department.

To bring us back on topic lack of recruits going through training is a bigger problem. We have a holding pool from the last recruitment campaign, but as yet we're still waiting for a start date for the next course. Meanwhile the numbers of the frontline continue to fall.

[MHaldron]

Seems to be throughout the country:

With thanks to a highly respected former H&WFRS Watch Commander who has passed this on - absolutely unbelievable!! One wholetime pump with an inadequate crew of four covering the cities of Worcester and Hereford at night. And no wholetime coverage at all at night for Bromsgrove, Malvern, Droitwich and Evesham. 

Residents of these areas should be absolutely appalled and should make their feelings known to both the members of the fire authority and crime commissioner John Campion who wants to take their place.

"Worryingly our own Fire Service are planning on replacing 6 fulltime fire engines with already overstretched retained part time crews at night. These hardworking retained crews are struggling to keep one fire engine available at theses stations through no fault of their own, now they are being asked to crew 2, this will be impossible for them!!!!

Next Monday Hereford and Worcester Fire Service managers are asking the Fire Authority to give them the go ahead to downgrade 6 full time guaranteed fire engines to retained, so unguaranteed. The cities of Hereford and Worcester will be down to 1 fulltime crew of 4 each and the large towns of Bromsgrove, Malvern, Droitwich and Evesham will be downgraded and have no fulltime crew at night at all, so no guaranteed response.
If these proposals are passed there will be just 4 fulltime crews of 4 so just 16 wholetime firefighters on duty in the whole of Herefordshire and Worcestershire at night."

Just when you thought that fire and rescue emergency cover in Hereford & Worcester couldn't get any worse, they seem determined to prove you wrong.