Introduction
Shift work is always a challenge no matter what field of work a
person is in but with a highly demanding and technical field like aviation it
only compounds already high levels of fatigue and stress. “It is universally
agreed that fatigue can adversely affect performance, that it is a very complex
problem, and that it is an unavoidable consequence of operations that continue
throughout all 24 hours in a day.” (Orlady & Orlady, 2012, p.
296) I have personally had extensive
experience with shift work in a variety of settings as well as within the
aviation field. I have worked on shifts
in both manned and unmanned aviation in both deployed combat environments as
well as normal work environments at home.
While situations such as being in austere environments in combat
conditions can further exacerbate the issues brought about by shift work it is
difficult no matter the work place.
Shift work has many effects on work performance and your life in
general. One effect is having a constant
feeling of fatigue and tiredness due to ever changing shift schedules. This can be magnified by frequently rotating
shift schedules that do not allow the person to ever get fully adapted to their
shift. Family life is often disrupted
causing psychosocial issues from home which then causes degraded work
performance because of the strife at home.
Along with these issues rapidly rotating shift work can have negative
impact on a person’s circadian rhythm causing because of environmental factors
such as trying to sleep during the day with too much light and an uncomfortable
sleep environment. This can also lead to physiological or self-imposed
stressors that are an attempt to overcome the other stressors.
This paper will look at two different shift work schedules and
look at their strengths and weaknesses to help determine what the most
acceptable schedule is. No matter what
schedule is used shift-work, especially at night will always cause problems. Optimizing the schedule and making other
provisions can only minimize the impact of this type of work schedule.
Weekly Rotating Schedule
This schedule has four teams working a total of three shifts (Day,
Swing, Night) with the crews working a six days on two days off schedule. Figure 1 shows this schedule in an Excel®
worksheet format. This is the schedule
used by an MQ-1 Predator unit that is talked about in some of our source
material. The benefits and negative
aspects of this schedule will now be looked at.
Figure 1. This shows the original six days
on two days off weekly shift change schedule. (Houston, 2015, table 1)
Positive
Attributes
This schedule has a couple of positive attributes, one of them
being that the rotation schedule goes from days to swings and then to nights
before repeating. This is an easier
shifting schedule than going the other way or having more random shift changes.
While changing shifts on a weekly basis is not my preferred
schedule and I do think there are many negative aspects to this the positive
side is that no crewmember has to be on extended night shifts. This may help mitigate family and other life
issues. Night shift operations has been
shown to have negative effects on crew performance no matter how rested they
are.
Providing two days off together is also a very positive aspect of
this schedule. If days off are broken up
then the crewmember spends their day off trying to catch up on everything they
have not been able to do during the work week and does not get the amount of
rest and relaxation that is required.
Negative
Attributes
The number one negative attribute that I see with this schedule is
the weekly shift change. While this has
some positive effects as noted above I feel that the negative effects far
outweigh the positive ones. Working at
night is known to degrade performance and not allowing the operator to fully
adjust to the night shift makes the problem worse. “The results supported our notion that the
night missions affected detection and recognition performance.” (Barnes, 1998, p. 2) By changing shifts on a weekly basis the
crewmember is never able to get fully adapted to their shift and reach optimal
performance. While working a night shift
will always have negative effects on performance allowing the crewmember to get
fully adapted to this shift will allow them to minimize the negative effects of
this shift and provide a higher level of performance. By changing shifts weekly you will always
have a non-adapted crew flying at night making an already less than optimal
situation even worse.
Monthly
Rotating Schedule
This schedule has three teams working the same three shifts as the
original schedule. The fourth team has
been assimilated into the other three teams to provide extra personnel so that
days off and standby flight crews are available in case of illness or other personnel
shortages. This schedule has the teams
rotating on a minimum of a monthly basis but can be extended for as long as
desired but I would recommend no more than four month rotations. Figure 2 shows this monthly rotation schedule
in an Excel® worksheet. The positive and
negatives of this schedule will now be looked at.
Figure 2. This shows the monthly shift
rotation schedule. The original six days
on and two days off schedule can be maintained.
Positive
Attributes
I think there are several improvements that this schedule can
provide. By keeping crews on the same
shift for at least a month but no more than four months at a time this allows
the crews to be fully adapted to their shift and be able to perform at a more
optimal level.
This shift also provides more personnel per shift which gives more
flexibility for things such as days on and days off as well as possibly
allowing crewmembers to switch out more frequently helping to alleviate other
issues such as boredom and increased fatigue from extended time in the GCS.
Negative
Attributes
There is only one negative attribute for this schedule in my
experience and opinion. That negative
attribute is that there may be a slightly elevated level of family and life
problems due to a longer period working on the night shift. This can be mitigated by selecting the
duration (1-4 months) that is the best compromise with the crews and their
families. This can also be alleviated by
allowing crewmembers to change teams if a particular shift does not work for
them they can find someone to trade with.
Conclusion
In my opinion and experience with working shift work in the
aviation field the positive attributes of the monthly shift change schedule far
outweigh the benefits of the weekly shift change schedule. During a study of an MQ-1 Predator unit that
was experiencing high levels of stress and fatigue they tried to rearrange
their schedule to improve performance. “The squadron work schedule was
redesigned but preferred shift work practices were not fully implemented
because of manpower constraints and crewmember preferences.” (Tvaryanas, Platte, Swigart, Colebank,
& Miller, 2008, p. iii) This
manpower problem can at least be partially alleviate with the monthly shift
change schedule by dispersing the fourth shift crewmembers among the other
three shifts. Changing shifts on a
weekly basis never allows the crewmember to fully adapt to any shift and their
circadian rhythm and rest cycles will always be in turmoil putting higher
levels of stress on the crewmember and never allow them to work at an optimal
level. The monthly shift change schedule
allows for better crewmember performance while having enough flexibility to
adapt for individual and unit requirements which makes the preferred schedule
in my opinion.
References
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