Posted By Sniffer OK Let me set out the scenario. A medic on an RAF Unit is on duty within a medical centre on his/her own. Their main duty is to cover the airfield. (ie: Aircraft Crash). Their duty ends when flying has finished for the evening. However, they remain in the building on a "sleeping duty" until they begin work the next day at 7am. It has been suggested that the medic be contacted by telephone every hour or two. Whilst I have no problem with this whist the aircraft is flying and the medic is actually on active duty. However, I'm less than pleased that they wish to continue these calls when the medic will effectively be sleeping. I understand that the medic is still within the premises. But so long as it is made clear that the medic must not lift heavy objects, or work at height (although why they would after a 15+ hour shift is beyond me) whilst on their own, surely a call when flying finishes and then another call in the morning would suffice. What are you opinions?

Posted By Descarte I presume the building is designed to also be accomodation including sleeping quarters? What are the risks the individual is exposed to in the building whilst sleeping? None? What is the benefit of calling them and disturbing their sleep cycle every hour or two? Agree with above, contact to be made end of shift and first thing in the morning 7am, failure to make contact should then raise the warning. IMO having severly fatigued and sleep deprived individuals is surely going to increase the risk rather than reduce it, not to mention the health effects it could incur. Des

Posted By Decimomal Where did the 'suggestion' come from and on what grounds? It is either a sleeping duty where he/she will work the following day, or a non-sleeping duty with the following day off. Unless there is a significant risk as identified by a risk assessment I would let sleeping medics lie.

Posted By Raymond Rapp I would have though that provided the medic has access to a phone there should not be a problem. How do you think that train drivers and others work and communicate when they are on their own? Simples.

Posted By PhilP Sniffer Meant to say if you have any other questions speak to CESO (RAF) at High Wycombe, they be able to provide you with an official response to your question. Phil

Posted By Phil Rose I can't help but feel that whoever dreamed this one up, needs his 'bumps felt'(head examined)! Served plenty of years in RAF on flying squadrons. Although flying may have stopped, the work often only just starts as much of the 1st Line maintenance is done by the night shift on squadrons. In my time, the Duty Medic was also on call not just during the flying hours, but thereafter to cover the 'Tecs' working the night shift. In my experience there were very few occasions when the duty medic was ever needed. I have also done plenty of sleeping duties while in the 'mob' and if someone thought it would be a good idea to wake me up every hour to see if I was OK, I would have been inclined to deliver a size 12 DMS up his/her backside. I would have thought that Duty Medic sleep in duty in the SMC bunk, is pretty much as low risk lone working as it can get. The biggest risks are drinking too much tea I would have thought. As most sleeping duties in the RAF tend to mean that you do your normal work the day before and the day after, I would have thought that by far the greater risk would be to keep waking the bloke up every hour or so, therefore no proper sleep, therefore tired as a little bunny at the end of the next day when he has to drive home.