Posted By Roger the Dodger Difficult one this. Outside of work hours, people are clearly free to make use of their time as they see fit. I would try and publicise as much as possible the local hotel facilities etc. How many of you are there? Could you try and get a discounted rate at a local hotel if there are quite a lot of you, for a reasonable number of weeks/nights. I would also try and stress the personal safety aspects - a few days of this routine, and I would suggest its pretty dangerous to be driving due to tiredness - therefore putting at risk the drivers and other road users. Hence risk prosecution for an RTA by the Boys in Blue. Equally after a few days of this are the people really fit to work? I guess you could argue that if somebody is unfit for work through tiredness, then they are not safe to work. How safety critical is the work you are doing? In the event of a work based accident, tiredness could possibly included as contributing to the accident - human error and all that. Nevertheless, the company may possibly be held responsible. I would also look at your safety policy interms of the 'safety rules and conditions' that are put on the workers by the company and also the HR/Employment policies - a clause requiring people to be fit for work with respect to drink, drugs and tiredness etc. Finally, suspension from work might have to be considered - I think it would be reasonable to protect people from there own stupidity, while at work.

Posted By Bill Bircham Nick, In a previous role in the Railway industry I adopted a no more than 15hrs policy. In essence, if the shift, plus travelling came to more than 15hrs, then the shift was redueced to ensure that total time away from home did not exceed 15hrs. One big level I had in getting this through was the fact the our work came under the guise of ‘safety critical in the Regs, thus people had to be ‘fit for work’ Arguably, this could not be the case if they had excessive driving / working combinations. If I recall, it said something along the lines of no one should be planned to work more than a 12 hour shift. If the planned rostered shift plus all travelling is likely to exceed 15 hours lodging must be provided at location. If for emergency reasons it becomes apparent during the period of work (ie shift) that the work plus travel would exceed 15 hours, the individuals must be either provided with some form of transport home, so they do not drive at all, or lodging to be provided. Also under only very exceptional circumstances (eg helping to save a life) should the travel to work and the period of work ever exceed 15 hours. After that period they must either be taken home or taken to appropriate lodgings. At least 9 hours rest should be obtained between any shifts, excluding any travel. This had to have the backing of the Unions (how could they argue at something improved safety) such that if there was any member of staff who pocketed the lodgings / slept in car or went home, we could discipline them. In reality we tended to either not book people out >15hrs, or book the lodging direct with Head Office. Hope this helps. Bill