My first question is, why would your employer want you operating heavy equipment when tired and fatigued?

 

They don't want you tired and fatigued and if you crash into something and use that as an excuse they can blame the employee for not coming in rested and ready to work.
My old employer became pretty heartless with their employees right before I left there.
I was directed a couple of times to "write up" my workers for mistakes made when tired. One guy worked 16 hrs straight on a really rough and hot night. Right at the end of his shift he clipped the side of a hopper with the loader bucket and bent it a little.
Would have been fine but the maint. supervisor saw it happen and went to my supervisor. He was asking me what happened before my employee even had the chance to tell me about it.
Since I've left they've implemented an automatic drug test if anything at all gets damaged by an employee.

 

I could never do it when I lived in the lower 48. I would always go down with the sun. Up here it doesn't mater. In the summer the sun never sets and in the winter the sun never rises.

 

Wow, thanks for all the great suggestions!

I survived it and actually made it thru the night without any issues, but the first night is always more exciting than the rest!

I wouldn't call my state "fatigued" when I am working, although I do get bored pretty easily, that was more of a concern.

Got radio and A/C and a well lit work area and a pretty nice CAT 970.

As for the shifts, they are pretty good about spreading them out, its just that when the mill's running, I was hired for the night loader operations, but they have been using me in between as shipper and for other stuff so I guess they plan on keeping me around for a while...I hope!

Again, thanks for all the advice!!

 

mandatory post accident drug tests are pretty common in larger oil companies. even if its a bent container.
My point was more along the lines of being jumped around from shift to shift.

 

Well i have been on rotating shifts now for 34 years other than what the other people have said i have found that not having any coffee about 3 hours before you lay down to sleep helps that way your not getting up every hour to pee but for me if i get at least 4 hours sleep during the day then i am good to go my sch is 4 nights 3 off 3 days 1 off 3 nights 3 off 4 days 7 off all twelve hour shifts with overtime some days so from the time i leave home and get back home it is 14 hours and if i work 4 hours of overtime that makes 18 hours so i only have 6 hours to sleep if i am luckly enough to be able to sleep.

 

It's easier to get folks to do it....at least in the beginning!
Knowing that you don't have to work straight evenings or midnights makes taking a job like that more inviting.
I rotated shifts every week and hated it!!
But when they gave us the option of working a single shift my vote was "Straight days and weekends off!" When the other guys heard my hard line stance they all took the same thing. Really angered the folks pushing for straight shifts.
I hated midnights but felt like an extended period of evenings would have made me suicidal!!
I have no desire to go back to that mess ever. I hope I never have to.

 

Try drinking the Columbia blended coffee instead of that Eur-o-pean blend..

 

work for the post office... its what i did.....maybe thats way im mently unstable now..hehe....heheheh......

 

I hate the night shift. That's all I did when on deployment in the military. if i have to work a night now it is normally after a normal working day. I get home and may get a 1 to 2 hr power nap. Then it's headed back to work at 11:00PM and pull an all nighter and get home around 8:00Am. What stinks is when you have a horse colic on you and don't get to bed until 5:00pm only to get up at 7:00PM to eat and feed the horses. Then it's back to bed a 10:00PM. I am getting to old to do much more of this crazyness. Takes a couple of days to recover now.

 

Its definitely no my first choice, but my role when the mill is running, usually one week a month.

The first two nights really were the hardest, but I stayed away from sugar, spaced out coffee between water, and ate at midnight and 3:00 am.

The third night was no problem and the fourth the same. Next week I'm on Noon - 8pm.

Its not a bad gig, really.