UAS Shift Work Schedule
Shift work is commonly used among
UAS operators and other pilots in the United States Air Force (USAF). For this particular review, the author will
analyze a current hypothetical shift work schedule and make recommendations to
improve pilot conditions. For the
purposes of this analysis the original schedule for an MQ-1B Medium Altitude,
Long Endurance (MALE) UAS squadron will be comprised of active missions that
take place 24/7, 365 days a year. The
current shift rotation follows a continuous shift work schedule of 6 days on, 2
days off for 4 teams as indicated by Figure
1. However, there are several issues with this schedule.
According to the report, the current schedule
resulted in many pilot complaints. The
primary complaint is that the UAS crews have been reporting many instances of
extreme fatigue while on the job.
Further, there have been several complaints of inadequate sleep directly
as a result from the current shift schedule.
For this reason, an alternative schedule has been mapped out in order to
alleviate some of these stressors resulting in fatigue.
Figure 1. Original schedule. This image depicts the original schedule of 6
days on 2 days off ratio. Team 1 follows
6 day, 2 off, 6 Swing, 2 off, 6 night, 2 off pattern. Team 2 follows 2 off, 6 swing, 2 off, 6
night, 2 off, and 6 days pattern. Team 3
follows 4 night, 2 off, 6 day, 2 off, 6 swing, 2 off, 2 night pattern. Team 4 follows 2 swing, 2 off, 6 night, 2
off, 6 day, 2 off, and 4 swing.
A common issue with the current
schedule is the rotation from different shifts.
Moving from a day shift, to a swing shift, then a night shift disrupts
an individual’s natural biological rhythm or circadian rhythm. Studies indicate that the circadian rhythm
regulates many body functions such as body temperature, blood pressure and
certain hormone excretions; as such, circadian rhythms often directly influence
whether or not an individual, such as a pilot, is sleepy or alert (Costa,
1996). Additional studies found that
weekly rotation schedules tend to perpetuate disturbed circadian rhythms;
therefore it is better to incorporate monthly rotation schedules (Tvaryanas,
Platte, Swigart, Colebank & Miller, 2008).
In Figure 2, a new schedule is
proposed in order to help alleviate the circadian rhythm disruptions the UAV
pilots are currently suffering. This new
schedule takes into consideration the negative impact of weekly rotations and
eliminates it for the most part.
Figure 2.
Proposed
schedule. This image depicts the
proposed schedule that aims to eliminate most of the weekly shift
rotation. Team 1 follows all day shifts
with 6 days, 1 off, 6 days, 2 off, 5 days, 2 off, and 2 days. Team 2 follows 1 night shift and the rest
swing shifts with 1 night, 3 off, 6 swing, 1 off, 6 swing, 1 off, 5 swing, and
1 off. Team 3 follows all night shift
with 1 off, 6 night, 2 off, 6 night, 1 off, 6 night, 1 off and 1 night. Lastly Team 4 serves as the ‘floater’ and
fills in the gaps of the schedule with 4 swing, 2 off, 1 day, 2 night, 1 off, 1
swing, 2 off, 2 day, 1 night, 1 off, 1 swing, 2 off, 2 day, 1 night and 1
swing. Team 4 is given extra off days to
help offset the changes in shifts.
There are both benefits and drawbacks to
the new proposed schedule. For the most
part, it addresses the primary issue of rotating shifts. Originally, the main UAS pilot complaint was
fatigue due to the schedule rotation.
However, with the new schedule, teams 1, 2 and 3 all have a relatively
set schedule. Team 1 always works days,
team 2 works 1 night and the rest swings, and team 3 works all night
shifts. The drawback comes with team 4,
which is the ‘floater’ team. This team
serves to ‘plug the holes’ in the schedule, filling in wherever there is a
schedule gap. Although this means that
team 4 will have a more irregular schedule, the team is compensated with the
additional days off to help recoup sleep and help readjust their circadian
rhythms.
Further, with the proposed new schedule,
each team would be assigned to their shift for a month, at which point they
would then rotate to the next shift. For
example, team 1 would now become team 2, team 2 would become team 3, team 3
would become team 4 and team 4 would become team 1. This allows for a more gradual shift change
(over a period of a month rather than a week) and makes it easier to reduce
fatigue due to circadian rhythm disruptions.
Additionally, this also makes it so that each team is assigned to the more
difficult ‘floater’ shift only once per month with plenty of recoup time in the
following regular shifts.
Conclusively, the move from the original
schedule to the proposed schedule is one that would very likely allow the
squadron to optimize operations while simultaneously improving the fatigue issues
suffered by the crewmembers. Although
the original schedule allows for more regular shifts for team 4, having the ‘floater’
team 4 in the proposed schedule helps alleviate fatigue for teams 1-3. Further, as this is a monthly schedule, the
team assigned to the ‘floater’ position would only need to do so once every four
months due to the nature of the monthly rotation. Therefore, it is a practical solution that
would ultimately yield positive results.
References
Costa,
G. (1996). The impact of shift and night work on health. Applied Ergonomics 27(1):9-16.
Tyvaryanas,
A., Platte, W., Swigart, C., Colebank, J. and Miller N. (March 2008). A resurvey of
shift work-related fatigue in MQ-1
predator unmanned aircraft system crewmembers.
Naval Postgraduate School. 1-37.
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