more should be hired in different shifts and more jobs can be created and better service provided.

But Pigotry,

If we hire more, that'll be more government employees.
And we know the government employees are lazy and useless (even the ones who work 24 hour shifts!) and may even be worse than Welfare Queens!

Welfare queens? You mean all those female banking executives on Wall Street who got millions of dollars of bailout money? These welfare queens deserve a lot of credit for bringing down the economy. They got steet cred now - from Wall Street.

I'm not sure I could put too much fault on the dispatcher for falling asleep after being on duty for 17 hours. It is unreasonable to expect people to stay alert for that long, particularly in a sedentary job where it is easy to nod off. The people that really should be investigated are the people running the dispatch center that set up a ridiculous schedule where people are expected to be on duty for 24 hours straight. To have people responsible for handling emergencies be on duty for that long is nuts. They are bound to make mistakes when they have been on for so long and are sleep deprived. The human body is not made to stay alert for that long in one stretch. I know that people do it in emergency situations, but that is usually a high activity environment where adrenalin helps keep you going, not sitting at a computer answering phone calls.

17 hours into a 24 hour shift? 911 dispatch? Austerity will kill this country, and a lot of people. We should have full and appropriately staffed 1st responders and teachers.

Champ, you have no room to be calling names. Your comment is ignorant and frankly should be deleted. Snoring and sleep apnea are not the same thing...simple snoring does not lead to the things you stated... Also, you have obviously never worked a 24 hour shift..... Maybe you should go back to hiding under your bed chicken little......before the sky falls on you.

mac forrester- this has nothing to do with austerity. That dispatcher works a 40 hour work week just like anyone else. They work two days a week like that and then have five days off. That shift schedule is pretty bad though... firefighters and emts can sleep on their downtime, ive never heard of a 24 hour dispatcher shift though.

hambone johnson

"If we hire more, that'll be more government employees. And we know the government employees are lazy and useless (even the ones who work 24 hour shifts!) and may even be worse than Welfare Queens!"

Did the government not hire you? Probably because of your ignorance. I am a federal government employee and so are all my coworkers (duh) AND we are not lazy. We earn every penny we make. There are always people in ALL walks of life that are lazy workers. I don't know where you are getting your information, post the facts for me and I will give you kudos.

The city, state and federal government have had to cut back on a lot of jobs and some have been ousorced to civilians (like you). Or they make us work longer shifts. When they outsource to civilian contractors, they are not always that great. In some cases the government employees are brought back.

I am not saying that the dispatcher should have been sleeping, but when the 2nd dispatcher took over the first one should have been knocked off his chair by someone else. I blame management, no one should have to work a 24 hour shift, government or civilian.

@tess

I think he was joking. Kind of hard to tell though. I agree. Most federal employees earn every penny. I put emphasis on the word "most" because not all do.

2Wylde4U - Actually Champ isn't all wrong. Snoring can be a sign of obstructive sleep apnea. They are finding that snoring CAN be a sign of undiagnosed medical problems. Our news had a report about it the other night, but I missed it. I did find an article at PerfectHealth.com titled "Snoring Early Signs of Heart Disease." Another article can be found at KOCO.com titled "Could Snoring Signal Need to See Doctor?"

As for this guy he should be put on adminstrative leave. But why is it you hear "placed on administrative leave with pay pending the inquiry" but you hardly ever hear the follow up.

@tess8629

I think he was being sarcastic. But he does bring up a good point; it's cheaper to pay 1 person to pull a triple than to pay 3 people to do 'normal' shifts. With the anti-government worker mentality going across the nation it obviously makes sense to some.

Yes, tess, I believe he was being sarcastic. Though this is the actual stance of the Tea Party...

Hey Champ, don't you know everything leads to cancer? That's because no one really knows what causes cancer so therefore any and every thing can be held as suspect. Very young children who don't smoke, who haven't been exposed to second hand smoke, who don't drink coffee or wine, who don't eat large quantities of bacon, hot dogs or red meat (I could keep going, but will spare you all) get cancer and no one knows why. But you all just keep believing the lies, yep snoring causes cancer. Apparently so does commenting on Newsvine. Gullible anyone?

Oh yeah, let's put the man on administrative leave. As if he could prevent himself from falling asleep after 17 hours of being on duty. You people who stand in judgement of others without having walked in their shoes, let alone performed their job duties make me physically ill!

Reading the title of the article I thought immediately the dispatcher should be canned for falling asleep. Then after hearing he was 17 hours into a 24 hour shift, I changed my mind. While this may be the first time something like this happened, this was inevitable. Working 24 hours straight is not good for you, and something like this should not be allowed to happen. The rules around there should be changed to prohibit 24 hour shifts.

Sorry everybody,

That was definitely sarcasm. I always forget how hard it is to get that across in the written word. In my head, it sounds very, very sarcastic.

I have worked for both city and state governments and I know about the BS that is thrown around. All of my co-workers have been hard workers and determined to do their job, as well as representing their city or state. (o.k. there were a few bad apples, but you can find those at any job). I was extremely proud to be a part of it.

Easy, Tess - he's on your side. Of course federal/state/county/city employees perform valuable services. If there weren't a Dem in the White House, we wouldn't hear so much in the way of demonizing these people.

Mac Forrester

17 hours into a 24 hour shift? 911 dispatch? Austerity will kill this country, and a lot of people. We should have full and appropriately staffed 1st responders and teachers.

No, unions are killing this country. Instead of taking a pay cut and hiring more personnel, the unions want to keep a small club to ensure their fat salaries and plush benefits.

WITH PAY!! Thank you UNIONS for screwing American agian

2Wylde4U

Correction: Sleep apnea. Snoring may also be associated with obstructive sleep apnea. In this serious condition, your throat tissues obstruct your airway, preventing you from breathing. Sleep apnea is often characterized by loud snoring followed by periods of silence when breathing stops or nearly stops. Sometimes, complete obstruction doesn't occur, but rather, while still snoring, the airway becomes so small that the airflow is inadequate for your needs. Eventually, the lack of oxygen and an increase in carbon dioxide signal you to wake up, forcing your airway open with a loud snort or gasping sound. This pattern may be repeated many times during the night. To be diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea, these periods when breathing slows or stops must occur at least five times an hour.

Deville is too dumb to know the US has no unions. Our work force is 6.9% unionized while Germany's is 30%

Guess which country has lower unemployment and higher rates of exports? Hint. It ain't the country with right wing conservative GOP lunatics

I read that also, pulling a 24 hour shift, that is un-real; peoples lives are put in extreme danger, fire the dispatcher, fire all his supervisors, and cancel the contract with the firm that is paid to handle the calls; good grief , that is unreal.

You don't fire the dispatcher. You fire the person who thought it was a good idea to put someone on a 24-hour shift.

Just as bad as making doctors work 24 hour shifts. There should be limits in place for hours at work for anyone in a life-saving career. Maybe 12 hours (unless some rare emergency comes up) a day/60 hours a week? Minimum 12 hours between shifts?

24 hour shift is stupid for dispatchers, this isn't like fire fighters who get to sleep during their rotations if there are no call outs.

The behavior is outrageous, but apparently there's an explanation. The average person cannot function properly after being awake for 17 consecutive hours.

And even if you find a person who could...why would you ever take a chance by putting someone like that in a position that required critical, analytic thinking?

It used to be common practice for medical residents to pull 24-hour shifts. After a rash of misdiagnosed patients and other sleep-deprivation issues, the resident work week was "capped" at 80 hours a week in 2003. Still incredible, but better than it was.

Commercial airline pilots are scrutinized by the FAA as to how many consecutive hours they're piloting an aircraft...and how much rest they need before they're back on the job.

The bottom line is this: despite industry's push for keeping headcount low and hours high, the basic needs of a human being don't change with profitability.

We need to keep this in mind for cases where a job poorly done could cost someone else their life.

This is why we need smaller government and therefore lesser taxes. If this man had not been hired, he would not have been sleeping on 24 hour shift. Problem solved.

(Yes, in case it wasn't obvious, I -am- being sarcastic.)

I was thinkin' the same thing......24 hour shifts seems to be a bit much for anyone who has that kind of a job.

I know the person in charge said this attracted more people, but... this is just dangerous!

Although I agree with Irish23 that you fire the moron who thought up this idea, you have to take responsibility for yourself as well. Also, remember, your resident physicians in emergenry rooms are working those kinds of shifts as well.

This is not at all dissimilar to what they put doctors and nurses through as well. And I think it's an equally bad idea there as well. Can someone tell me what it is supposed to prove if a doctor (intern) or nurse can make it through ridiculous schedules under stressful conditions with too many patients? As far as I can tell it's bad not just for the doctor/intern/nurse but dangerous for the patients. This country is just screwed... :-(

The traditional reason for doctors working such long hours (and it's not just interns) is to provide continuity of care. If you were admitted to a hospital with a serious medical issue that required critical care for the first several hours, one of the most dangerous things they can do is to just switch up the entire medical team on you in the middle of that critical period. I would imagine they make the interns work those hours to get them accustomed to that life.

That's the same reason law enforcement personnel also work such long shifts. Usually, the first 24 hours of an investigation are the most critical. It's difficult, if not impossible, to just hand off your investigation to another person in something as casual as a shift change and expect that person to achieve the same results the initial investigator would have had.

With that being said, I can see no reason a dispatcher would need to work a 24 hour shift. It seems to me that one dispatcher could be replaced with another once emergency personnel arrived on scene.

I want to know what the heck the superiors were thinking with "24 hour shifts". Humans weren't meant to stay up for 24 hours straight.

1) The dispatcher should be seriously disciplined.

2) The 9-11 people essentially REQUESTED 24 hour shifts because of all the time off they get in between shifts. This is not the supervisor's fault.

3) Regardless of the shifts being popular, they should be abolished. If people insist on having more time off, work 15 hour shifts instead. They would get fewer DAYS off, but the quality of the work would not be as compromised.

If I fall asleep on the job, can I get paid leave?

Something is wrong with the math in this article. It says he was 17 hours into a 24 hour shift. In one more hour he would have been on a 6 hour rest. So, then he stops resting and goes straight home, having completed his 24 hours? I don't get it.

skeptical-1619418, maybe they have a resting room, like they have in hospitals, where you are resting, but can be woken up. But, yeah, it doesn't make any sense. 911 operators aren't physicians, so why not send him home in the first place, instead of paying him for having his body on the premises?

I seriously doubt this is the first time someone fell asleep. Just the first time they were caught on tape.

If it was Wisconsin Walker would be trying to make it a 48 hr shift!

I've been told by doctors that the 24 hour shift tradition is a way to weed out those would-be doctors who wouldn't have the stamina to serve in a major emergency.

I've always felt that the long hours of an intern were ridiculous. It doesn't give me much confidence in them.

Ah the miracle of the public sector, where if you screw up they put you on paid vacation until everything blows over and you have to come back to work.

I assume that you continue accumulate vacation days while you are on "paid administrative leave" - it would only make sense, right?

And a Public Sector Union worker at that. So he was working a 24 hour shift, putting peoples lives in jeopardy, but hell, he was on the Union double bubble so why not? He and his manager should be fired immediately. Period.

So you somehow know that he chose to be on a 24 hour shift? Maybe just the person who decided to schedule these people for 24 hours at a time.

hambone, if there was any pushback on the 24 hour shifts, I'm certain the union rep would have had something to say about it.

Ed,

That's a good point I hadn't considered. But, either way, it's bad policy and should have been noticed and discontinued by those in charge.

And decent pay, with extra for swing and more for graveyard. Paying all shifts the same is a way to get very few night owls who would quit to work anyplace else that paid better.

he was most likely covering others shifts in addition to his own. Called the Double Bubble.

WhiteMenace,

Even if that was the case, someone should have noticed and stopped it.

white

Listen to the video. At the end, they say that the 24 hr shift is normal for this county.

You wouldnt have to hire twice as many... same number of total hours worked by the same number of dispatchers, just split the schedules up differently

It doesnt save money, its just that employees sometimes prefer working those hours because they get 4 or 5 days off a week. Depending on the agency, its not nonstop work like most people think. I work for an extremely busy dispatch center and as a result we do work 8 hour shifts. Some dispatch centers that arent as busy work 12 hour shifts, although ive never heard of a 24 hour dispatch shift. Their call volume must be extremely low.

Manofmanytrades,

I don't think it matters if someone prefers working 24 hour shifts. It should not be allowed.

If you had bothered to actually read the entire story.. The dispatcher fell asleep after 17 hours of a 24 hour shift. Could you stay alert and awake sitting at a desk for 24 hours. I know I couldn't. He should never have been put on leave of any kind. However the moron that decided to install a 24 hour shift should be fired immediately.

Fire departments also have a dormitory. It's okay to sleep during your time there, but you need to wake up when the alarm goes off.

This has nothing to do with personnel shortages, just take the shifts and rearrange the hours. Same number of workers, same hours worked, just a different schedule.