Story 20. Night Shift Can be Scary.

One of the most dangerous work practices especially in mining is shift work.
Night shift is easily the highest risk period of any workforce.

In CSR's time Mt Gunson worked three, eight hour shifts, night shift began at 11pm and ended at 7am.
Anyone who has ever worked a night shift will be aware the 3am to 5am period is the most dangerous time to work, it's also during this period the mind simply craves sleep. This is a problem experienced by every operator involved in the operation of heavy equipment.

The CSR mine management in the 1970-80's were stubbornly opposed to any equipment being fitted with a basic am/fm radio, "it would distract them" was one reason given, any suggestion of a two way radio being included in any of the equipment to enhance site communication was met with, "they will be playing with the darn thing all night and not concentrating on the job at hand".

There was little to nil understanding of basic fatigue management in the 1970-80 or the fatigue problems associated with a three eight hour shift roster in a camp environment.

A night shift worker ending his shift at 7am would shower and have breakfast, by the time they had completed a few domestic tasks or spent an hour or two socialising and relaxing before heading off to bed it would be around 10 - 10:30 am,  similar to a normal day experienced by permanent  day workers only it was time shifted 12 hours.

At at 3pm the afternoon shift crew would begin to prepare for their shift, clunking about in heavy work boots and generally raising the noise level in camp for an hour before heading off to work. Then shortly after 4pm the day shift would knock off and arrive back in camp, banging and crashing as they headed to the showers or the bar then sat about camp talking noisily and socialising.

Had a permanent day shift worker (or management) regularly experienced being woken every day at 3am and again at 4am the problem of sleep and fatigue would have been understood by management, but unfortunately this never happened.

Years later I was placed in charge of a large mine in Western Australia where administration management insisted on having a compulsory staff meeting every day at 2pm. when asked why not later at a more convenient time for night shift who after knocking off as 6 am having breakfast and got to bed by 9am were then required to get up at 1:30pm to attend the meeting which ended at 3pm. Night shift normally rose at 5pm to start their 12hr shift at 6pm as a result of this the night shift supervisors were getting only 4 hours sleep each day.
I was informed by the administrators the meeting time was based on the majority of attendees at work at that time, so it was easier for everyone.
The real reason behind the time chosen was the administration staff knocked off at 3pm and it suited them perfectly.
After senior management left me in charge for two weeks, I did a head count at the first meeting I chaired and found the night shift supervisors made up most of the attendees.
Using the understood rules I informed every one at the meeting for the next week all compulsory staff meetings would be conducted at 2am.

By day two every one had a working understanding of the problems they were imposing on night shift, by the end of the week compulsory staff meetings were agreed to be conducted at a more convenient time.

Mt Gunson mine worked an eleven day week, then shut down for three days.
 Almost all the workers left site and went home for the three days.

The last shift was night shift which ended at 6am, knowing everyone would be in a rush to leave site I would spend an hour filling in everyone's time sheets leaving only the load count, and a signature needed to complete the paperwork as they made their way through the office.

I would knock off a half hour behind the crew after dropping off the maintenance forms and paperwork at the main administration office.

While driving south after one night shift, I was about 50km south of the mine when I noticed one of the operators vehicle stopped on the side of the road and parked in an odd sort of way with the front wheels against a small windrow. I stopped and walked over to see if the driver was in trouble and needed help.
As I approached I noticed he was sound asleep at the wheel, the engine still running and the automatic transmission still in gear. Obviously he had fallen asleep and the car had simply continued on its own for a while, his foot had dropped off the accelerator, allowing the vehicle to slow down then eventually run off the long lonely stretch of road where it was slowed further by the soft dirt and eventually come up against the windrow and been brought to a complete stop.

I reached through the open window and moved the transmission to the park position.
Then I lay on the engine bonnet and looking in through the front window knocked loudly on the windscreen.
The driver stirred, then suddenly realising he was driving grabbed the steering wheel.
At the same time I screamed at him, he screamed back at the sudden appearance of the terrified face looking at him through the cars window while trying to swerve left and right as he attempted to bring the already stationary vehicle to a complete halt.
I climbed off the front and peered in.
Are you awake Harry? I asked.
Where in the blood hell did you come from? he said appearing unsure of what just happened and my sudden, unexpected appearance while he thought he was still driving.
I left site a half an hour after everyone left, I explained.
Oh shit I must have fallen asleep. he said, I'm wide awake now.
He looked it. Good, now Ill follow you into Pt Augusta and we will stop for a coffee, I said.
And a change of underwear, Harry added.