Sleeping on the job

[copelandamuffy]

If you have played the Security Guard game long enough, sooner
or later you are going to work the midnight to 0800 shift. If you are
not used to the hours it can be not a lot of fun.

At some point during your shift fatique and drooping eyes, and
even 10 gallons of coffee is of no help. You find yourself nodding
off. I am sure many of you can understand where I am coming from

Case in point. I have a shortage of Guards. I am running at 66% of
my staffing level

Everyone is working overtime, including doing double shifts.
One of my Guards normall hours are 1500-2300
He worked Friday night from 1500-0700 this morning
When I relieved him he had fallen asleep at his chair
at the Gatehouse. I know for a fact that he had not
been sleeping very long, because since we work along,
we have hourly call ins to an automated system
If you do not call someone at the command center
1st calls the Gatehouse, and then pages me.
I had no pages.

I gently woke him up, and sent him home

Now according to our Contract Security Guard Handbook,
a Guard who has fallen asleep, can be dismissed
Bet you the person who wrote this book never worked overnights, or a double shift !!

I mentioned to him that be glad it was me who caught him asleep,
and not the client, or the roving supervisior.

This Guard whom I awoke does superb access control, and vigilant
on patrols.

I also might add, he has had the flu, and any over the counter
medicine can make you drowsy

I am not excusing what he did, but sometimes you have to
not be a harsh Judge on matters

If he had been working with HotelSecurity in Montreal,
and had decided to find a vacant room, put on his
pajamas, and cuddled up to sleep, then you have
a legitimate beef.

As mentioned in other threads, I am at a remote sight
where if we see a human being in 8 hours were lucky.

[Black Caesar]

If you have played the Security Guard game long enough, sooner
or later you are going to work the midnight to 0800 shift. If you are
not used to the hours it can be not a lot of fun.

At some point during your shift fatique and drooping eyes, and
even 10 gallons of coffee is of no help. You find yourself nodding
off. I am sure many of you can understand where I am coming from

Case in point. I have a shortage of Guards. I am running at 66% of
my staffing level

Everyone is working overtime, including doing double shifts.
One of my Guards normall hours are 1500-2300
He worked Friday night from 1500-0700 this morning
When I relieved him he had fallen asleep at his chair
at the Gatehouse. I know for a fact that he had not
been sleeping very long, because since we work along,
we have hourly call ins to an automated system
If you do not call someone at the command center
1st calls the Gatehouse, and then pages me.
I had no pages.

I gently woke him up, and sent him home

Now according to our Contract Security Guard Handbook,
a Guard who has fallen asleep, can be dismissed
Bet you the person who wrote this book never worked overnights, or a double shift !!

I mentioned to him that be glad it was me who caught him asleep,
and not the client, or the roving supervisior.

This Guard whom I awoke does superb access control, and vigilant
on patrols.

I also might add, he has had the flu, and any over the counter
medicine can make you drowsy

I am not excusing what he did, but sometimes you have to
not be a harsh Judge on matters

If he had been working with HotelSecurity in Montreal,
and had decided to find a vacant room, put on his
pajamas, and cuddled up to sleep, then you have
a legitimate beef.

As mentioned in other threads, I am at a remote sight
where if we see a human being in 8 hours were lucky.

Well done, this planet needs more people like you, period .

I work 11p to 7a, I'm used to it, I sleep while my kids are at school, then I'm up with them till bedtime then I take a two hour nap before work. I'm never sleepy on the job anymore, but I snooze like the dead on my off days lol.

When I was 20 and 1st starting in the business, I got caught sleeping in my patrol vehicle (I worked for a warm body type compnay back then) and the Rover who found me raked me over the coals, not because of company policy, but for my saftety, I appreciated it greatly and didn't lose my job (kept it between us, unless it happened again, which it didn't), Good supervisors are worth more than GOLD imo.

[Mr. Security]

Somewhere in the archives, there's a long thread on this, but here goes: I've caught a couple guards asleep at their post and I don't make a stink about it unless it becomes a habit. Of course, some sites MUST be staffed by super-alert security due to the risk and consequences of complacency. The majority, however, are not as critical. You made the right call, IMO.

[mh892]

Well Cope. This is how I handled the situation in the past, a couple of times. Not blasting you, just telling my story.

"Steve. ....(some reason)......need you to pull a double shift or wait till I can find someone out there to relieve you." (we normaly pull 12 hour shifts.)

My response. "Having a problem living up to your claim of being a supervisor? Did you ever think of a plan B? Your choosing me to pull your axx outta the fire? O.K. Don't even think about reminding me of the 'stay awake and alert' rules. After 10 hours I start getting sleepy and not fully alert. I get caught nodding off and you and I have a problem." (Yep. Your right. I gotta attitude. I'm senior and I'm good. And I get away with it. LOL.)

Cope, I personaly think you should just drop it and not say another word to the guy about it. You state he is a good employee. He didn't ask for a 15 hour shift, but hung in there to help you and the other guys obviously. Matter of fact he should be thanked for his effort. But thats just my opinion.

[N. A. Corbier]

Keep in mind that if you "quietly dismiss" it in places like Florida, you are committing conspiracy to violate Chapter 493, along criminal fraud. Make sure no one finds out.

There are several people who were caught asleep, then when they were fired brought that up - to the state.. They lost their license to practice, and the company was fined. The supervisor also lost their license to practice, because the supervisor committed fraud (theft of service, theft of time) and violated Chapter 493.

God help you if a LEO, another company, or a state investigator found you. They would usually turn you into the state, at which point good bye to your D.

[hemi444]

In the past when I was the roving supervisor and I knew that someone was working a double. I would make sure that I got to him/her often than I would with some other sites that had a shift supervisor. Not only checking in on that officer but I would take money out of my pocket to buy a sandwich, coffee or whatever they needed. The company may not have cared if the guy worked over but it meant something to me and at least I could show him some gratitude.

[Lawson]

When I was a site supervisor, I had to let go one guy for sleeping. But the circumstances were a little different than someone sleeping in their car out in the middle of nowhere for 15 minutes. The officer fell asleep at the security desk which is the biggest egress point of the facility (you dont get into the warehouse for the most part without passing the security desk). As he slept, multiple people walked by the desk, some even walked by a few times and had conversations, none of this woke him.

At my site, I have always endorsed the "safety nap" idea. If someone was struggling to stay awake and there was another S/O on duty, why not let one of them take a little nap to let them regain their senses? I would rather have a guard snooze for 30 minutes to an hour and be able to do their job, than have someone drop-dead tired for the entirety of their shift.

Ive worked the late shifts (and I do now), I know that it isnt always that easy to get the sleep you need during the day. The day time offers a lot more interruptions than you would typically have at night, phone calls, visitors, increased traffic outside, children playing, sunlight, etc... Graveyards are typically a dead slow shift, the only thing they must do is lock doors when they arrive, and unlock them before they leave.

Now, I certainly dont mean to give graveyard S/O's a "ticket to sleep" you SHOULD try to stay awake for the entirety of your shift, but some nights its just... hard.

[copelandamuffy]

Anyone who works these marathon hours is doing so on a volunteer basis
for me.
If you can only work your normall 40 hours, then so be it. As stated in
my original post, I awoke this Guard as though I were I new kitten
walking into the Gatehouse. Yes I did mention that it could have been
a higher ranking supervisior. And his nodding off has is now in the past.

And I make a effort every month to choose an Officer
of the month and turn that person's name into the
branch office. The above named Officer will be choosen in the coming
months for his pitching in and thus saving on overtime

I might add I too have had this happened. to me. I live in the
Boston area, and last winter we had a blizzard that
accumilating at 2 to 3 inches an hour. I knew once
I got to the Guard Shack I would be there form 24-36
hours becaus most of the roads in the area had not
been plowed. With no sleep in hour 20 and chilled to
the bone walking in snow, I fell in and out of sleep.

Part of my thread should have included sleep deprivation which many
of encounter in our 24/7 365 works schedule.

I also should have mentioned while rules should be followed to
the letter in our company policy, but there are circumstances that
are sometimes beyond our control

As example. If you are unable to come to work, we expect a 4 hour
advance call in. But what if your suppose to be at work at 0700,
and at 0615 you receive a call from home there is a medical
emergency in your family. That is excusable

[mh892]

Cope, with your supervisory attitude I was gonna say I wouldn't mind working for you. Then I got to the "Boston" and "snow" part............

[HotelSecurity]

A sign of a good supervisor is one who can use discression. Rules are there but it is up to the supervisor to enforce them at his discression. Cope, you are a good supervisor.

P.S. They usually don't crawl into their pyjamasa at the hotel but I have had complains that guests have found my guys smoring in a sofa chair in the lobby! (I let him keep his job). I fired one for goijng into a vacant room & sleeping.

Being a very small department with hardly any spares my guys have to come in even when sick. My rules are if they are very tired they may doze for an hour as long as the Night Auditor knows where they are & can phone them to wake them up in case of an emergency. Heck, if firemen can sleep & get paid 3 or 4 times more than us....... But this can not happen every day either.

[EMTGuard]

Somewhere in the archives, there's a long thread on this, but here goes: I've caught a couple guards asleep at their post and I don't make a stink about it unless it becomes a habit. Of course, some sites MUST be staffed by super-alert security due to the risk and consequences of complacency. The majority, however, are not as critical. You made the right call, IMO.

I started a thread a while back venting about one of our EMT/SOs who blatantly slept and even complained about having difficulty sleeping on shift. FYI, we work 12 hour shifts, 6p-6am and we don't rotate.
The thread is at- http://forums.securityinfowatch.com/...2678#post12678
That officer is still on the job and still regularly sleeping at the desk at the main gate.

[kingsman]

The first week at a new sight with 5 officers on duty, and me the new supervisor of night shift, I found two officers asleep in the patrol vehicle.
Now, they didn't just nod off sitting in teh vehicle, they had the seats fully reclined and didn't wake up until we rapped several times on the window. I had them both removed from my team.

Now, I have caught several others nodded off from time to time. but as long as they are not intentionally sleeping and don't make a habit of it I don't ream their ass. I make sure they get up and move around. stretch, jog in place, get a drink, whatever you need to do to stay awake.

Currently, I have one guard I know is sleeping on duty, but I can't prove it because we are now only two and he does it on patrol where I cannot see him.

[copelandamuffy]

Our field superivisior told me of an incident where he caught a
young female and male guard sleeping, and they had no clothes
on when caught in a confrence room at a school book warehouse.

You fill in the blanks what they were doing just about the time they fell asleep.

[HotelSecurity]

Our field superivisior told me of an incident where he caught a
young female and male guard sleeping, and they had no clothes
on when caught in a confrence room at a school book warehouse.

You fill in the blanks what they weren doing just about the time they fell asleep.

I caught one of my guys once behind an ice macnine with a female guest

[copelandamuffy]

It could have been a warm and muggy night. Perahaps he is a true gentleman
helping a young lady in need of being cooled down