Amalgamation

[danbrotherston]

Specifically comparing fire services, EMS, and policing, I believe fire fighters are the only ones who have 24-hour shifts. All other emergency services typically do 12-hour shifts as far as I know. While fire response is important, fire-related calls are probably the least frequent of all three services. The fact that fire services are so often idle means we are often falling back on them to respond to medical calls because EMS is so over-worked. The whole situation seems backward to me; we should be spending more to improve EMS and finding ways to reduce cost for fire services.

There are very few jobs where you get paid to sleep.

Our paramedics are underpaid and understaffed.  Money from the fire dept should go towards them.

If a police officer or paramedic was photographed sleeping on duty, working out on duty, grocery shopping on duty, it would fail the "Globe and Mail" test.  A firefighter doing the same this is commonplace, and society accepts this.  This is where the problem lies.

I don't pay my doctor for his down time, but he will likely save my life before a firefighter does.

Coke

Mmm....doctors are probably not the best example, on call doctors (and some erm...higher level? nurses in some places) do occasionally end up napping, while on call.

Certainly it is a highly unusual example, pretty much restricted to on-call individuals.

For that matter, I have before been on an on-call rotation for a production system I managed, and was effectively paid to sleep...although that's a little different in that I was at home.