I need the collective wisdom of the group in coming up with a legal term

[scottmitchell74]

At my fire department I'm part of a committee studying the possibility of a new schedule. In my reading/studies, I keep coming across information (mostly about sleep deprivation) that hasn't been looked at/addressed by the chief(s) before. IF after I present that info to them and they then have knowledge about something dangerous, but don't act on it: what's that called in legal terms? For the life of me I can't grasp that.

Thanks!

[RailGooner]

  Wouldn't it be negligence? If one is advised not to cross the road with the Pedestrian lights showing Red, but one ignores that advice and crosses the road on Red getting run down by a car, then one would have suffered injury due to one's own negligence. The driver's car would have been damaged due to one's negligence.

[Jon898]

First off I'm not a lawyer, but most likely it would/could be claimed as negligence.  Recognize that there are several flavors of negligence which may or may not rise to the level of criminal negligence...treatment by state law would be important here.  There is also the potential of the department being protected under a sovereign immunity theory ("can't sue city hall"), but who knows.

If you're really concerned, chat with a legal beagle and brace yourself for the torrent of lawyerly advice and the bill!

Jon

[Jon898]

... I keep coming across information (mostly about sleep deprivation) that hasn't been looked at/addressed by the chief(s) before. ...

Thanks!

In recent years there has been a fair amount of research on the effect of long hours on productivity, and to a lesser extent on safety.  One of the key studies (IRC by the Construction Industry Institute based in Austin, TX as part of UT Austin) showed that after 12 weeks of 60-hour weeks, the productivity had fallen to 39-hours a week effective output, for which you're paying for 70 hours of straight time.  The traditional 40-hour work week is apparently pretty optimal (productivity-wise) on a continuous basis for physical labor, and there are some limited studies that indicate it's actually closer to 30 hour-weeks for cognitive work.  None of these studies AFAIK looked at the effect of shift work and circadian rhythm disruption.

Jon

[Webbo]

Hi Scott

Here in Australia, what you describe would certainly be described as negligence in the popular sense of the word, but I'm not sure that it represents legal negligence. If your recommendations had been mandated in terms of formal rules of employment, then if these were ignored and an accident occurred as a consequence then that could be legal negligence. In the US things could be different.

Webbo

[Newportnobby]

Not sure about the US but in the UK employers have a 'duty of care' and any failure in that duty would be considered negligent.

[Snowwolflair]

In the UK you would have put them on legal notice (in advance) of a failure of a duty of care.  NB should be in writing and ideally advised in public.

The net effect would be to magnify any subsequent legal action if they fail to take notice.

i.e. would move a death due to the failure, from the advised point, from negligence to manslaughter (under UK law).

[MJKERR]

Not sure about the US but in the UK employers have a 'duty of care' and any failure in that duty would be considered negligent.

Sadly not always the case, the OP is only referring to sleep deprivation but nothing specific

As an example :
In the UK the main requirement is a minimum break between shifts is 12 hours
However if the employee commutes for three hours each way, that is the employees issue and nothing to do with the employer
This then (currently) becomes complicated if the employee drives a company vehicle, rather than their own

Therefore without specific details the question cannot be answered...

[woodbury22uk]

I think the term you are looking for is the "date of guilty knowledge" which was used, for example, in relation to the many thousands of asbestos exposure cases from the 1950s onwards at least.

https://thelawdictionary.org/guilty-knowledge/

[Railwaygun]

Dare one mention the word "Union"?

[martyn]

'Fatigue management' is serious business in the Transport industry in general. There are maximum hours to be worked in a defined period, and also minimum rest period to be taken as one period, and not broken up.

Martyn

[Chetcombe]

Unfortunately I think they would only be considered legally negligent if something untoward happened, like an accident, and someone sued. Not acting on advice, no matter how well researched or intended the advice may be, is simply a poor decision. Your best bet may to research local employment laws and regulations in your jurisdiction. The good news is that are so many fire departments that this issue must have been raised and addressed in rules and regulations elsewhere. If you are not part of a voluntary fire company, I suggest you contact your union or seek legal advice as others have suggested.