# Working hours



## Doctordo (Dec 13, 2001)

My concern is that how many hours do you and your employees plow and or do snow removeal . Does anyone have a policy on how many hours one person can work ? We all have done something pretty stupid at about 3 am after plow for 20 hours straight.


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## Pelican (Nov 16, 2001)

My policy is to keep going until all the customers are serviced. I occasionally take 20 minute naps in the truck if I see too many "ghost" figures, but that's about it. I was out 27 hours for this latest storm, I've been out as many as 60 in the past. I'll admit it's getting harder as I get older, but this is the business.

I advise my driver to keep going as long as he can safely, then again, cat naps are in order. So far it works.


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## John DiMartino (Jan 22, 2000)

Same as Pelican,go until all are serviced.I seem to get into a time warp when im plowing,time goes so fast,i dont realizw waht time it is until Im doing paperwork,and jot down the hrs.I usually do not get tired until im in the truck around 19+ hrs.This last storm was bad becasue i was soaking wet for 17+ hrs while driving.In the blizzard 96,I went 54 hrs with 3 hrs sleep.That was bad,the last 10 hrs were tough.


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## paul soccodato (Nov 9, 2002)

i agree with pelican,
we basically stay out as long as we have to, to be able to finish everthing. i also will take a nap in the truck if needed. its tough to go home, shower, sleep, then get back up, to go back out. so i always just plow straight through the event. if the guys want to go home and rest for a bit, they can as long as were caught up.
last storm i plowed for 26 hours, before being caught up enough to go home, turn off phone for a bit, shower, sleep for a couple of hours, then got up to plow some more.


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## plowking35 (Dec 21, 1999)

I have back up drivers when needed for long storms. Like most here we plow with the storm, so sometimes you are looking at 20-30 hrs. That IMO is unsafe to work straight through. So we will change out drivers or double the operators so that rest can be had. I have slept in the truck both as a cat nap and as a passenger. While it isnt the most complete rest, that 30 min-1 hr nap helps alot. 3-5 am is the hardest time period for me, I must get my REM sleep during that time, the eyes get real heaaaaaaavy
Dino


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## wyldman (Jan 18, 2001)

We tend to go as long as possible,but having backup drivers or rotating shifts can be a big plus.I have found productivity drops substantially when drivers are fatigued,they can get kinda stupid sometimes.Looking back at the timesheets shows it takes twice as long to plow a lot sometimes when the driver is tired.Sending half the drivers home for 6-8 hrs helps,then they switch with the other half.This also helps with recovering afterwards and drivers are a lot fresher and more willing to go out the next night for cleanup etc.

The route managers and myself are usually the only ones who go "start to finish",which can range from 24-72 Hrs straight.I won't mention all the "stupid" things we tend to do when tired.


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## Pelican (Nov 16, 2001)

I've had to modify my methods of late. I've been in the truck daily since Christmas Day, haven't had an uninterrupted sleep session since. I never know what day it is without checking the calender, it's pretty crazy right now. The other day I went out and hit the most treacherous accounts to open them, and then returned home for a nap. Cleaned up the unoccupied homes the following day. More on the way tonight...


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## John DiMartino (Jan 22, 2000)

Pelican,Im in the same boat as you.If I didnt have a loader this yr,Id be up the creek.We are running out of room for snow in a few places alreay and it only the first week Jan.I havent had a good nights sleep since before christmas.Its snowing right now,gotta go salt,oh yeah,im running out of that too,gotta get a delivery,and my dealer is giving me the run around on the new trynex spreader....


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## Temco (May 26, 2002)

I went 17 hours the last storm which doesn't sound like much after reading the other posts. I'm still new to plowing so it was a lot for me. Fortunatly though, I plow for the town and the streets I do are concentrated in a small area so not really a lot of driving per se.


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## Grshppr (Dec 2, 2002)

When I'm plowing, I just keep on going until everything is done. Even if I tried, I wouldn't be able to sleep anyway. I just seem to have some sort of adreneline rush that keeps me awake. The longest I have ever plowed is probably 36 hrs straight. I tell my employees to get a few hours sleep if we go over 18-20 hrs, but generally we haven't had too many snowfalls that went 2-3 days.


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