The trade union Fórsa has warned an Oireachtas committee of potential “unfair and unsafe” working-time practices coming into effect next year for search and rescue aircrew in Waterford.
The union on Wednesday urged the Government to intervene to end the practice known as “factoring” in the Coast Guard helicopter service.
Fórsa told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport that the Irish Aviation Authority continued to permit aviation operators to “factor hours”. It said this was a practice that recorded significantly fewer hours than those actually worked.
It said full 24-hour shifts may be recorded as little as 16.5 hours.
RM Block
Bristow Ireland, which was awarded a 10-year contract for the delivery of search and rescue services for the Irish State through the Department of Transport and the Irish Coast Guard, said safety is at the core of everything it does.
The company said factoring was well established in Irish and European helicopter search and rescue operations.
Philip Bartlett, director of search and rescue at Bristow Ireland, said that, in accordance with regulation, duty hours were accumulated throughout a shift, “whereby hours spent in the crew rest facility overnight are factored appropriately”.
The practice refers to overnight crew rest hours between 10pm and 8am, during which period there is a 45-minute readiness to launch in force, as opposed to the 15-minute time limit during the day, he said.
“If crew rest and sleep are not interrupted – ie, if there is no call-out during these hours – then 16.5 hours are logged for the shift in accordance with the regulation.”
If they are called out during standby hours, then the full 24 hours are logged, he said.
Eugene Gargan, Fórsa assistant general secretary, said the union’s relevant branch included 40 technical crew who were helicopter winchmen and winch operators as well paramedics and advanced paramedics.
He said search and rescue aircrew at bases in Shannon and Weston Airport are required to remain on site for 24-hour duty periods under an immediate- readiness model. He said aircrew based in Sligo and Waterford would transition to this model next February. He said that until last September such personnel were permitted to return home during duty periods provided they lived within 20 minutes of the base.
He said immediate readiness requires the aircraft to be airborne within 15 minutes in certain situations and this requires all technical and flight crew to remain physically at the base for the duration of their shift.
Mr Gargan said factoring search and rescue crew hours allowed the operator to roster staff for additional time beyond the limit of 2,000 hours per year.
“The employer seeks to justify this by relying on having a fatigue risk management system (FRMS) in place.”
“Our members have expressed serious concerns that FRMS is being misused and misapplied,” he said.
“An FRMS system provides a means for duty crews to report fatigue while at work and on shift. It allows crews to operate 24-hour shifts safely. However, FRMS does not have any legal authority to reduce, override, or circumvent the recording of working time, as defined by European and national legislation.”
