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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Co worker keeps falling asleep.

54 replies

MrsMotherHen · 03/08/2018 04:23

AIBU am in work on a 12hr shift and every single shift my co worker is nodding off and on from at least 12am till 5am. To be fair when stuff needs doing they get up fairly quick and do do the work thats required...to an extent.

The constant head bopping followed by a loud snore is annoying me its every single shift I work with them ....there doing it right now! Blush we are even allowed to sleep on break for an hour if we feel like we need it so i just dont understand.

AIBU to shout WAKE UP!!!!

OP posts:
BakedBeans47 · 03/08/2018 13:16

A nursing home?! No fucking chance is this acceptable. Is it not in your policies that sleeping on duty amounts to gross misconduct?

I’d dob them in without a second thought. You can’t be fucking sleeping when you’re responsible for the care of vulnerable people! If there’s a medical explanation she can raise it with her manager.

BakedBeans47 · 03/08/2018 13:19

The loud snore may well be a sign of obstructive sleep apnea.. please ask them to get checked, you could save their life.

Why is it not their own responsibility to safeguard their own health?

What about the vulnerable people whose lives are at risk whilst the person paid to look after them is asleep?

mavydoes · 03/08/2018 13:24

maybe just let them know and record it where possible - if they have an issue medically then they need to shift change to day only but if just down to Wolf hour (i used to do 12hr security shifts so i get it) then they need to keep hydrated and busy.
(also worked in mental health so im aware of the nursing aspect).

if just being a lazy bugger then warn once then just leave them.

INeedNewShoes · 03/08/2018 13:31

I used to fall asleep at my desk. In my case it was due to a medical condition, or at least the side effects of medication.

My boss and colleagues were aware of the issue and seemed fairly relaxed about it. Having said that I always stayed late to get my work finished if necessary and my job did not involve the care of others!

If the management are aware of it I would say you just have to get on with it though unless you truly feel that the safety of the people you are looking after is being put at risk, in which case you need to report it.

Emmageddon · 03/08/2018 13:38

I used to work nights in a nursing home, 12.5 hour shifts and no break for a sleep. One of the HCAs used to sleep - he'd set his alarm to go off every hour on the hour so he'd wake up and do the hourly checks on the residents. Somehow he thought this was acceptable. It wasn't and the manager did an unannounced visit at 3.30am and found him in a darkened room with pillows and blankets, sound asleep. He was sacked. Nursing home residents are vulnerable and staff shouldn't be sleeping on duty.

LockedOutOfMN · 03/08/2018 13:40

Tell your co-worker.

If I were you, I'd wake them up whenever I saw them sleeping, and act like that's what they would have wanted, "Oh, you fell asleep again there, X! Why don't you go and...?" [Insert ludicrously overactive task].

bluebeck · 03/08/2018 13:42

YANBU to just shout WAKE UP.

I don't really understand why you haven't done this before????

Original poster
MrsMotherHen · 03/08/2018 13:43

no one is put at risk at all. To be fair a buzzer goes they are first up to answer it or first to answer phone ect.

I know its hard to stay awake I get that I have had to be woken once but when you start to feel the itchy burny eyes I just get up make a hot drink and step outside to perk up a bit.

I might make a massive pot of coffee and keep them topped up through the night.

Am still awake now after that shift its hell! but will never sleep tonight if I go now so husband is taking me and kids out somewhere then he suggested getting a massive tub of ben an jerrys big big one 750ml its huge and sharing it in bed with some good tv and a early night not the flithy kind Wink

anywhoooooooo....

OP posts:
28holid · 03/08/2018 13:47

Your co worker is asleep at points in the night where you are not actively doing anything and they respond to every buzzer that goes off?

I would leave them to it.

Same with the mass overreaction re the sleep snore. It's highly unlikely to be anything other than a normal snore that accompanies sleep!

SchadenfreudePersonified · 03/08/2018 13:55

Could be undiagnosed sleep disorder? I have narcolepsy and I do that, I've had people tell me to wake up it doesn't work I just do it anyway. Possibly ask them about it?

I wondert this, too. I had sleep apnoea and would have dozed off it I was standing up on a washing line, I was so tired.

Needs to be checked out medically, though.

vandrew4 · 03/08/2018 14:02

I don't see the problem if he wakes up when a buzzer goes off. Why don't you take it in turns to have an hour shuteye? seems a bit silly to expect 2 people to be awake at the same time for what appears to be just sitting around most of the time

Tawdrylocalbrouhaha · 03/08/2018 14:02

Oh gosh, I sympathise with them. I worked nights at uni in a care home, and the bit up to midnight was fine - plenty going on. But the bit between 2am turning/pads and beginning the morning stuff about 5am was dull. I had great trouble staying awake.

The human body just isn't meant to be conscious in that pre-dawn slump!

fantasmasgoria1 · 03/08/2018 14:14

When I was 23 I got a job in a nursing home, 4 staff on shift, 1 nurse and 3 care assistants. I was surprised when they said that the nurse and one carer would sleep from 1am till 3 then we would sleep 3am until 5. The nurse was easily accessible but I was constantly scared of getting caught and couldn’t sleep! I didn’t want to create a fuss though as I needed the job. At 43 now I can’t stay awake all night!

PerverseConverse · 03/08/2018 14:14

Totally unacceptable. I used to work nights in hospitals and nursing homes. We couldn't sleep on our break. Working nights means you're awake all night and should sleep during the day. If you work days you don't stay up all night do you? You sleep. Surely there are tasks he should be doing or could be doing during the night? Tidying cupboards, cleaning commodes, bedpans. I would report in a heartbeat. He probably jumps up because he knows he shouldn't be sleeping!

Rebecca36 · 03/08/2018 16:09

Get some ear plugs, that will muffle the snoring. I don't see a problem.

YeTalkShiteHen · 03/08/2018 16:12

I did nights in a care home for years and it used to piss me off when people came in with the intention of sleeping the night away. Nope. Get the hoover out!

All very well saying how hard nights are but if you’re paid to work then work, sleep on your own time! Sitting down between 2-5am is deadly if you’re struggling, so get up and walk about, find something to do.

If the care commission (or whatever the equivalent is outside Scotland) turned up for an impromptu inspection they’d be fucked!

N33dm0remilk · 03/08/2018 17:58

If you are at work, you should be awake, you are not paid to be asleep ! I work 12 hours, with one hour break to do or go where I wish. People who sleep on shift are disrespectful and should find another job if it doesn't suit them. I don't work in a care role

BakedBeans47 · 03/08/2018 18:01

I don't see the problem if he wakes up when a buzzer goes off. Why don't you take it in turns to have an hour shuteye? seems a bit silly to expect 2 people to be awake at the same time for what appears to be just sitting around most of the time

Because you’re paid to be awake.

I don’t agree no one is at risk. I can recall at least a couple of cases in the news where homes have caught fire overnight and residents have died. You’re paid to be awake and alert, you need to be awake and alert.

YeTalkShiteHen · 03/08/2018 18:05

I can recall at least a couple of cases in the news where homes have caught fire overnight and residents have died

One a few towns over from me many years ago caught fire and the staff were asleep, many residents died in the fire and the FAI found that if they’d been awake and raised the alarm sooner the outcome could have been different.

Oneinthegrave · 03/08/2018 18:10

I once worked with someone in a very loud factory on nights and at the beginning he had just transferred from days. He would fall asleep stood up while using the machinery and we wouldnt even notice until a piece came off the belt not complete because he’d missed his bit. I thought it was crazy that someone could just fall asleep in those circumstances but it turned out he had a disorder and the night shifts were’t helping. Sounds like the person you work with could have similar

Barbaro · 03/08/2018 19:49

Can't believe anyone would think this is OK. Would you be happy about nurses sleeping in A&E?

Very worrying. Makes me wonder what they do in their jobs.

BakedBeans47 · 04/08/2018 01:01

Was that the one in Hamilton yetalkshitehen? Truly horrific

YeTalkShiteHen · 04/08/2018 17:55

It was the Uddingston one I was thinking of Baked, 14 residents died. Fire safety procedures weren’t up to scratch either sadly. Awful.

BakedBeans47 · 05/08/2018 17:27

Yes I think that’s the one I was thinking of too, although there have been others too sadly. Truly awful.

YeTalkShiteHen · 05/08/2018 17:28

There was a big fire in one in Hamilton too a few years later, thankfully no fatalities in that one!

I’ve worked in care homes and emergencies can happen in a split second. You have to be alert, all the time, otherwise people can be at serious risk of harm.