Texas Fire Chief - Fall/Winter 2008 - (Page 30)

One of the department’s major goals was to develop a program that would help assist the department in curtaining some of the expenditures we were incurring due to overtime. We advised management that this was an existing problem that was on a steady rise with no relief in sight. The majority of the overtime incurred was directly related to staffing shortages due to normal leave usage with the addition of both injury and sick leaves. This constant problem would not allow the department to effectively manage the overtime needs for other critical functions and programs. The department based this program on a study performed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology that indicates the shiftstaffing factor (SSF) to staff one position for a 24 hour a day basis; the SSF is 1.1 to 1.3 personnel, depending on the benefits package. Using the benefits package the City of Baytown offers its employees, we have calculated the SSF for the Baytown Fire Department to be at 1.22 personnel. Therefore, utilizing the SSF calculation of 1.33 personnel as our minimum staffing for 21 firefighters, we would require a minimum of 27.93 or 28 firefighters to staff each of the three shifts. We staffed our shifts with 26 members per shift, which were two members short per shift as prescribed by the SSF. Adequate staffing will correlate in a reduction of overtime expenditures maintaining minimum staffi ng. How we came up with our calculations: • Each shift works 122 shifts per year. • On average, each member accrues 10 shifts of vacation, 7.5 shifts of sick time, 9 Kelly shifts and 4.5 shifts of holiday, which equates to 31 shifts of leave time per year. • Therefore, one person can cover his shift and three other members’ shifts to account for normal leave time. (122 shifts / 31 = 3.94) • Minimum staffing is 21 per shift. • Therefore, shift staffing should be 28 per shift. (21 / 3 = 7 plus 21 = 30 28 adjusting to the department’s SSF to 1.33 personnel) To qualify the potential savings, we tracked the overtime expenditures for a period of six months. During that six-month period, shift personnel worked 60 shifts. We disallowed 15 shifts due to normal time off for one member. We tracked the remaining 45 shifts where there were 44 shifts that we paid at least one person for overtime to cover staffing. During this time, there were 132 shifts where at least one had someone on overtime to cover staffing. This averages to 44 shifts for each of the three shifts. Our average overtime rate for firefighter personnel was $20.69 per hour: $20.69 x 24 hours x 88 = $43,697.28 per shift per year. $43,697.28 x 3 shifts = $131,092 in overtime costs plus and additional $34,924 in benefits = $165,386 in total overtime costs. The cost of hiring three additional personnel as shift breakers: $108,282 for three firefighters + $36,951 for benefits = $145,233 total cost. $165,386 (overtime) - $145,233 (shift breakers) = $20,153 Net Savings. Adding an additional firefighter position to each of the three shifts will provide depth in staffing and will also offset a significant amount of expenditures in the overtime budget. Additionally, this staffi ng supplement will: • Reduce the reliance and costs of overtime for staffing issues, • Reduce the necessity of requiring firefighters to work consecutive 24 hour duty days, • Improve the operating efficiency of firefighting teams due to a reduced reliance on “off shift” personnel filling in for limited periods, and • Allow additional flexibility in strategic staffing to meet the response needs of the city. By adding these positions into the fire department budget as a supplemental into the personnel services line, a department can reduce the overtime budget. These three additional positions gave us a staffing of 27 personnel per shift. We were currently in negotiations with an industrial district for fire protection. Our goal was to have this district fund three additional positions. This would give the department the 28 positions that were needed as prescribed by the SSF. We were successful in negotiating the contract with the industrial district and were able to get management and council to approve our budget request. In FY 2003, the overtime expenditures for the department were $532,675 with $453,340 of the expenditures for staffing of fire apparatus. The department utilized 15 percent of the expenditures in overtime for other needed programs. This major impact was due to adoption of the four man minimum staffi ng requirements. After the needed personnel were hired and trained because of the staffing requirements, overtime dropped in FY 2004 to $360,942 with $299,807 of the expenditures utilized for staffi ng. The overtime expenditures for FY 2005 were $355,786. The shift-breaker program was implemented in the second half of FY 2006; the overtime expenditures were $294,786 giving the department a net savings of $61,000. The overtime expenditures for FY 2007 were $198,807, which is $95,978 less than last year’s overtime expenditures. I should also note that the department used over 47 percent of the overtime payments to cover back-fi ll for training classes, payments to individuals attending training classes, payment for critical maintenance work on the department’s SCBAs and to cover personnel performing fire extinguisher inspections and maintenance for other city buildings. The plan is currently performing well by keeping overtime totals down caused by staffing. The department still averages one to two members off long-term for injuries. Though, with the program in place, there has been a cost savings and personnel are no longer required to work 96 to 120 hours per week. TEXAS FIRE CHIEF Fall/Winter 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Texas Fire Chief - Fall/Winter 2008

Texas Fire Chief - Fall/Winter 2008 Contents Executive Director’s Report Texas Fire Chiefs Academy Project Reports Southwest Fire Rescue Conference Program Membership Application Customer Service Orientation in Fire Rescue Departments A Visit to the E-One Plant Index to Advertisers

Texas Fire Chief - Fall/Winter 2008

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