Hour thirteen, and one more ask
You are 90 minutes from the end of your fourth consecutive double shift; the prison has been on minimum staffing for two weeks after a gastro outbreak. At 20:50 a prisoner in your unit is found with self-inflicted cuts to both forearms; you and a colleague manage the first aid and the nurse attends. At 21:40 your supervisor asks you to cover four more hours in the high-security unit because the night officer has called in sick. You have had one 20-minute break in 13 hours, you take prescribed antihistamines that make you drowsy, and you have not eaten since 11:00. Your supervisor says, 'I wouldn't ask if I had anyone else.'
1. How do you respond to the request, and how do you raise the drowsiness and fatigue without it sounding like a refusal to work?
Read the worked answer
Answer immediately, honestly and specifically. Hesitating and then saying yes helps no one: 'I can do two hours if I'm paired with someone, but I've had one break in 13 hours and I'm on antihistamines that make me drowsy. I don't think I'm safe alone on high security tonight.'
Give a limit and options, not a blank no:
- I can cover until the on-call replacement arrives.
- I can do unit admin or a two-person post.
- I can take 30 minutes and food now, and you reassess me then.
- Have you tried the on-call pool / the other unit's spare?
Why the disclosure is mandatory, not optional: high-security posts turn on counts, key control and emergency response, all of which degrade with fatigue and sedation. The supervisor cannot manage a risk they have not been told about, and 'soldiering on' silently transfers that risk to prisoners and to the colleague working beside you. There is also an obligation not to attend work impaired.
Tone: matter-of-fact, no apology and no drama. Frame it as a safety report about a post, not a confession about your character. Most supervisors respect a clear limit far more than a resentful yes followed by a mistake at 03:00.
If the answer is 'there's no one else': ask for the decision to be recorded, and ask what mitigation is available - pairing, reduced prisoner movement, earlier relief.
2. What do you do before you leave tonight, and what do you put in place for the next week? A colleague says, 'You'll be right, we all do doubles.'
Read the worked answer
Tonight:
- Don't drive home drowsy. Rest first, get a lift, or take public transport.
- Make sure the self-harm incident is documented and that you have contributed to any critical-incident review or debrief your site runs.
- Tell your supervisor you were involved in the incident tonight and ask what support is available now - the department's employee assistance program and peer support network are the standard routes.
- Eat, hydrate, and get the medication question in front of a GP: sedation plus rotating shifts is a clinical issue, not a character flaw, and there may be a non-sedating alternative.
Over the next week:
- Protect sleep around rosters; take the RDO rather than trading it.
- Watch for the predictable markers after a self-harm incident - intrusive images, poor sleep, irritability, avoidance of the unit, numbness. These are common and treatable, and they are not a sign you are unsuited to the job.
- Put the fatigue and overtime pattern on the record, so it is a staffing issue rather than your private problem.
To the colleague: don't lecture. 'Yeah, and I'd rather be a nuisance tonight than a name in a review.' Acknowledge that everyone is carrying the same load, then keep your own line - normalising exhaustion is how services drift into a serious incident one tired shift at a time.