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There are two prime factors that cause firefighter's schedules to be different from those in other industries: on-duty sleeping and, in the U.S., Fair Labor Standards Act(FLSA) laws that allow for a longer average workweek. All work schedules affect the four factors affecting cognitive performance. Sleeping at work avoids mental burnout, and at least partially reverses the effects of acute sleep deficit. Further, it reduces the amount of total, or chronic, sleep loss the worker experiences. Sleeping at work allows for work consolidation into 24 hour, or longer shifts; which in turn allows for longer recovery breaks between workshifts and less chronic sleep deficit. Conversely, shorter shifts require multiple, back-to-back night shifts, which contribute to chronic sleep deficit. It's not clear how much opportunity for sleep is necessary to make 24 hour shifts better for performance than multiple shorter shifts, however one model of firefighter's schedules predicts a larger performance deficit on the second night of back-to-back 12 hour shifts with alarms than at the end of a 24 hour shift with an alarm. Studies have shown that even short naps show a benefit for cognition and recovery from acute sleep deficit.

The FLSA allows firefighters to work an average of 53 hours over a four-week period before requiring them to earn wages at an overtime rate. This allows municipalities to use three work groups, or platoons, to provide continuous fire protection. In a three-platoon system with non-overlapping continuous coverage, each platoon group averages 56 hours of work a week. Many departments periodically assign individual members of a platoon group an additional day off, which reduces their average hours of work. This additional day off is often known as a "Kelly Day". When the Kelly Day is an extra 24 hours off, scheduled every three weeks, it reduces the average workweek by eight hours, to 48 hours of work.