Sleeping Dispatcher’s Third Strike for Sleeping

Officials in Warren County (Ohio) say they’ve given a dispatcher accused of sleeping on-duty a three-day suspension without pay, taking into account his previous incidents of sleeping, and mitigating by some personal issues. Shawn Mason was sleeping earlier this month and missed an EMS call, officials say. He was given a written warning about sleeping on-duty two years ago, and received a verbal warning last September. According to the officials, a calltaker entered an EMS call in CAD, but then noticed that the call had not changed status indicating it had been dispatched. The calltaker walked over and found Mason asleep, and reported that to a supervisor. According to a county report released later, Mason is a good employee, but was having, “child care issues that may not have allowed him enough sleep to endure a 12-hour shift that can be rather mundane and boring.” Read more here, and a second story here.