Shift change: The opportunity for failure during severe weather operations

With roots back to the Civil War, the National Weather Service (NWS) has a history of providing weather, water, and climate services to the United States, its territories, adjacent waters, and ocean areas. Protection of life and property, twenty-four hours a day, is the driving force in NWS forecast and warning services. Effective warning services require scientific and technological backgrounds to detect environmental changes, dissemination services to relay the warning information, and public response to the warning. When storms cause significant damage, or loss of life, formal assessment of the warning services may be required. These assessments routinely focus on weather conditions and equipment, but not human factors affecting the decision makers. Human factors related to shift work have contributed to major disasters in other fields. These factors, coupled with difficulties occurring during shift change, provide an opportunity for failure during severe weather episodes.