One of my favorite pieces of wisdom from the great Abigail Van Buren (better known as Dear Abby) is this: "There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who take advantage of others and those who allow themselves to be taken advantage of."

Major industrial accidents attributed partly to errors made by fatigued night-shift workers include the Exxon Valdez oil spill and Three Mile Island.

I have often been baffled by the fact that mechanics don’t have duty time regulations like others who work in this industry, specifically pilots and flight attendants. Since there is no regulatory guidance for duty limitations for mechanics, it is up to the mercy of the employer to regulate and schedule their workers as they see fit. As we have all seen, this can be a recipe for disaster. Even the best-intentioned employer may be tempted to abuse an employee when the bottom line is at stake. There is an onus of responsibility on the mechanic, however, not to be working when over-tired or incapacitated due to illness.

With a teenager home from college this summer, I can say I have seen fatigue up close and personal. This particular teen is committed to training for the rowing team she is a part of and was getting up four days a week to attend 5:15 a.m. practice. But that didn’t stop her from wanting to do the things that kids her age do: hang out with friends until all hours of the morning. Since she has been attending these early morning workouts for years as part of a high school rowing team, she had a good idea of what choosing to ignore a reasonable bedtime would do to her ability to get up for practice. Still, she made the choice to stay out until 2 or 3 a.m. on occasion. As far as I was concerned, this was a great learning experience and the precise time to learn it. Most adults have learned these lessons the hard way as well, and subsequently made better choices with respect to rest and work as a result.

But what if you feel that you don’t have control over those choices? What if your employer is asking you to work an extra shift, or to work a day immediately after your night shift or other similar scenario? What if the threat of losing your job is hanging, like the Sword of Damocles, over your head?

For those of you working the night shift, I’m sure you have already experienced many challenges related to working in the wee hours. Being awake at those times runs counter to the body’s internal clock, known as circadian rhythms. Humans are, after all, diurnal creatures. "Symptoms much like jet lag are common in people who work nights or who perform shift work. Because these people’s work schedules are at odds with powerful sleep-regulating cues like sunlight, they often become uncontrollably drowsy during work. The number and severity of workplace accidents also tend to increase during the night shift. Major industrial accidents attributed partly to errors made by fatigued night-shift workers include the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl nuclear power plant accidents," according to a piece on the Medical College of Wisconsin’s HealthLink Web site.

Another phenomena is microsleeps. "Microsleeps are brief, unintended episodes of loss of attention associated with events such as blank stare and head snapping which may occur when a person is fatigued but trying to stay awake," according to numerous sources. These events can last up to several minutes, and the person may not be aware that it has occurred. Microsleeps often occur when a person’s eyes are open and tend to happen in the pre-dawn hours when the body is "programmed" to sleep.

That brings me back to Dear Abby. Since there is no official rule concerning duty time for mechanics, it leaves you vulnerable to being asked to go beyond what is reasonable. Many of the mechanics I know have hearts of gold and would never want to let someone down. You may be tempted to try the impossible. Don’t. If you have had an experience in your career where duty time was an issue, please send a note to my e-mail at the top of the page. I’d like to hear how you handled it.

Finally, don’t allow yourself to be taken advantage of in the workplace. The work you do is too critical and as you well know, lives depend on it.