all I can say is watch your back and make sure you get it all drummed out first, otherwise they will take you for a ride. If you get called out and work 3hrs after midnight you get 3hrs recovery time paid next morning. Big truck is right in saying there is a period where you are not meant to go back to work I thought it was 10 hrs but stand corrected. Good luck I am down in New Zealand now and left all that crap behind. The pay for call out isnt as good or for o'time work but the basic is better and the family life style is unbeatable.

There is lots of information on this on the dti site, but as with most things not exactly specific. My undersatanding is its an 11 hour rest break measured over 24hrs not between shifts.
I think I read somewhere its down to a health and safety prospective to weather an employee should attend work the next day, i.e will the person be to tied to safely carry out their job. Commen sence should prevail if someone is called out for a couple of hours during the night then maybe yes they should turn up for work the next day. But if they are called out for say 6 hours then it would be reasonable for them to not attend work as they will require rest.
The other thing to remember is an employer (unless otherwise stated in a contract ) does not have to pay an employee when they take this time off they may be entitled to some time off but unpaid as they have already been paid for the 6 hours.

It is classed as time off in lieu so we still get payed for the stand down time.
Herald

Hi Herald,
Thank you for the info, Do the company you work for pay down time ie if you are supposed to start at 8am but start at 10am due to the call out, do you still get paid for the 2 hours between 8-10 or would this be covered by the stand by payment.

I cover 24 hr call out for the company I work for, any time worked after 12 midnight is given off the next day in lieu.
So if I get home from a call out at 2 am I will start 2hrs later in the morning.
Herald

There has to be some Health and Safety Guidelines on this as far as Workers breaks and rest times etc. I was just reading on the front page of this newsletter, about the Crown mechanics having one of their claims of their class action suit against Crown being certified.The Judge agreed that they appeared to have a legitimate grievance in being asked to drive to the next call on one hour lunch break. It will now be argued in court whether this is true or not. I am sure the UK has something similar about the time from putting down your tools to restarting work.