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Fast 12 schedule
Two days, two nights, four off — eight days round, forty-two hours a week, and a four-day break every cycle.
Also called: DDNNOOOO, 2-2-2 4-off, 2 days 2 nights 4 off, DDNN 4 off, 2D2N4O, 12-hour Continental
- Shift length
- 12 hours
- Cycle
- 8 days
- Average week
- 42 hours
- Crews
- 4
What the Fast 12 schedule is
Two twelve-hour day shifts, two twelve-hour night shifts, then four days off. Eight days from start to repeat.
It takes the fast forward rotation of DDNNOO and doubles the break. The blocks are the same length; the recovery afterwards is twice as long, and the hours come down from fifty-six a week to forty-two.
That extra time off is bought with a fourth crew, which is why a department running three crews on DDNNOO cannot simply switch to it.
How the cycle runs
One eight-day cycle:
Set a start day, set the length to 8 days, and paint each one. This pattern walks, so each time round it lands on different weekdays — which the app works out for you.
Start day: 1 September 2026Days: 8
Day shiftNight shift24-hour tourDay off
Set the template once. Your days show up on every month after it.
September 2026
Print this rotation (PDF) One page — the cycle above, and a blank grid for your own dates.
BlueShifts. Plan Your Year. Own Your Time.
The shift calendar built for your rotation, off-duty work, and life on and off the clock.
Save this pattern once and the year fills itself in — forward as far as you want, and back over the months you have already worked.
Weekends off on this rotation
This cycle is 8 days, which does not divide by seven — so it drifts through the week and every squad gets much the same share. Around 18 to 21 full weekends a year, wherever you sit in it.
A year on this rotation: 21 full weekends off, spread through the calendar. A weekend counts only when both the Saturday and the Sunday are free. All 21 rotations compared →
Why the four-day break matters here
A four-day break after a night block is enough to turn a sleep schedule back round before the next set of days. Two is not, which is the main criticism of the faster version of this rotation.
Four consecutive days off also arrives often — roughly three and a half times a month — and it is the kind of block that is actually usable rather than just restful.
Hours and the work period
Four twelve-hour shifts every eight days averages forty-two hours a week, the same average as Panama, Pitman and 4 on 4 off.
Eight days does not divide into seven or fourteen, so the pattern drifts against the week and against a fortnightly pay period. What falls inside a given pay period changes cycle to cycle.
Who works it
Four-crew continuous operations on twelve-hour tours:
- Municipal police patrol
- Corrections and detention
- Dispatch centres
- Industrial and plant operations
- Security operations
- Emergency communications
The trade-off
What works
- Four days off after every block
- Never more than two nights in a row
- Forty-two hour average, the twelve-hour norm
- Recovery time long enough to turn sleep round
What hurts
- Still a fast days-to-nights flip inside each block
- Eight-day cycle drifts through the week and the pay period
- Needs a fourth crew
- No fixed weekend
Put it on your calendar
Working it out by hand is where the mistakes happen.
Save the pattern once and BlueShifts fills the calendar in, forward and back.
Common questions
How many hours a week is the Fast 12?
About forty-two — four twelve-hour shifts every eight days.
How is it different from DDNNOO?
Same blocks, twice the break. DDNNOO takes two days off and averages fifty-six hours a week; the Fast 12 takes four and averages forty-two, using a fourth crew.
Does it give weekends off?
Not fixed ones. The eight-day cycle drifts through the week, so weekends come round in rotation.
Put the Fast 12 schedule on your calendar
Save the Fast 12 schedule once, tell BlueShifts the day your cycle starts, and the rest of the year draws itself. Then the off-duty work you pick up around it goes in beside the shifts.
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