Firemen feel the heat from health and safety for sleeping on the floor

They are allowed to put their head down for up to three hours - but they are not supposed to nod off.

Indeed, the men and women of the Greater Manchester fire service have been told they can only rest in prescribed reclining chairs - and only after they have been trained to use them.

Now, however, three experienced firemen are facing disciplinary action over "involvement in the use of unauthorised rest facilities".

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Fire chiefs are looking into claims that they defied their orders to rest only on the £400 reclining chairs, which were installed as a replacements for beds in Greater Manchester's 41 fire stations last year.

They are accused of breaking regulations by deciding it was more comfortable to use their own sleeping bags and bed down on the floor.

Officials say this could cause accidents when they and their colleagues scramble to respond to 999 calls.

Unions have described the policy as ridiculous, saying their members are being treated like children.

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The Daily Mail told last year how the Greater Manchester service spent £130,000 on the airline-style chairs then banned staff from sitting on them until they had been trained to use them safely.

The service said getting rid of beds was part of a modernisation process to ensure crews spent time when they were not responding to emergencies training or doing fire safety work.

The chairs were installed as a compromise. But firemen are only allowed to rest on them, not fall asleep, and they can only use specially-issued blankets, not their own bedding.

The three experienced firemen based in Bury - one of them a watch commander - have been told they face a disciplinary hearing later this month after 6.30am spot-checks apparently found sleeping bags in their lockers.

Kevin Brown, of the Fire Brigades' Union, said: "Firefighters make life-ordeath decisions every day, but they appear to be being treated as fools.

"A number of members have complained about these chairs and that the facilities being provided are causing more problems than they are solving."

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service says officers will not be disciplined if they nod off on the recliners.

"Risk-assessed facilities have been provided for rest only, not sleep," said director of human resources Anita Wainwright.

"However, if a firefighter were to doze off on the rest facilities provided, a common sense approach is adopted."

Some firemen claim the chairs are simply not comfortable enough for proper rest.

"This is bureaucracy gone barmy," said one. "We cannot use pillows on the chairs and we cannot use our own blankets. Airline blankets have been issued instead.

"We do not mind being assessed on performance, but being spied on like this leaves a nasty taste."

Crews in Greater Manchester generally work two 6pm-9am night shifts a week and two eight-hour day shifts.

The accused trio, watch commander Steve Wilcock and colleagues Dave Adamson and Keith Hadley, are to due to face a disciplinary hearing on June 14

Many fire stations have already been transformed by health and safety rules with the disappearance of the traditional fireman's pole, deemed too dangerous to use.

Firemen are now expected to use the stairs, with bosses claiming the extra seconds this takes are outweighed by the reduction in injuries caused by sliding down poles.