The ‘shift method’ in the Arctic

Abstract

This paper examines an example of the functioning of what is referred to in the Soviet literature as the shift method (vakhtennyy metod) of working mineral resources in remote northern locations. The essence of the method is that the workers have their homes and families at some established centre in the south, and are flown in to their place of work in the north for shifts of a few weeks, during which long hours are worked. Thus at the northern end living accommodation can be very simple, with no need for elaborate social facilities, and substantial economies should accrue. These economies would more than offset the cost of transportation, and would become apparent if account were taken of the indirect as well as the direct costs of the enterprise—that is, the associated towns, highways, airports, power stations and so forth.