are behind industrial action following a breakdown in EBA

negotiations between the State Government and union.

Paramedics will vote on a plan to enforce minimum 10-hour breaks between shifts, in addition to 17 different types of industrial action planned.

The paramedic, who did not wish to be named, said ballot papers were mailed to paramedics last week.

Paramedics were being worked to the bone and were putting patients and people on the road at risk, she said.

"It's ongoing fatigue over the course of busy nights. In Melbourne, you hardly get a break, you're out all night and you only get an eight-hour break between shifts.

"By the time you get home, get organised and go to bed, you're not getting a solid eight hours' sleep. You have to come back in after four-to-five hours' sleep and it's just hard to function."

She had been affected by fatigue on the job. "I have once climbed into the back of an ambulance while my partner completed paperwork in the hospital. I woke up and we were in the petrol station in another suburb. I was asleep in the back, I was so tired, I thought I'd have a five-minute sleep and I just didn't wake up."

Ambulance Employees Australia state secretary Steve McGhie said year-long pay talks between it and the Government were deadlocked.

A decision on strike action is expected within the next fortnight.

A Government spokesman said an agreement could only be reached "through talking, not unnecessary industrial action".