FINLANDS SJÖFART J SUOMEN MERENKULKU 21
When a person is affected by fatigue, performance on the
job can be significantly impaired. Impairment will occur in
every aspect of human performance (physically, emotion-ally,
and mentally) such as in decision-making, response
time, judgement, hand-eye coordination and countless
other skills. When impairment due to fatigue, such as
impaired memory or poor communication, coincides with
other risks in the environment, incidents can result. This
is evidenced in a number of maritime casualties in which
fatigue was a contributory factor. Maritime studies have
also confirmed the association between fatigue and poor
performance.
The reason for the wreck in Isles of Scilly of the ship
M/V Cita in 1997 was for example that the watch-keeping
officer had fallen asleep and the watch alarm had been
switched off. The watch-keeping officer is said to have had
less than six hours sleep in the preceding 36 hours.
Another example is M/V Melbridge Bilbao in 20011, she
diverted several miles from her normal route and ignored
shore-to-ship alert calls from the MRCC and ran aground
at full speed (17 knots) on Molene Island in France.
According to the French investigating authorities, the
chief officer said that he had deactivated the vessel’s alarm
systems to allow himself to sleep, as he was extremely
tired after a very busy day. The chief officer was criminally
prosecuted before a French court and was recently given a
six month suspended prison sentence, plus a fine. A local
environmental pressure group criticised the sentence on
the basis that it did not examine or deal with the underly-ing
cause(s) of the incident and did not penalise those
responsible for the fact that the chief officer was overtired.
Fatigue has been recognized as an important occupa-tional
health and safety issue for seafarers. Fatigue has the
potential to greatly increase the risk of incidents and
injuries in the work place. It disrupts circadian rhythms
and results in digestive problems, confusion, lethargy,
respiratory problems, depression and irritability. Fatigue
adversely affects seafarer performance. It diminishes
attentiveness and concentration, slows physical and
mental reflexes and impairs rational decision-making
capability. Research has established a clear link between
fatigue and accidents at sea. Clearly, addressing the issue
of fatigue should have a positive effect on personnel safety
and has the potential to cut costs for the company by
reducing injury and physical damage to high-value assets
and the environment.
While it is not possible for the company to regulate and
oversee the sleeping habits of every seafarer on every ship,
it is within its capability to mitigate the risks of fatigue
through ship design, operational and manning policies.
The company must ensure that manning levels are
adequate at all times onboard to meet all conditions and
requirements including meeting peak workload situations
and emergency conditions. Hours of rest must be respect-ed
and controlled. It also cannot be too highly stressed
that rest means rest, not substituting a different form of
work. This should be supported by appropriate manning,
resources, processes and policies, so that fatigue risks can
be managed in a way that supports safe, compliant and
productive operations.
THE COMPANY MUST ENSURE THAT FATIGUE PREVENTION
IS PRACTISED ON BOARD:
• ISM Code requirements for clear, concise guidance
on operational procedures on board;
• ensure adequate resources, including manning levels;
• promote a safety reporting culture with open communication
and no fear of reprisal;
• the need for joining seafarers to be adequately
rested before assuming duties;
• schedule time for proper handover on crew change;
• voyage length, time in port, length of service and leave ratios;
• multicultural issues; language barriers, social,
cultural and religious isolation;
• interpersonal relationships, stress, loneliness, boredom,
social deprivation and increased workload as a result of small crew
numbers;
• provision for shore leave and onboard recreation,
family communication;
• watchkeeping arrangements;
• job rotation, if practicable;
• adequate sleeping berths and accommodation;
• adequate quality and quantity of food for proper nutrition;
The company must ensure that adequate resources are
available with a need to proportionally balance varying
work and task demands and deal with unexpected surge to
reduce the risk of fatigue across shipboard operations.
Manning levels should match the operational workload on
board the ships and this workload should be managed
efficiently. Operational workload is determined through an
assessment by the company. Although the master is
responsible for managing the ship and its crew, the
company should ensure that the master is adequately
supported and resourced to conduct shipboard duties and
operations safely and effectively. •
PHOTO COURTESY: PIPSA MÖRN
THE TEXT WAS COMPILED BY:
PIPSA MÖRN FROM FOLLOWING SOURCES:
IMO MSC.1/Circ.1598 24 January 2019
GUIDELINES ON FATIGUE
https://www.gard.no/web/updates/content/52457/are-
we-tired-of-hearing-about-fatigue-related-casualties
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Cita
http://wwz.cedre.fr/en/Resources/Spills/Spills/
Melbridge-Bilbao
/are-
/MV_Cita
/
