Wake Up Call for Fatigued Seafarers
9/9/04 8:39:24 AM
A wake up call for fatigued seafarers Recent research
by the New Zealand Maritime Safety Authority (MSA) has
shown fatigue at sea to be of concern, with half of
those seafarers surveyed reporting being fatigued on
at least on one of their last five trips. Fatigue has
also been a causal factor in several recent vessel
groundings.
An MSA-led working group is now working with the
industry to provide guidelines and policy for owners,
operators and employees to better manage fatigue.
Each commercial maritime sector is being tackled
one-by-one, and the fishing industry is first up.
The guidelines will include practical methods for
managing fatigue, and will be used as a basis for
fatigue management training and education.
MSA manager of strategic analysis and planning Sharyn
Forsyth is coordinating the working group which is
developing guidelines for the fishing industry.
She says there's no doubt fatigue impacts on how
effectively you carry out your work, and how you
respond when things go wrong. It's also a clear
contributing causal factor in many MSA accident
investigations.
�There's little point in establishing detailed rules
around sleep as it's difficult to make a rule that
fits every situation. So we want to give the industry
guidelines with useful and practical tips for managing
fatigue, which will help encourage a change in
behaviour,� she said.
The working group, which has taken on the task of
establishing the guidelines, is a sub-group of
FishSAFE which is the MSA-convened fishing industry
safety and heath advisory group. FishSAFE is made up
of representatives of a wide cross-section of the
commercial fishing industry, ACC and the Ministry of
Fisheries.
Ms Forsyth says the working group includes industry
representatives who know what the issues are for
fishermen, so the guidelines will be clear and useful.
�The development and implementation of practical
fatigue management guidelines is an important step to
managing fatigue issues within the fishing industry.
�Once the guidelines are in place, we'll also be
working with the Seafood Industry Training
Organisation to provide ongoing support, education and
training,� she said.
The draft guidelines are expected to be available for
industry consultation in April 2005.
Everyone must take responsibility for fatigue
Owners, skippers and crew all have clear and serious
responsibilities to manage and identify fatigue under
the Maritime Transport Act 1994, and the Health and
Safety in Employment Act 1992.
Employers
are required to have a systematic approach to
identifying fatigue-related issues and how to
eliminate or minimise their impacts.
Employees
are required to take all practicable steps so they do
not become unsafe through fatigue, to themselves and
others in the workplace.
Owners
are required to provide adequate resources and
shore-based support to enable others to meet their
responsibilities, under the New Zealand Safe Ship
Management Code.
Fatigue is a hazard under the Health and Safety in
Employment Act 1992. If fatigue is considered an issue
on your vessel, the MSA can require the owner to take
action to resolve any fatigue problems identified. The
MSA can use a variety of enforcement options,
including prosecution.
MSA enforcement Fatigue is a hazard under the Health
and Safety in Employment Act 1992. If fatigue is
considered an issue on your vessel, the MSA can
require the owner to take action to resolve any
fatigue problems identified. The MSA can use a variety
of enforcement options, including prosecution.
Not enough sleep � Unsurprisingly, ninety five percent
of fatigue results from not enough sleep.
Fatigue can affect us all. We have to sleep. And any
sleep not taken builds up until the urge to sleep
becomes uncontrollable.
So missing an hour or two of sleep per night for a
small number of nights can be as sleep inducing as
working long hours at a stretch without sleep.
We have a circadian rhythm with the desire to sleep
strongest between 3am-5am. There is also a post-lunch
dip, when sleep comes easily. The circadian rhythm
also wakes people up, particularly in the morning and
early evening. Sleep is difficult at those times.
We also know that light and noise � especially of
other people � make sleeping difficult, especially if
outside normal sleep hours.
Finally, we can't train ourselves to get by on less
sleep and continue to perform well. Poor work
practices and mistakes are more likely which affects
both our safety and efficiency.
Avoiding fatigue at work The first step to avoiding
fatigue at work is to recognise there is a problem.
�Often, people only see fatigue in those they work
closely with, so owners of vessels are more likely to
be working closely with the skipper and not be aware
of how fatigued the crew are,� says MSA Human Factors
Analyst Wayne Perkins. �Similarly, skippers and
officers who work largely away from crew will be less
likely to see the signs of fatigue.�
�The second step is to get all those who work on board
together to discuss fatigue and how it is affected by
the work environment. This should happen away from the
work environment and it works best if partners are
invited to participate. Have an open attitude to
getting everyone's issues on the table.�
Mr Perkins says it's important to recognise that
everyone can become trapped into work patterns because
they are always done that way. Solutions can be
developed by brainstorming to think of new ways to do
the job.
The MSA is currently producing a useful and practical
guide on fatigue management for owners, operators and
employees. This will be available early next year.
Concentrated campaign on watchkeeping The Maritime
Safety Authority is carrying out a concentrated
campaign from now until the end of the year to check
that vessel's safety management systems have
considered safe watchkeeping procedures including
fatigue management.
This campaign has arisen as a result of the high
number of recent groundings where poor watchkeeping
has been a key cause.
MSA will concentrate on Maritime Rule 31b Section 5
(watchkeeping) and 31c Section 4 (watchkeeping). These
rules include fitness for duty, fatigue, and
watchkeeping standards.
MSA research on fatigue
In 2003, MSA commissioned independent research to be
carried out to better understand the incidence of
fatigue among seafarers. A summary of the research
findings is available here.
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