Latest fatigue report underlines overwork problem

Fuente: ITF

A new report from Cardiff University’s Centre for Occupational and Health
Psychology has added to the worrying portrait of a maritime industry where
fatigue is endangering crews, vessels and the environment. Released today to
make it available for study before the IMO’s STW* meeting in London (where it
will be presented on 23 January), the ITF commissioned report – Adequate
Manning and Seafarers’ Fatigue: the International Perspective – reveals how
far behind the industry is in tackling the problem.

The new report broadens the perspective of recent research by examining
international findings and how other industries approach the problem. Among
its main findings are that there is overwhelming evidence of the existence of
maritime fatigue; yet the industry has been reluctant to invest resources into
monitoring or preventing it. It notes that in civil aviation, for example,
flight time is regulated by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
Agreement, with a limit of between 70 and 100 hours of flight time allowed over
a period of a month (times vary according to different countries’ rules),
compared with the 98 working hours a week permitted by maritime regulation.

In spite of the long periods spent away from home and the clear risks to the
long term health of seafarers and the evident association between fatigue and
accidents at sea, scant progress has been made to regulate and enforce hours of
work in the industry. The report also highlights the worrying phenomenon of
false record keeping, where seafarers are bowing to pressures that undermine
onboard safety and health.

The report calls for a holistic approach to maritime fatigue, encouraging the
development of an onboard safety culture underpinned by realistic levels of
manning, and a more robust approach to regulation.

Adequate Manning and Seafarers’ Fatigue: the International Perspective is
available from the ITF website or on request from dawson_sam@itf.org.uk in PDF
form (74 pages). A brief summary – Seafarer Fatigue Where Next? – has been
prepared by the ITF and, along with the main report, can be seen by clicking on
Related Documents at www.itfglobal.org/press-area/index.cfm/pressdetail/1133 or
in leaflet form (contact Sam Dawson if you want this posted to you).

Commenting on the research John Bainbridge, Assistant Secretary of the ITF’s
Seafarers’ Section, said: “This report confirms what we already know.
Seafarers are routinely working excessively long hours, endangering themselves
and the marine environment. It’s time to stop putting seafarers at risk and to
learn from the examples of best practice in other industries.”
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*Standards of Training and Watchkeeping sub-committee annual meeting, which
begins on 22 January.

ENDS