Fatigue

Image credit to: Kardasov Films / Shutterstock.com

This article takes a closer look at the challenges seafarers are facing nowadays in relation to the high demand job of a seafarer, and how fatigue can severely impact not only the health of the seafarer, but also the safety on board.

Introduction

Seafarers often describe life at sea as a mix of adventure, isolation, discipline, and resilience. Depending on the type of vessel, her trading route, the crew on board, and the individual's mindset, working on board can be challenging due to the 24-hour operation of the vessel.

However, life at sea also offers “unique opportunities to navigate the seas of the globe and encounter the wonders of the ocean” which promise adventure and global exploration. Additionally, a lot of crews consist of seafarers from various countries which offer a unique opportunity for cultural exchange by interacting with people from all over the world.

Many seafarers describe their time at sea as an enriching experience, not only socially, but also professionally. A lot of the modern and high-tech vessels equip seafarers with technical skills which makes them competitive candidates in both sea and shore-based roles.

Throughout the last few years, the International Maritime Organization (IMO[1]) has increased the focus on improving wellbeing and safety as well as anti-harassment in its commitment to protecting seafarers’ rights and quality of life.

What is fatigue?

Fatigue is a feeling of constant tiredness or weakness which can be physical, mental, or a combination of both; it is an extreme form of exhaustion. It can affect anyone, and most adults will experience fatigue at some point in their life. If a crewmember experiences fatigue, they feel tired to the degree that they fall asleep during working hours or feel sleepy to the extent that they cannot be alert any longer. This can have a direct impact on their work performance.

Effects of fatigue

People without proper sleep are likely to make more mistakes and are more likely to be involved in accidents. Proper as well as regular rest and sleep are important to a person’s physical and mental well-being and of great importance.

This is particularly true for working on commercial vessels, where over time, fatigue has a severe wearing effect on the human body which can lead to long-term physical and mental issues. Fatigued seafarers run a higher risk of sickness and injury.

As vessels become technologically more advanced, the need for both initial and ongoing crew training continues to grow. Whilst a lot of these technological improvements are installed to increase efficiency on board, its effect may not necessarily lead to time being saved. There are instances when the crew cannot handle their workload within the working hours of their shift. In such scenarios the quality of the work can suffer, and shortcuts may be taken to allow the crew to complete their work tasks with the required quality. This will eventually lead to longer working hours. In many of these instances resting times of the seafarers will be cut short to achieve the completion of the work tasks which will often lead to low-level fatigue which is not healthy. To ensure that the crew is capable to complete their work tasks within the time given and at the required quality, the solution would be to man the vessel with higher number of crew.

According to the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF[2]) estimates suggest that 25% of marine casualties are caused by fatigue and that research on seafarer fatigue shows how the long working hours culture takes its toll on seafarers[3]:

One in four seafarers said they had fallen asleep while on watch.
Almost 50% of seafarers taking part in a study reported working weeks of 85 hours or more.
Around half said their working hours had increased over the past 10 years, despite regulations intended to combat fatigue.
Almost 50% of seafarers surveyed considered their working hours presented a danger to their personal safety.
Some 37% said their working hours sometimes posed a danger to the safe operations of their ship.

Fatigue can directly impact the safety on board: the safety of a seafarer as well as the one of their fellow crewmembers. As fatigue can lead to a reduced sense of alertness, focus and concentration, the likeliness of mistakes happening increases. In a stressful work environment where the tasks require the seafarers to focus on carrying out their workload within a safety system and together with other crewmembers, it is important that everyone is alert to prevent mistakes or injuries.

All seafarers on board need to be able to rely on their team members to work following established safety standards.

Recognizing fatigue

In order to address fatigue, it is important to recognize it first. The symptoms of fatigue can endanger the seafarer themself, their colleagues, the vessel and the marine environment.

Such danger signs or symptoms can include the following:

Inability to concentrate: The seafarers is focusing on a trivial problem, neglecting more important ones, being less vigilant than usual. A decline in the ability to solve complex problems is noticeable as well as lapses of attention and the difficulty to multitask.
Diminished decision-making ability: Misjudgement can occur, e.g. misjudges distance, speed, time, etc. The seafarer fails to understand the gravity of a situation, overlooks items which should be included, or chooses risky options and shows greater indecisiveness.
Poor memory: The seafarer fails to remember the sequence of a task or task elements, has difficulty remembering events or procedures, forgets to complete a task or part of a task, or has memory lapses.
Slowing of cognitive processes: Signs of this are if the crew responds slowly (if at all) to normal, abnormal, or emergency situations.
Involuntary need to sleep: The seafarer may show an inability to stay awake and involuntarily nod off at times. They may have problems keeping their eyelids open, have droopy eyelids, or itchy eyes.
Insomnia: Inability to find restful sleep, falling asleep or sleep uninterrupted for a longer period.
Loss of control of bodily movements: This can result in affected speech, e.g. it may be slurred, slowed, or garbled, or difficulty finding the right words. Also, feeling heaviness in the arms and legs or showing clumsiness, such as increased frequency of dropping objects like tools or parts can be symptoms of fatigue. Same applies to a difficulty with hand-eye coordination skills, such reflected as with selecting the correct switch or showing tremors.
Health issues: These are symptoms which result in headaches, giddiness, rapid breathing, digestion problems, leg pains or cramps, insomnia, sudden sweating fits, heart palpitations/irregular heartbeat, or loss of appetite (and sometimes an increase in unhealthy eating habits).
Mood change: The seafarer could become more quieter, less talkative than usual, or unusually irritable. They could also show a decreased tolerance and anti-social behaviour, even a depression.
Attitude change: Symptoms could be a failure to anticipate danger, i.e. the seafarer fails to observe and obey warning signs. Or the crew seems to be unaware of their own poor performance and shows a higher willingness to take risks. They ignore normal checks and procedures, displays a “don’t care” attitude, and may also show a lesser desire to socialize. In general, the signs are an increased omissions and carelessness and low motivation.

Addressing fatigue

In general, it is of utmost importance that all seafarers keep an honest and accurate record of their working hours as well as their resting hours. The “Quantifying an Inconvenient Truth” report (2024)[4] by the ITF Seafarers’ Trust and World Maritime University documents extensive falsification of work/rest logs by seafarers due to excessive workloads and administrative pressures.

64.3% of surveyed seafarers admitted adjusting their records.
Port State Control inspectors often reported high compliance (>90%), but seafarers estimated true compliance at just 11.7–16.1%.

Seafarers are either bowing to the pressures of the job – or being forced – to falsify the records of the hours they actually work. This practice undermines on-board safety and health. It also makes the problem of long hours working and crew fatigue harder to address.

1. On board

What we recommend to a fatigued seafarer:

If a seafarer notices any of the above symptoms in themself, it is important to immediately undertake the following steps:

Informing the supervisor if the seafarer thinks fatigue may be impairing your performance. It is important to reach out and seek help.
Utilizing the maximum allowance of sleep, rest and leisure time.
Exercising daily.
Eating as healthily as possible, limit smoking, caffeine, and alcohol consumption.

What we recommend to the captain of a fatigued seafarer:

If you observe chronic fatigue among your crew, you should immediately alert your Superintendent and/or Designated Person Ashore (DPA).

If you believe a fellow crewmember is suffering from a high degree of fatigue, you should, with the support of your Superintendent and/or DPA, endeavour to relieve the fatigued crew of their duties as soon as possible.
A fatigued seafarer may be more prone to injuries or mistakes due to reduced awareness, same should be considered when assigning tasks to them;
Chronic fatigue may be relieved by changing watch routines or delegating some of the duties of the fatigued crewmember to another crewmember provided they are not already overburdened. The assessment should be made in collaboration with your shore management.
Coffee or energy drinks may only provide short-term relief from the effects of fatigue and should therefore not be relied upon to keep a person alert or awake.

2. On shore

It is important that there is a good communication culture between the ship and the shore office to allow for quick support and action if needed.

Any intermittent steps to reduce the stress of the fatigued crew should be undertaken, i.e. assessing the work tasks of the seafarer and possibly swapping tasks with another crew member where possible.
The company should carry out an assessment with the captain what lead to the fatigue of the seafarer and what preventative measures can be undertaken to avoid fatigue in the future. This may require revisiting work schedules to allow crew to get sufficient sleep and rest.
If possible, fatigued crew should be given the opportunity to catch up on sleep by intermittent naps.
Any improvement on board which can help the fatigued seafarer to find a better-quality rest should be undertaken, i.e. installing porthole blinds and door baffles in the cabin or similar measures.

Preventing fatigue

Ideally, the focus on board, as well as on shore, should be to implement and follow loss prevention measures which help preventing the exhaustion of the crew on board to a level where one or more seafarers are fatigued.

1. On board

What we recommend to seafarers to prevent fatigue:

To schedule at least seven hours of uninterrupted sleep each night/ day (depending on your shift).
To maintain a fixed bedtime in line with your shift.
To establish a bedtime routine to wind down after a busy workday (e.g., taking a shower, meditating, exercising, talking to colleagues, whatever helps you to calm down).
To avoid caffeine and other stimulants as well as bright screens before sleeping.
If you have trouble falling asleep or sleeping for a longer period, not to self-medicate but to ask for help and talk to the Chief Officer or your superior.
To watch out for signs of fatigue among your colleagues.
If you believe a fellow crewmember is suffering from a high degree of fatigue, you should alert the Chief Officer or the Captain.

What we recommend to the captain to prevent fatigue among the crew:

Seafarer-specific factors are related to age, lifestyle behaviour, personal habits and individual characteristics. Such factors can include quantity, quality and continuity of sleep; sleep disorders, insufficient rest or breaks, but also fatigue varies from one person to another.

Seafarers’ work schedules should be closely monitored to ensure sufficient resting and break time. If overtime is accumulated by one or few crew, it should be attempted to check if work tasks can be redistributed to the team to ensure that all seafarers get at least full seven hours of sleep per night and proper breaks during their workday.
Changing up the work tasks within a team can also help preventing fatigue, especially If crewmembers carry out a lot of monotonous or repetitive tasks.
It is important that there is a climate created on board in which seafarers feel safe to speak up if they find it challenging to focus for a longer time of if the tasks are too complicated or if there are other issues affecting their working ability. The sooner such information is shared, the earlier mitigating steps can be undertaken to avoid any mistakes being made and to stress the seafarer even more. In such situations it is essential that the seafarer is not met with any repercussions for seeking help. It is recommended that the seafarer reaches out to his superior to find a solution to reduce the workload.

2. On shore

As with so many risk factors in the maritime industry, awareness and training is key. In general workload management should be monitored, as well as rest and working hours be followed. It is important for the safety of everyone on board that each seafarer gets the appropriate rest and can properly recuperate to stay alert and execute their tasks properly.

It is important to develop, implement and maintaining safety management systems under the ISM Code and that the company is putting systems in place which ensure safe manning levels. An assessment of the tasks, duties and responsibilities of the ship’s complement to ensure that manning levels are always adequate to meet all conditions and requirements, including meeting peak workload situations and emergency conditions.

Hours of rest as per the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) 1978 should be followed. Managers should be aware when applying these hours of rest that considering the effects of circadian rhythm and sleep debt is important for ensuring that rest periods are of high quality.

Importantly, fatigue risk control measures forming part of the company support should:

Identify and assess fatigue risks;
Ensure company-wide awareness of the risk of fatigue;
Ensure a healthy shipboard environment;
ISM Code requirements for clear, concise guidance on operational procedures on board;
Ensure adequate resources, including manning levels, so that resources are adequate and available for assessed workload requirements and to conduct all ship operations safely;
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;
Consider the length of service and leave ratios of the crew, as well as the possibility of giving the seafarers a day off work;
Adress multicultural issues; language barriers, social, cultural and religious isolation;
Train crew to deal with interpersonal relationships, stress, loneliness, boredom, social deprivation and increased workload as a result of small crew numbers;
Provision for shore leave and onboard recreation, and family communication;
Watchkeeping arrangements;
Adequate sleeping berths and accommodation;
Adequate quality and quantity of food for proper nutrition;
Consider modification of present ship design or future designs, to improve the wellbeing of the crew on board, i.e. proper insulation against noise, vibration, or daylight in the sleeping quarters and/or the provision of a social area for the crew and possibilities to work out on board.

Another important and essential component is fatigue training and awareness. The company should ensure all personnel have appropriate training. This includes shore-based personnel whose decisions may impact on the management of fatigue (such as those involved in resource planning, including ship manning levels, and duty scheduling decisions) and fatigue-related processes. This is important, as their decisions potentially affect fatigue levels of seafarers and, consequently, shipboard safety.

Skuld’s experience

In many insurance cases, including casualties or major claims fatigue was at least a contributing factor if not a root cause. The risk for mistakes to occur increases whenever crew is not well-rested or fatigued. These mistakes can be oversights or skipped safety steps or sometimes be deliberate shortcuts to meet a tight trading schedule. In any event, with any detour from safety standards or checklists the risk of a serious accident or injury increases which can result in loss of life, loss of goods or serious environmental damage.

On the other hand, Skuld has also gained insight that members who prioritize the physical and mental health of their crew on board by implementing a good company and management culture, but also with equipping the ship with a gym and a recreational/common area, well insulated and equipped cabins and healthy nutrition together with a strict compliance to sleeping and resting periods have a lesser number of major insurance incidents. By properly caring for the health and well-being of the crew, the overall performance of the ships improves significantly.

Resources

IMO

More information about Fatigue can be found in the following IMO instruments which contain guidance on fatigue-related aspects:

International Convention on Standards of Training Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW), 1978, as amended
International Management Code for the Safe Operation of Ships and for Pollution Prevention (ISM Code)

International Labour Organization (ILO^{^[5]})

The ILO instrument, the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC 2006), contains guidance on fatigue-related aspects. What sets the MLC 2006 apart from other ILO instruments which protect the seafarers is that under MLC 2006 the shipowner must maintain financial security (such as insurance, fund schemes, or guarantees) to cover their obligations. The fact that shipowners must maintain financial security ensures that the seafarers’ rights under the MLC 2006 are protected and they can rest assured that there repatriation is financially secured, even if a shipowner becomes insolvent.

Earlier ILO conventions dealing with seafarers—like those on shipowner liability and repatriation—place the duty on shipowners to pay for medical care, injury, death, and repatriation. However, they do not mandate shipowners to carry financial security instruments ensuring that those obligations are met; only the MLC 2006 does.

Relevant aspects of the MLC, 2006 include, but are not limited to:

Regulation 2.3: To ensure that seafarers have regulated hours of work or hours of rest.
Regulation 2.4: To ensure that seafarers have adequate leave.
Regulation 2.7: To ensure that seafarers work on board ships with sufficient personnel for the safe, efficient and secure operation of the ship.
Regulation 3.1: To ensure that seafarers have decent accommodation and recreational facilities on board.
Regulation 3.2: To ensure that seafarers have access to good quality food and drinking water provided under regulated hygienic conditions.
Regulation 4.3.: To ensure that seafarers’ work environment on board ships promotes occupational safety and health.

Industry bodies and their roles in fatigue management

There are regulatory and non-regulatory types of industry bodies involved in fatigue management of seafarers. The most prominent ones are the IMO and the ILO, both being regulatory bodies which come out with conventions that address and govern fatigue.

The IMO issues fatigue guidelines (MSC.1/Circ.1598) and enforces rest-hour rules via STCW and ISM Code through the flag states and port states which are signatory countries to the afore-mentioned conventions. The ILO oversees MLC, 2006 (Regulation 2.3) and sets mandatory work/rest hour limits.

Some of the non-regulatory and non-governmental organizations among many are:

The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF[6])
The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS[7])
INTERCARGO[8]
INTERTANKO[9]
The Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO)
The Mission to Seafarers[10]
The International Seafarers’ Welfare & Assistance Network (ISWAN[11])
The ITF Seafarers’ Trust[12]
The Nautilus Federation[13] / Nautilus International[14]

A lot of the welfare associations listed above are dedicated to improving the life of seafarers and also seek input from them.

A number of these non-regulatory and non-governmental bodies represent the interests of the shipowners, operators or seafarers at various IMO and ILO committees or sub-committees. As many of these representatives contribute to the process of developing new or amending existing conventions and/or regulations, the process to effect change can be a lengthy one which often does not allow for quick changes or improvements.

Since the regulatory changes can sometimes be time-consuming, the attention to fatigue and the dedication to continuously improving life at sea for seafarers hinges on the collaboration between the vessels and the shore management as well as on the contribution from the company.

A healthy and well-rested crew is the most effective way to prevent accidents and larger incidents at sea.

[1] https://www.imo.org/

[2] https://www.itfglobal.org/en

[3] https://www.itfseafarers.org/en/resources/fatigue

[4] https://commons.wmu.se/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1093&context=lib_reports

[5] https://www.ilo.org/

[6] https://www.itfseafarers.org/en

[7] https://www.ics-shipping.org/

[8] https://www.intercargo.org/

[9] https://www.intertanko.com/

[10] https://www.missiontoseafarers.org/

[11] https://www.iswan.org.uk/