18 Fatigue

The two most important factors affecting safety are manning and fatigue.

18.1 The Effects of Fatigue

From MSC/Circ 1014: Alertness is the optimum state of the brain that enables us to make conscious decisions. Fatigue has a proven detrimental effect on alertness - this can be readily seen when a person is required to maintain a period of concentrated and sustained attention, such as looking out for the unexpected (eg night watch).
When a person's alertness is affected by fatigue, their performance on the job can be significantly impaired. Impairment will occur in every aspect of human performance (physically, emotionally and mentally) such as in decision-making, response time, judgement, hand-eye coordination and countless other skills. Fatigued individuals become more susceptible to errors of attention and memory (for example, it is not uncommon for fatigued individuals to omit steps in a sequence). Chronically fatigued individuals will often select strategies that have a high degree of risk on the basis that they require less effort to execute. Fatigue can affect an individual's ability to respond to stimuli, perceive stimuli and interpret or understand stimuli, and it can take longer to react to them once they have been identified. Fatigue also affects problem solving, which is an integral part of handling new or novel tasks. Fatigue is known to detrimentally affect a person's performance and may reduce individual and crew effectiveness and efficiency, decrease productivity, lower standards of work and even lead to errors being made. Unless steps are taken to alleviate the fatigue, it will pose a hazard to ship safety.

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18.2 Safe Working Ethics

Many of the jobs that will be done on the ship are unsafe. Simply being at sea on some ships can be called that. If we accept this then, no matter what we do, we cannot make many of these tasks completely safe. However, we can ensure that equipment and tools are correct and safe and that the correct PPE is worn. The next question is whether or not those about to use the equipment actually know how to use it? This might seem a little strange but, as an example, can the trainee rig the Bosun's chair properly? It is a bit late finding out when it is slipping twenty metres above the deck. The weather must also be considered. If you are taking seas and rolling or pitching heavily, you must consider whether, the work is so essential that it must be done and the risk accepted. Risk Assessment, when used sensibly, can be of benefit. If you find that you disagree with the assessment of any item or practice, you must advise the safety officer and make a reassessment. If this reassessment involves any work that could endanger life, before it is distributed you should advise the Master of the proposed changes and the reasons why. Properly used, the assessment should only take a few minutes before commencing any job, but it is important that the crew and you are reminded of the important factors of the intended task. In the event of any accident the shore investigators will review your assessment, so be careful. It is better to follow the rules than to risk life and your career to save few minutes of time, regardless of how hard you are pressed. Of course there are urgent circumstances when action must be taken immediately and there is no time for such assessment. At sea, we all know that but, unfortunately, it is difficult to simulate the urgency of the moment in the quiet hush of the office ashore or a courtroom.

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