13/048 - Fatigue Observations

Observations on safe manning, watchkeeping and fatigue over 35+ years

Thanks for the opportunity to contribute to the debate on this most important subject.

I currently sail as Master of the Marine Protection Vessel Minna operated by Marine Scotland Compliance. I am in the enviable position of (usually) having a full complement of watchkeepers to maintain the 4 on 8 off standard watch keeping pattern.

However, over a varied career spanning 35 years or so I have participated in or seen in operation a number of different watchkeeping patterns some of which have worked well and some of which have been exposed as a danger.

Over the course of 4 or 5 years as mate of a coaster around the UK and European coast the Owner/Master and I worked 6 on 6 off. The ship never stopped and once alongside in port loading or discharging started immediately and continued to completion. We would stay on board for trip lengths of up to 5 months at a time after which both of us were exhausted.

My experience in this work convinces me that a 6 hours on 6 off regime of watchkeeping is completely unacceptable.

There are still vessels which keep the 6's and they do so because statutory authorities have failed to firmly put an end to it. 

Within the fishing industry there are those who keep an 8 hour on 8 hour off watchkeeping regime. Within this system it is quite simply not possible to be alert during the latter parts of the watch. Remember that in most fishing vessels the watchkeeping officer is the only eyes and ears in the wheelhouse.

With P+O Containers I kept the 12 to 4 watch as 2nd Officer for trips of up to 4 1/2 months at a time. This 4 on 8 off regime works well as we all know and in fact I cannot perceive of a better system.

However, where this collapsed with P+O was that during the coastal discharge the ports typically wanted to work a 0600 to 1800 cargo exchange. Therefore the 2nd Officer was up for standby at 0600 and after 1800 and using up valuable off watch time. All the officers worked watches for the full length of the trip without breaking watches. 

So when watch downtime was not replaced the officers lost sleep. 

When sailing as 1st Officer for a trip I could visibly observe the affect of lost sleep on the 2nd Officer as his speech became slurred and appearance sloppy. To raise this as a safety issue was considered unforgiveable.

Clearly, for companies trying to increase profits, the provision of extra officers on board ship is not attractive but perhaps with the introduction of the MLC provisions whereby complaints may be made direct to the MCA (or statutory authority) then officers could be more vociferous.

The 4 on 8 off standard watchkeeping regime is, in my view, the best and only regime if one has the man power. 

I have tried other systems over the years including a dog watch to change over the watches, a 5on 5off 4on system and many others but each has draw backs.

Indeed as mentioned by others even the 4 on 8 off system can fail in some respects but then the Master must monitor the situation carefully and relieve officers who are fatigued. All too often the Master fails to do this.

Watchkeeping is such a fundamental and basic requirement in our work that frequently we become complacent about it and we fail to take its true implications seriously enough.

Indeed there is much more to be said and I hope that others will also make a contribution to the debate.