13/049 Fatigue on escort / harbour tugs

 I worked for a number of years with a company that provided harbor/escort tug services for the oil industry. Although there was a Master, a 1st officer, and a 2nd officer, the watch rotation was 6/6 and divided between the 1st and 2nd officers. The total crew was usually 6 with the AB being on the 1st officer's watch. The 2nd officer had no designated watch partner, but the CE or OS/Cook would occasionally check in at the wheelhouse while the vessel was underway to make sure everything was "alright." Normal rotation was either 56/56 or 28/28, but since the company was providing only a set annual allowance for travel most people chose the 56-day rotation so as not to pay more out-of-pocket travel expenses. By the end of a 56-day rotation, the effects on the crew resulting from the watch rotation, managerial pressure to adhere to high safety/operational standards, and the normal stress of operating an escort tug in a highly-sensitive environment were readily apparent. Morale, operational effectiveness, and attentiveness to duty would all be suffering. Recommendations from crews to managers to solve these problems were either routinely ignored or severely criticized. Managers instead relied on their own ideas by providing crews with red-tinted safety glasses (this was supposed to assist the brain into thinking it was time to sleep), admonishing crew members to eat healthy, and discouraging crew members from Internet browsing and watching TV during off-watch periods. As a result, there was a high turnover rate that continues to plague operations in this division to this day. Rest logs have been introduced but their impact on actually reducing fatigue remains to be seen.