Fatigue at Sea and IMO. Fatigue thoughts and IMO

Fatigue at Sea and IMO. Fatigue thoughts and IMO - J K M Nair A pre-note This paper is taking a look into the fatigue that seafarers are affected with and the IMO guidelines to reduce the fatigue elements such as reducing fatigue, removing fatigue contributors and managing fatigue. The guidelines are comprehensive to the shipboard application. Some of the texts are borrowed verbatim from IMO documents. Please refer annex 3 for the abbreviations. Fatigue thoughts Fatigue can occur to anyone. It is not related with the skill or capability of the person. However a strong person can withstand work pressures better and fatigue will come in him much later than a weak person. Same goes true with his mental strength. Out at sea, the conditions are tougher and most people working out there are bound to have some fatigue issues. When the fatigue goes high beyond his tolerance, it can have disastrous effect on the work which can result into accidents and creation of dangerous situations. Lot of work is done by IMO to mitigate and manage the fatigue of seafarers. The Maritime Safety Committee, MSC, circular MSC.1/circ.1598 dated 24 Jan 2019 gives guidelines to take care of fatigue. Salient points are discussed in this paper for quick reference for sea farers. Dictionary meaning of fatigue is, “Extreme tiredness resulting from mental or physical exertion or illness”. WebMD defines it is a lingering tiredness that is constant and limiting. With fatigue, you have unexplained, persistent, and relapsing exhaustion. Fatigue in material science discusses of metals, their working, the damages that can happen to metal parts, material failure etc. That is not our discussion arena. We are taking a look into the human fatigue and its effects and remedies. Human factors have been identified as the major cause of ship accidents and incidents. It is said generally that more than 80 % of the reasons for such calamities is human factor. J K M Nair/March 2019 Page 1 Fatigue at Sea and IMO. Human factor is a combination of human mistake, error of judgement, over looks, inability to understand and there by resulting in a mishap, incident or accident - An action ending with “unwanted”. See annex 2 attached at the end for a list of possible human errors. Fatigue is also identified as part of human error chains. Human Fatigue o o Physical fatigue Mental Fatigue Human fatigue is broadly divided to physical fatigue and mental fatigue. They are both complimentary to each other and both will affect people adversely. Physiological and psychological factors can also result in human fatigue. All of us have some amount of fatigue which we are able to overcome from time to time. But when it becomes heavy, then our capabilities starts diminishing. Medically Fatigue is considered as a symptom, not a condition./2 I still remember one of the investigation I was involved, vessel grounding case of a tanker. She sailed out from the port after a strenuous port operation, fully loaded. Most of the tankers stay in port to complete discharge and loading only about a day or so. Master of the ship knew that there is correction of heading to be done at 3 pm in the night and instructed the duty officer to call him 15 minutes earlier. Though a wake up alarm was set by Master, the day work had drained his energy and he never heard the alarm. But he woke up to a sudden jerk of the vessel and he jumped up and ran to the bridge. There were lots of red lights blinking and the alarm was running. To his dismay and to the dismay of all they saw that the vessel had grounded near shallow water. The duty officer also had been drawn in a slumber on the bridge. In yet another case, while in the dry docks one of my junior engineers was on duty during the night. It was at this time the dry dock people decided to change the stern-tube oil and the junior engineer was instructed to keep an eye to avoid over spill. After a couple of hours, the yard staff noticed stern tube leaking and called the ship. When they entered the engine room, they noticed the junior engineer sitting close to the stern tube, but had dossed off. Result was the loss of precious oil and the damage of pollution to the docks. Fatigue has been a difficult problem for us to investigate. Many seafarers though experience fatigue; they do not report it, basically because they do not clearly understand it. They merely say, I am feeling low, I am feeling tired, I am feeling exhausted and so on. Some of them may simply drown it in a couple of beers. In reality it diminishes the human capabilities. Simonson (1971) defines it as, “all processes resulting in a decrement of capabilities”. J K M Nair/March 2019 Page 2 Fatigue at Sea and IMO. It is generally different from the sleepy, feeling of drowsiness, or the psychological feeling of apathy, although these might both accompany fatigue/1. Effectively dealing with fatigue in the maritime environment requires a comprehensive and holistic approach that recognizes ship design, and the roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders in the mitigation and management of fatigue. An effective fatigue management strategy begins with determining operational workload requirements and matching onboard manning levels and onshore support resources, combined with efficient management of workload and hours of work and rest on board the ship. There is no one-system approach to addressing fatigue, but there are certain principles that should be addressed in order to gain the knowledge and the understanding to manage this human element issue./5 Causes - indications – fatigue - effects – remedies- (mitigation and management) Working in harsh and/or uncomfortable environmental conditions can contribute to the risk of fatigue in a number of ways. Heat, cold, noise and vibration are some of the environmental conditions that can make ship staff to tire quicker and impair their performance. The mental and physical demands of work can contribute to fatigue in a number of ways. Concentrating for extended periods of time, performing repetitious or monotonous work or performing work that requires continued physical effort can increase the risk of fatigue by producing mental and/or physical tiredness/9 Ships movements such as heave, surge, sway, roll, pitch, yaw all can affect the people on board. In some cases it brings your stomach out and you start vomiting. Further it gets acute during rough weather and stormy conditions. And as you are down, it puts more work load on others. As per their comprehensive research on seafarer fatigue of ship board situations by ITF which was published in 2006 , published in 2006, showed how the long working hours culture takes its toll on seafarers:/11  One in four seafarers said they had fallen asleep while on watch  Almost 50% of seafarers taking part in the study reported working weeks of 85 hours or more  Around half said their working hours had increased over the past 10 years, despite new 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 Safety at sea is endangered as crews are not fully alert, and take shortcuts. And your health suffers, now and in the future, through taking poor care of your physical and mental health needs./11 J K M Nair/March 2019 Page 3 Fatigue at Sea and IMO. Fatigue thoughts and IMO IMO had recognized the existence of fatigue in 1990 and their MSC 71st session 1999, was held in IMO. During the days of 19-28 May to discuss issues related to accidents and fatigue. Then during MSC/circ 1014, “A guidance of fatigue mitigation and management” circular was approved during May –June 2001. In November 2014 the HTW (subcommittee on Human element, Training and Watch-keeping) started the review. Then the MSC in their 100th session during first week of Dec 2018 approved the reviewed documents. IMO also had taken steps to improve human comfort by their various instruments such as STCW, 1948 as amended and the related STCW code where in work and rest requirements are mentioned, ISM code for improvement of safety and management issues and stream line documentation, and their circular on “Principles of Minimum Safe Manning” . Further the combined efforts of ILO and IMO in bringing out the Maritime Labour convention is also commendable contribution to the maritime industry. /8 . MLC further addresses other issues like bullying and harassing of seafarers, their leave periods, periods of work and rest on board, safe manning, their accommodation and food on board etc. The IMO guidelines defines fatigue as, “ a state of physical and/or mental impairment resulting from factors such as inadequate sleep, extended wakefulness, work/rest requirements, out of sync with circadian rhythms and physical, mental or emotional exertion that can impair alertness and the ability to safely operate a ship or perform safety-related duties”/6 IMO recognizes fatigue as a hazard and that it is not an-in-thing of maritime occupation. Main contributing factors of human fatigue are health, environment, work load, work situation. Ill health makes the person mentally and physically weak. His capability to withstand other factors will be reduced and thus he is prone to fatigue out faster. Ship board environments results in social separation and create related tension. As most of the people know they have untimely work schedules, lack of proper rest and sleep. The ship movements, vibration and noise can affect ones sleep. Then is the effect of circadian rhythms. Most of them they have a work cycle of 4 hours duty and then 8 hour rest continued with 4 hours duty and 8 hours rest in a day’s cycle. But most of the time they have to take care of other work, documentation and the personal requirements. They are on call thru out their stay on board. The work load will go high during port operations, cargo operations, and emergency situations and during break downs, without mentioning unforeseen situations like war, piracy or rescue operations. J K M Nair/March 2019 Page 4 Fatigue at Sea and IMO. Seafarers lack “quality sleep”, even though they may try to rest. Hence so called rest hours shown need not be the indication of quality sleep. See Annx 4 for the pictorial depiction of Circadian Rythm Sleep deficit can lead to problems of sleep apnea. Along with fatigue generation, it can lead to long term degeneration of brain and psychological problems. Change of geological locations, effect of time variations resulting in so called jet-lag, etc can also be some factors to consider.. The guidelines list out 4 such factors on board situations./6 1. 2. 3. 4. Long and irregular work timings Extended period of time on board, separation from family, climate changes Ship becomes their home while working. No clear separation of work and recreation, which affect their mental and emotional well-being. Fatigue can also result from and also result in some long‐term health problems, such as: • digestive problems • heart disease • stress • harmful drug and alcohol use, and • mental illness. Ship staff needs to remain alert all the time to identify fatigue build-up of themselves and their colleagues. Any change in their usual-self must be reported and remedial action must be taken. Indicators of fatigue build up    Mood changes – low energy, lethargy, tired, weariness Mental changes – forgetfulness, distraction, fear, frustration, low alert, cognitive reduction Physical – head ache, body pain, sleep apnea, lack of appetite, In order to classify the factors, IMO had divided them to 5 major sections and there after explained them in detail. The sections are, 1. Sea-farer specific related 2. Management factors ( ashore and aboard ship) 3. Ship-specific factors J K M Nair/March 2019 Page 5 Fatigue at Sea and IMO. 4. Environmental factors 5. Operational factors IMO gives out the various causes very elaborately and I would urge the readers to go through it to get more information. Effect of Fatigue Fatigue affects human perception, attention, cognition and behavior patterns and their memory /7. It affects psychologically as well as physically and thus results in behavior change as well. The effect on performance has been highlighted in the guidelines as:/6/.43      More susceptible for errors of attention and memory Results in un-identification of high risk and uses less efforts Results in slowing down their ‘response to stimuli’. Reduces their problem solving capabilities. Draws them to micro sleep situations. Fatigue mitigation and management I will quickly summarize the mitigation plans by just a figure from the guidelines. J K M Nair/March 2019 Page 6 Fatigue at Sea and IMO. Further efforts of management on board, new ergonomic designs, better communication systems and assistance to emergency needs, dealing with multi-cultural crew, food nutrition, comfort of cabins, recreational provisions, etc are also built into the Guidelines for shore management and ship management to take care. Managing of fatigue is revolving around the reporting systems, fatigue training on board – initial and regular, identifying the fatigue factors and instructing the people on board, adequate resources to mitigate and manage fatigue related issues. Creating a healthy environment on board can be done by managing the food, recreation, providing exercise facilities on board and maintaining a good human relations. A no of fatigue assessment tools are available now to check and assess fatigue situations and measure the fatigue of people. Each ship, each voyage, each team will need to think, and make their own plans to make it more effective. Ship staff and the management are equally responsible to find and solve the fatigue issues. Critical Fatigue build up could be very critical in ships safe and sound operation. My Observation on Fatigue at sea 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. They Lack quality sleep. (quantity, continuity and quality- as per IMO) During shore leave they tend to ignore rest and sleep. Alcohol and drugs are not the solution There is no single dose pill for fatigue Fatigue is personal, though influenced by situation. Human psychology has a big role to play Good interaction and teamwork helps Fatigue control plans are good, but they need regular monitoring and reviews. Dig a bit deeper to get the full control over fatigue. Thank you, once again reminding you to read the IMO document. J K M Nair/March 2019 Page 7 Fatigue at Sea and IMO. References and courtesy to: 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/8877.php https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/fatigue https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/fatigue-older-adults https://www.nerc.com/pa/rrm/hp/2014_Human_Performance_Conference/NERC-FatigueMacKenzie%20(clean).pdf 5.0 https://maritimecyprus.com/2019/03/04/imo-issues-guidelines-on-fatigue 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.0 IMO “Guidelines on Fatigue”, from International Maritime Organisation. J K M Nair, “Human Factors and Ship Safety”, 2008 J K M Nair, Maritime Labour convention-2006 -2019, a short look, academia.edu/feb 2019 http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au. Guide-to-the-Development-of-a-Fatigue-Management-PlanAmended-17-6-10.pdf. 10.0 https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-human-factors-psychology-2794905 11.0 https://www.itfseafarers.org/ITI-fatigue.cfm Annexes given below: 1. A sample check list of fatigue risk assessment 2. List of human errors 3. Abbreviations used. J K M Nair/March 2019 Page 8 Fatigue at Sea and IMO. Annexure-1 Annexure 2. A possible list of human error. 1. Incapability to problem detection 2. Inability to diagnose solutions 3. Slips and lapses J K M Nair/March 2019 Page 9 Fatigue at Sea and IMO. 4. Forgetfulness 5. Overlooks 6. Short cuts 7. Physical incapability 8. Over confidence 9. Dare devilry 10. Hiding reality 11. Cognitive biasing 12. Absent mindedness Annex 3. Abbreviations IMO – International Maritime organisation ILO – International Labor Organisation MSC – Maritime Safety Committee of IMO STCW - Standards of Training and Watch Keeping – a convention under IMO MLC - Maritime Labour Conference Guidelines – refers to the IMO “ Guidelines of Fatigue” WMU – World Maritime University at Malmo, Sweden J K M Nair/March 2019 Page 10 Fatigue at Sea and IMO. Annex 4 : The Circadian Rhythm Shri J K M Nair is a well-known personality in the field of maritime and management training. Shri Nair is currently the Director and CEO of Training $olutions International; a training commitment to individuals, organisations and business houses. He is respected as an expert in many fields of management, training and HRD, and engineering subjects. He is also advisor and member of ABM for the HIMT Group of Institutions and Mentor to Sterling Institutions. Graduated as Bachelor of mechanical engineering from Trichur Engineering Collage and then in Electronic Engineering, he joined marine engineering profession with SCI way back in 1970. After serving on board a number of ships as chief engineer, he joined SCI office as Dy Engr Supdt in Tanker Dept. He was transferred to the training department, which paved way for starting the Maritime J K M Nair/March 2019 Page 11 Fatigue at Sea and IMO. Training Institute of SCI. Being part of the MTI formation, he spend almost 8 long years there. While serving in MTI, he was nominated for his higher studies at World Maritime University, Malmo and took his post graduate degree in Maritime Education and Training [MET-E- 1990]. On return he rejoined SCI in BC Dept. A couple of years later he was given charge of developing the ISM Cell, the first attempt to bring in quality to Indian Maritime Industry. His passion for teaching being strong, he joined Anglo Eastern Maritime Training Centre of Anglo Eastern Ship Management Hong Kong as GM and Principal. He was instrumental to get the first Quality approval for the training centre from DNV. After 11 years, and building up the training centre, he was picked up by Executive Ship Management Singapore to establish their training institution. He joined them as Director and Principal and build up ESM training, Samundra Institute of Maritime studies. He was instrumental to make SIMS as one of the best training establishment and get a number of recognitions and awards to Samundra. A luminary in training circles and with, more than four decades of professional experience, he was a doyen in many special areas including Marine Engineering, Human Resource Development, Safety Engineering, Training Systems, Management Development, IT, Maritime Affairs, Quality systems, Human Factors, psychology, Emotional Intelligence, Artificial intelligence and subjects like leadership, motivation and other HR, HRD, HRM subjects and further on to philosophy. He is member of many professional bodies including ISTD, Institute of Marine Engineers, Institute of Engineers India, I Mech E, WMU- India Chapter as the founder secretary, LPA etc. He also wore the hat of the ‘Editor’ of MER for 2 years and then on its board of editors for another two years. He was also heading the STCW 2010 implementation committee of Indian Administration in its initial phase. He has authored many technical and management papers and has conducted many executive development programs. He has also published many technical and managerial books. He was also active with Director General of Shipping in maritime activities and also served in the expert committee of STCW Implementation. Shri Nair guided the team members in writing the IMO Model Training Modules for IMO. He has received many awards including the Gold Medal for the best technical paper. Further he is also a recipient of award for the “Most Innovative Training centre” and for the “Best Maritime Trainer.” He was also recognized for his “Life Time Contribution” to the industry wherein he was conferred with “The Life Time Achievement Award” by Globmet. Shri Nair is respectfully known as the Bheeshmacharya in maritime and training circles. Further, he was felicitated for his exemplary services to the industry and for his contributions to Maritime Training during the 55th NMD function on 5th April 2018. He is respected by the industry for the dedicated 48 years of service and continuing with his support and guidance to the industry. He is also the trustee to CST/MCT projects group. Contact mail: jkmnair@gmail.com or trgsolutions.international@gmail.com J K M Nair/March 2019 Page 12