Offshore Working Hours

[smoggie]

I'm a 3/O doing a PhD into how seafarers accident rates change over a tour, as in are we most at risk when we first join or when we've got the channels and our heads not in it at the end of a contract. I have a few comments on this thread: firstly, the issue of fatigue is interesting and I've been looking at studies about fatigue throughout a tour and they suggest for a month tour people are at their most fatigued at the end of their first week onboard and stay at around this level of fatigue for the rest of this tour. I was quite surprised by this as I've always thought I got more tired as my contract progressed!

Secondly, to a limited extent I agree with the comment "bean counters don't care about seafarers safety" - if they were that bothered about safety why do companies flag vessels to flags of convenience? Surely the fact that flags of convenience are cheaper in part because they have less stringent health and safety requirements has something to do with it? But maybe that's a discussion for a different thread!

[Hatchorder]

I have to say that when at sea I would never sleep for more than 6 hours between watches for the simple reason or handover, wind down ,shower, relax, get up, dressing etc. On 6's it was never more than 5.

Whenever I came home on leave I would take a couple of weeks to get watch keeping out of my system.

26 years later and I still have a sleep pattern most people go "eek" at. I never go to sleep before 01:30 and up at 07:30 with the occasional "clock flog reset" sleep. Every afternoon/evening at some time I end up power napping and that is getting a bit more frequent now due to my age. Even at weekends I am the same, never sleep for more than 6 hours. Even on Friday night, having consumed large amounts of alcohol at a dinner party I stayed up until 2am clearing up and washing pots and glasses. I went to sleep as I lowered my head to the pillow but still woke up at 08:15 on Saturday morning.

Some studies have shown that two periods of rest in a day are better than one, and so I do not believe that the sleep pattern is what causes the most harm, stress and environment are probably bigger factors in my mind.

Ian

[Clanky]

I have spent the last week doing 6on / 6off on the bridge and it's not too bad. 6on / 6off in the engine room kills me.

Don't know why it should be different other than possibly that I am more occupied on the bridge and there is someone to talk to, which to me would explain why the watches are more enjoyable, but not why I feel less knackered.

[GuinnessMan]

They should make an ILO regulation that everyone must get at least one uninterrupted period of 9 hours rest per day, up from 6, and that drills are not acceptable to disrupt someones rest period.

If these criteria cannot be met with the current crewing they have on board, then the vessels should just have to increase the number of crew so they can meet it.

Every company seems to be waving the safety card around like mad these days, but when it comes to the health of the seafarer getting a non-anti-social period of sleep safety is nowhere to be seen. The bean counters would have to pay out less divided to shareholders from the extra crew costs so safety doesn't matter then.

Why 9 hours particularly? Why not 10 or 12? Yes, drills should be planned to avoid folks rest hours, but people still need to take part in them.

What if the vessel can not increase the complement of crew they have on board? Not every ship around the world sails around with enough cabins for everyone, nor do they all have the ability or capacity to increase their LSA capacity to do it?

Also, if you actually look at the industry at large, it doesn't take much for a voyage to go from being a profit to a loss making voyage, a few tonnes of HFO over consumed will do it. I personally think that last sentence of yours is a bit daft as the "bean counters" don't have a say in vessel safety at all. If extra crew is required for a set charter, then extra crew are arranged for the length of that charter. As soon as they are no longer needed, then they are removed and things go back to normal. Simple as that.

[condeh]

Ah yes, but health =\= safety in this regard.

They will never come out with an edict like that as shipowners will kick up all kinds of trouble over it.

It's a double edged sword really, we as seafarers want more employment so increased crews, but the country/worls as a whole wants to be able to buy things for next to nothing. We can't have both 30man crew in box boats and ?300 laptops from China.

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[marlinspike]

They should make an ILO regulation that everyone must get at least one uninterrupted period of 9 hours rest per day, up from 6, and that drills are not acceptable to disrupt someones rest period.

If these criteria cannot be met with the current crewing they have on board, then the vessels should just have to increase the number of crew so they can meet it.

Every company seems to be waving the safety card around like mad these days, but when it comes to the health of the seafarer getting a non-anti-social period of sleep safety is nowhere to be seen. The bean counters would have to pay out less divided to shareholders from the extra crew costs so safety doesn't matter then.

[zuluonezero]

I get into watches pretty quickly, and I find that 4/5 hours sleep is enough for me. I guess its just down to how your body can adapt as an individual.

[pignutpilot]

An interesting article on the bbc relevant to this topic.

"After several days of sleep patterns similar to those followed by night workers - three days of night shifts with only four to five hours sleep in 24 hours - the mice lost 25% of the brain cells, in part of the brain stem."

Maybe the slogan for joining the merchant navy could be "Go to sea and become a vegetable".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-26630647

[pignutpilot]

What other industry allows people to go without more than a 6 hour break for months on end? Do doctors do it? Lorry Drivers? Aeroplane pilots? I'm not an expert on other industries rest hour requirements, but the marine industry somehow seems to think that if you put someone on a ship they somehow become superhuman and the laws of nature don't apply.

Anyway the hours of rest require one period of a minimum of 6 hours of rest, so if you are required to go to the bridge/deck/engine room 10-15 minutes before watch to hand over, then you are only getting 5 hours 45-50 mins "rest", which breaks the regulations.

[condeh]

I don't know how the old man gets any sleep at all with numptys like me upstairs...

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[HolyNougat]

Well, consider it a motivation for either going ashore, or getting a Captains job ASAP!

[Lewisscott22]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/s...el-so-bad.html

"Previous studies have shown that disrupting the body clock has a serious impact on health raising the risk of heart attacks and strokes by more than 40 per cent."

I know it is just a study, but yikes.

[bobofinga]

I find I sleep better on ship than at home.

It's all about getting a good balance. When I'm at home I have long lies all the time and go to bed pretty late.

On ship I get at most 7 hours sleep a day , coupled with better diet and exercise as well as better weather I feel much healthier...

That is on a cruise ship tho...

[HolyNougat]

Yes - it's bad for you. I always felt like crap after a couple of months of watchkeeping, even if sometimes I got more sleep in terms of total hours than the day-workers.
Even when you are not watchkeeping everything happens at oh crikey a clock and you never sleep properly anyway because some comedian is using a pneumatic hammer above your cabin or the engineers have turned the heating up so the paint is melting or you are in a hurricane and your cans of deodorant are rolling around the bathroom like ball bearings in a metal can.... or (while I'm at it) the Chief Engineer is listening to loud music next door or the OOW does not answer the BNWAS while in the bog, or the reception accidentally put a call from the Philippines through to your cabin or you hear a loud 'bump' and you worry that the thrid mate has run over a fishing boat and are waiting for the call...
So no. Don't go to sea if you like sleeping. ILO is something of a joke. It is 'hours of rest' not hours of sleep.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/10584723/Why-night-shift-and-jet-lag-make-you-feel-so-bad.html

[Frenchy]

If I come back from a trip where I have been doing a high % of sixes then I struggle to get back into a normal sleeping pattern at home. When we are on sixes I'm lucky if I get 5 hours at all. It's usually only about 4 hours solid kip. Having said that your body adapts fairly quickly. Having power naps where you can helps. If you have a nice Captain then after an intensive period of sixes they can step into the watch pattern and you can all do 3 on 9 off and catch up on missed sleep. But let's be honest, the working hours are one of the reasons why offshore wages are higher.