The document highlights that crew fatigue is a primary cause of maritime accidents, with contributing factors including high workload, poor diet, and inadequate sleep. Various countermeasures and a fatigue management plan are suggested to combat this issue, emphasizing the importance of adequate rest, workload rotation, and lifestyle choices. It also mentions that while increased efficiency from reduced staffing may cut costs, it poses significant safety risks that outweigh potential savings.

1. Maritime Business
Avoiding Crew Fatigue
Presented By CODie.com
-Maritime Software for Your Business-

2. Based on reaserch provided by
UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency
“The Human Element – A Guide to Human Behavior
in the Shipping Industry” (Dirk Gregory and Paul
Shanahan)
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3. What it is About
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4. Fatigue and stress are the number one reason
for accidents in shipping.
We present simple counter
measurements to help you avoiding
mistakes caused by fatigue.
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5. Key Point
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6. Reduced staffing is one of the
most widely used methods of
cutting crewing costs and raising
efficiency. However, the results for
health and working efficiency are
disastrous. Here we highlight
roots, causes and correctives.
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7. What Causes Fatigue?
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8. High workload demands for high recovery
time. Tools and procederes influence this.
Perceived risk or interest: 82% of all
groundings due to fatigue happen at
night shifts
Sleep debt
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9. Health determines resistance:
Bad diet (high sugar, high fet, alcohol)
1 missing liter of water lowers
your IQ by 30
Low personal fitness
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10. The current 6 hours on / 6 hours
off duty practice makes it
impossible to complete all jobs
within the given time. Vessels with
less than 3 officers are especially
endangered, as their attention is
required constantly.
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11. Note that sleep cannot be stored
but sleep debts do accumulate.
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12. Counter Measurements
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13. Facts
67% of all seamen work 4 weeks on /
4 weeks off.
50% of seafarers work 12 hours
on / 12 hours off, and 25%
work six on/six off.
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14. Operational considerations
Less than 6 hours of sleep per day
over 14 consecutive days cause
strong performance deficit.
Incidents are twice as likely to
occure within a 12-hour shift
as in an 8-hour shift
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15. Design improvements
Bright light bulbs. Normal ship light is
not bright enough to fight sleepiness
Reduce ship noise, it disrupts the
REM sleeping phase
Reduce ship virbrations
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16. Naps can reduce the rate of
incidents by up to 50%.
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17. Fatigue Management Plan
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18. The ship manager is requested to ensure:
Adequate hand-over time on crew
changes
Adequate voyage length, and
time in port and for service
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19. The master will ensure:
Adequate family contact, shore
leaves and workload
Rotation for high and low
demand tasks
Effective nap time
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20. The seafarer needs to arrange:
Adequate sleep, by ensuring a
healthy live-style
Avoiding alcohol before sleep
Taking strategic naps
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21. For Your Consideration
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22. While most of the time even a
deadbeat crew can get the ship
into the harbor – sometimes they
do not (see EXXON VALDEZ). The
event risk and potential costs are
much higher than any savings
procured through ultra-minimum
manning and thus not worth it.
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23. Visit our blog to read the full article:
https://codie.com/wp/maritime/human-
behavior-in-the-shipping-industry-getting-
tired-and-stressed/
Or
https://codie.com/maritime/blog
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24. How is all this related to your software?
Let‘s be honest, just buying our ship or crew
management software will not magically
reduce your stress or fatigue level. However, it
will provide you with the right tool to reduce
your task complexity, to work smarter and
save (leisure) time. That‘s a good start.
Your CODie Team
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