SAFE MANNING REDUCING FATIGUE AND OTHER RESEARCH

STCW 1978 : THE NEED FOR MORE RESEARCH

In the 1970s, much of the teaching in Nautical and Marine Engineering Colleges was based upon books written by authors who had not been to sea for many years and taught by lecturers who had not been to sea for years either. Theoretical principles do not change much, but their applications in industry change all the time. As far as certificates of competency were concerned, that situation did not matter too much, because the examiners had not sailed in modern ships for years either - although they were involved in accident investigations and surveying the ships in port. The founding of the Nautical Institute and the growth of its excellent catalogue of publications written by people who were at the top of their profession, was a major step forward.

1978 saw the first Standards of Training Certification and Watchkeeping Convention being brought into force. A year later, the Chief Examiner of Masters and Mates in UK, Captain Tony Jestico, told the Association of Navigation Schools Annual General Meeting, he thought IMO had "got it right" ¹. At the same meeting, I presented a paper saying that more research was needed. In the next few years the UK Government came round to the idea. I was very surprised that the UK Government research, which followed eventually, laid the foundation for the 1995 revisions of the STCW Convention.

 THE RESEARCH ²

 A UK team carried out research into future manning and training, sailing on 11 classes of ship and talking to designers of future ships across the world. Three major research findings were:

1. COMPETENT SEAFARERS
   Making the ships safe and efficient is best done by education and training which ensures that seafarers carry out necessary functions competently, even when trade patterns and technology change. This was the core of the study and became the basis of the STCW 95 revisions.
2. COMPETENT MANAGERS
   You cannot make ships safe if shore management is neither competent, nor fully involved. This was raised during the study but was not part of it. The truth of this concept was later recognised by ISMA and by IMO through its introduction of the International Safety Management (ISM) Code.
3. COMPETENT REGULATORY AUTHORITIES
   Not officially part of the study but of great interest to the regulatory authorities, was the idea of safe manning. The fact that this is a current subject of interest at IMO does not surprise me. The answer could lie in the five steps I have described below.

 FIVE EASY STEPS TO SAFE MANNING

STEP 1
Talk to sea staff about the jobs that need to be done, ideally by sailing in the ships. Write the jobs down as functions e.g. mooring (as in STCW format) not as job descriptions e.g. the Bosun's job etc.

STEP 2
Discuss with sea and shore staff (particularly the Master and Chief Engineer) the critical parts of the voyage and predicted emergencies in which maximum workforce numbers will be required.

STEP 3
Evaluate the skills and knowledge of individual seafarers to see whether, collectively, they are experienced and trained for the peak workforce points and that there are enough people to cover extended peak periods (such as several days reaching port after a system failure).

STEP 4
Look at the overall workload outside peak periods, including deck and engine room maintenance, cargo preparations, operations and care, cleaning, catering, surveys, etc. include rest periods, training, drills, etc. Is the overall workload excessive? If so, add more people.

STEP 5
Revise your workforce policy to incorporate the required recruitment, training and updating of staff. Much of the training will be modular: either shore based short courses, or in today's world delivered by shipboard distance learning courses (if manning levels and shipboard training time allows).

PREREQUISITES

To make this process work, you need the cooperation of seafarers and their representatives (unions), and of the managers ashore who are responsible for safe manning and efficient ship operations.

FLEXIBILITY

The key is flexibility. At a peak time, say, during an emergency engine repair, deck officers may need additional skills sufficient to support their engineer colleagues. If deck officers are very busy (such as in dynamic positioning operations) the engineers may need deck department skills to assist them.

REGULATION

The people who may find this approach to safe manning difficult are likely to be the regulators who like to put everything into "boxes": lists of crew members for each class of ship; lists of certificates held etc. Rather than ticking boxes, the safety certification should be based upon questions about "Who does what?" at critical parts of the voyage and "Are they trained for it?" Chapter VII of STCW 95 Alternative Certification, allows for a more flexible approach, but has not been widely used.

OUTCOMES

Ships that have this flexible/teamwork approach are more efficient and competitive than those with rigid and segregated job demarcation. Profits are improved. Jobs are more secure.

SATISFACTION

Both managers and trades unions can be positive about this type of safe manning process. The ship is safely manned for all contingencies. Everyone in the team is trained to make a positive and balanced contribution. Fatigue is minimised.

PAST DANGERS

In the 1980s Governments were issuing safe manning certificates for ships based on the minimum number of crew required to take them from port to port. Some shipowners put that minimum crew on board and expected them to do cargo space preparation, ship maintenance, etc. The so-called "safe manning" system was clearly unsafe.

IMPORTANT ITEMS CURRENTLY UNDER CONSIDERATION AT IMO

Today, the subjects of safe manning and fatigue are again under review at the International Maritime Organization. The two are, of course, related. At the recent International Shipping Federation Conference, the Head of the UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch, Stephen Meyer, presented the results of the research done since they published their reports on groundings that involved fatigue. The discussion that followed brought out the fact that time off duty does not necessarily mean people are properly rested when they go back on duty. There are many factors that affect fatigue such as, heat and cold related risks, motion sickness, accumulated sleep deprivation, physiological problems plus others. These factors and how to minimise fatigue are covered in the Videotel training package Minimising Fatigue, Maximising Performance.

Good as they may be, training packages on fatigue are only a minor contribution to a major problem - making ships safe and efficient by a rational approach to safe manning.

 I would welcome your views: mail@videotelmail.com

¹ Jestico Captain A.: Chief Examiner of Masters and Mates UK. Report to ANS AGM 5th July 1979 HCMM Journal Volume XIV No 159 Autumn 1979 Page 188 et seq.
² 1986 Holder L A, Moreby DH, Lawrence David, Maybourn Ralph, Hall Neville etc al. Project Officer Bell, Douglas, Dept of Transport UK "Technology and Manning for Safe Ship Operations in the 1990s".