MSC 100: Revised guidelines on fatigue approved

During its landmark 100th session, the IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee (MSC 100) approved revised guidelines on fatigue, which provide comprehensive information on the causes and consequences of fatigue, and the risks it poses to the safety and health of seafarers, operational safety, security and protection of the marine environment. The aim is to assist all stakeholders to contribute to the mitigation and management of fatigue.

IMO has considered the issue of fatigue for several decades, adopting Assembly resolution A.772(18) on Fatigue factors in manning and safety, in 1993. This was followed by the development of comprehensive Guidance on fatigue mitigation and management (MSC/Circ.1014), which was issued in 2001.

The guidelines have been thoroughly reviewed and updated by the Sub-Committee on Human Element, Training and Watchkeeping (HTW 5), taking into account the latest research studies.

Seafarers’s fatigue is considered a key safety concern for shipping, due to the nature of seafaring, as crews do not ‘leave at the end of the working day’. Fatigue, as part of the highly-discussed human error, has been many times identified as key cause of maritime casualties for years. Recently, RMI informed of increased PSC deficiencies caused by cadets’ excessive working hours.

In its special SeaSense column, SAFETY4SEA in association with The North of England P&I Club, shed focus on  fatigue which is considered as a significant contributory factor to many incidents in shipping industry and one of the major concerns for seafarers.

The effectiveness of current legislation appears limited despite being accompanied by good guidance and enforcement is difficult. The industry needs to acknowledge that mere compliance with the minimum number of hours of rest prescribed in MLC and STCW does not necessarily prevent fatigue. Only proper fatigue risk management will be effective, encompassing better education, openness in fatigue incident reporting and more accurate monitoring of fatigue levels,

…noted on the issue Alvin Forster, Deputy Director of Loss Prevention, North Club.