The project made pioneering use of bridge, engine room and cargo simulators
Pioneering research demonstrating that certain ship watch patterns carry an increased risk of sleepiness should serve as a wake-up call to the industry, warns Nautilus.
The findings of Project Horizon, an 11-partner European research study, provide a first benchmark for understanding and predicting how different watch systems influence the level of fatigue or sleepiness of ship’s officers. The 32-month EU part-funded research brought together academic institutions and shipping industry organisations, with specialist input from some world-leading transport and stress research experts.
The project made pioneering use of bridge, engine room and cargo simulators to assess scientifically the impact of fatigue in realistic seagoing scenarios. A total of 90 experienced deck and engineer officer volunteers participated in rigorous tests at Chalmers University of Technology in Göteberg and Warsash Maritime Academy at Southampton Solent University to measure their levels of sleepiness and performance during the most common watch keeping patterns – four hours on/eight hours off (4/8) and six hours on/six hours off (6/6). Some volunteers were also exposed to a ‘disturbed’ off-watch period, reflecting the way in which seafarers may experience additional workloads as a result of port visits, bad weather or emergencies.
Key findings showed the most marked sleepiness detected was in the 6/6 team where at least one occurrence of falling asleep on watch was detected among 45% of officers on the midnight to 6am watch and there was also one occurrence for about 40% of those on the midnight to 4am watch in the 4/8 group.
Watchkeepers were found to be most tired both at night and the afternoon and sleepiness levels were found to peak towards the end of night watches.
A Project Horizon crew member carries out a reaction test
Reaction tests carried out at the start and end of each watch also showed clear evidence of performance deterioration – the slowest reactions were found at the end of night watches and among those on the 6/6 patterns. Routine and procedural tasks were able to be carried out with little or no degradation, but participants appeared to find it harder to deal with novel ‘events’ such as collision avoidance or fault diagnosis, as the ‘voyages’ progressed.
Researchers were also able to use the data to develop a new fatigue management toolkit for use by ship owners and managers, seafarers, regulators and others, to help arrange working schedules to mitigate risks to ships and their cargoes, seafarers, passengers and the marine environment.
Nautilus senior national secretary Allan Graveson said the Union welcomed the results and urged the shipping industry and those who regulate it to act on the findings.
‘For the safety of life at sea, and the protection of the marine environment, they can not afford to ignore the results’, he said.
Source: Nautilus International
