Watchkeeper: A need for give and take
Last months Diplomatic Conference in Manila on the STCW Convention seems to have been a largely successful affair, in which there was a good deal of pragmatism and common sense exercised by the participants, which of course included BIMCO. Nowhere was this better illustrated than with the new provisions on hours of rest for watchkeepers, which will hopefully see them fit for duty while they are working, and properly rested when they are not.
This was a hot topic, with the issue of fatigue being very much to the forefront of the debate. There has been a growing body of evidence compiled by a number of national administrations which have been looking closely at accidents in which fatigue has been a contributing factor.
But there has also been concern about the realities of a ships operation, in which from time to time people are called upon to work longer hours than are ideal. Anyone familiar with ship operation will be able to list any number of cases where go-on, stop-on is the regime prescribed by the pressures of the moment. Emergencies of every kind will constitute a reasonable exception to the rules, so that the safety of the ship remains paramount, and compromises are not made to comply with any hours of rest regulations.
So, in the new provisions for hours of rest for watchkeepers there is a sensible clause that will ensure a continued safe operation of ships in exceptional conditions by permitting a number of exceptions from the new requirements, which prescribe a minimum of 10 hours of rest in any 24-hour period, and 77 hours in any seven day period.
Because, quite obviously, ships are very different from any other mode of transport, with crew living aboard, and operating a 24/7 regime, in an often hostile environment. Not for the seafarer is the life of the aircraft crew, who will have no hesitation in delaying a flight and calling for a replacement crew if their duty was going to exceed the laid down maximum. Landside transport in both road and rail have hours tightly regulated and in the former case measured by instruments. But a ship at sea cannot just stop! Time and tide wait for no man is a proverb well understood by mariners and shipowners alike.
The operation of these new rules will clearly require an element of good sense and good faith on behalf of both management and seafarers. The wording of the new arrangements is reasonably clear as to what comprises exceptional conditions, when people can be expected to work beyond their normal hours, and eating into their rest periods. Hopefully it will be clear when such an exception is justified, and when it is not. What will hopefully never happen is that the safety of the ship will be prejudiced because of some erroneous interpretation, or conversely that crews will be exploited and become fatigued because of operational convenience that could be dealt with in a different fashion.
Source:BIMCO