Findings

It appears from the information captured in this survey that the 1024 respondents who took part formed a good representation of the domestic commercial vessel fleet demographic.
Given the responses on sleep duration when at home and the quality of that sleep, the findings suggest that one third of respondents commence duty on board their vessel in a fatigued state.
40% of respondents identified that they get less than 6 hours sleep in any given 24-hour period when out at sea.
Around 35% of respondents stated that their average sea trip length lasted for longer than 12 hours. Without a fatigue risk management plan in place, all trip lengths over 12 hours may result in crew becoming fatigued at regular intervals after that initial 12 hours which can impact safety.
Respondents were less likely to identify behavioural symptoms of fatigue (i.e., headaches, body aches, affected speech and risk taking). This is in line with research in which fatigued individuals are poor judges of their own level of performance and decision-making when fatigued.
Over 25% of respondents stated they experienced fatigue very often or most of the time either immediately before or during their time at sea.
The highest percentages captured for domestic commercial vessel seafarers’ fatigue coping skills were for a known fatigue countermeasure, ‘caffeine’ (57%), and for ‘looking out for each other’ (53%). These are not considered to be effective countermeasures on their own and need to be supported by more appropriate control measures.
50% of respondents indicated that they had either not received any fatigue management training or guidance or they were unsure.
The highest percentages for owner/operator fatigue management approaches include, i.e., ’encourage the crew to look out for each other’ (50%), ‘fatigue management policy and procedures’ (46%) and ‘incorporating standard work hours and schedule’ (43%). These were followed by the following selected fatigue management approaches ‘allowing the crew to stop work when unable to stay awake’ (28%), ‘scheduled rest breaks’ (30%), ‘navigational watch alarms’ (30%), ‘encouraging fatigue reporting’ (24%) and ‘increasing crew numbers’ (12%). Further exploration into the drivers behind the selection of fatigue management approaches is required.