Seaman Fatigue: A Hidden Problem with Serious Consequences

Seaman fatigue can cause ship accidents, so it is important to understand what contributes to fatigue and how to prevent it.

2012-07-04

July 04, 2012 (Press-News.org) Seaman Fatigue: A Hidden Problem with Serious Consequences

Most Americans have experienced fatigue in the course of their work lives, such as trudging into work after a sleepless night or carrying life's worries into the workplace. Unfortunately, working while fatigued can be particularly dangerous for those who are in charge of the nation's most complex machinery like airplanes, trains and ships.

What is Fatigue?

According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), fatigue is caused by poor quality sleep or insufficient sleep due primarily to a worker's living environment, off-duty personal choices and medical conditions. When maritime workers are not well-rested, it becomes difficult for them to operate machinery properly. Unfortunately, many individuals do not recognize that they are fatigued, or they think their fatigue does not affect their ability to work.

The NTSB believes that fatigue is one of the most important factors in determining the work-hours of employees that operate machinery, including marine vessels. It recommends that employers establish hours-of-service limits using data that accounts for human fatigue.

Seaman fatigue is a major concern of marine safety groups, as it regularly contributes to seaman injuries. The International Maritime Organization's Subcommittee on Standards of Training and Watchkeeping defines fatigue as a "degradation of human performance," including the impairment of a seaman's ability to make reasonable decisions and the slowing down of a seaman's physical and mental reflexes.

What Causes Seaman Fatigue?

Ship design, scheduling and ship organization all contribute to seaman fatigue. In general, these factors affect a seaman's ability to get regular, quality sleep, stress levels and exposure to adverse environmental or psychological conditions. Factors that negatively contribute to seaman fatigue include:
-Frequent changes to ship and crew assignments
-Shift work which requires seamen to work alternating day/night shifts
-Lack of standard operating procedures
-Frequent port calls that require loading, unloading and navigating congested waters
-Consecutive, long tours of duty
-Lack of ship automation, requiring more attention from crew
-Adverse environmental conditions like noise and vibration

How Can Seamen Avoid Fatigue?

Fortunately, it is possible for seaman to avoid fatigue, but most solutions involve employer action. Factors that can decrease seaman fatigue include:
-Continuity of ship and crew assignments
-Implementation of and training on standard operating procedures
-Adequate time between port calls
-Breaks between tours of duty
-Adequate ship automation that requires less attention from crew
-Control of ship noise and vibration

In addition to these factors, employers should allow seamen eight hours of rest after 13 hours of work in every 24-hour period and limit watches to six hours or less.

Who May Be Held Liable for Accidents Caused by Seaman Fatigue?

The Jones Act outlines who may be held responsible for seamen injury or illness. The Jones Act requires employers to provide three no-fault benefits to seamen injured on the job: medical benefits, payment of unearned wages and a daily stipend until health is restored. Seamen are entitled to these benefits even when they are off-duty but still on the job.

In addition to these benefits, it is possible for seamen to sue their employers if their employer's negligence contributed to injury or illness, including fatigue. If you or a loved one has been injured while on a tour of duty, please contact an experienced maritime personal injury attorney to explore your legal options.

Article provided by Kraft Palmer Davies, PLLC
Visit us at www.admiralty.com

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Hampton Inn Spartanburg Hotel North Offers Special Rates to Choral Festival 2012 Participants

2012-07-04

Hampton Inn Spartanburg Hotel North offers nearby lodging and special rates to attendees at the 2012 Choral Festival for Christian music supply. The event will take place at First Baptist Church of Spartanburg on August 2-4, 2012, with a bonus night, open to the community, on August 1. Participants can book special hotel rates of $74 per night at the Hampton Inn Spartanburg North. The special rate is subject to availability; some restrictions may apply. The Choral Festival 2012 will include offering over 45 specialized workshops covering virtually every aspect of church ...

Attend National Black Arts Festival and Stay at Hampton Inn & Ste Atlanta Airport Hotel on North I-85

2012-07-04

The Hampton Inn & Suites Atlanta Airport Hotel (North, I-85) offers nearby lodging to guests attending the National Black Arts Festival (NBAF ), a celebration of the art, music, and culture of people of African descent. The summer festival takes place July 6-15, 2012, with a few exhibits running longer. The main weekend of the festival is July 12-15, with events taking place at Centennial Olympic Park and other venues in Atlanta, GA. NBAF 2012 events include: - "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner", performance (July 10 - 29) - Coretta Scott King Awards Book ...

National Trust Heritage Gardens Benefit From Major New Plant Conservation Centre

2012-07-04

Rare plants from National Trust gardens across the country will be propagated at a new Plant Conservation Centre that will improve the way one of the most important plant collections in the UK is cared for. Opened by international plantsman Roy Lancaster, the new 2.5 acre facility at a secret East Devon location will bring together plant propagation facilities, plant collection management expertise and facilities for training National Trust staff on all aspects of caring for the important plants in the gardens they look after. The opening of the new facilities comes ...

British Airways and One Direction to Host High Flying Dinner Date

2012-07-04

British Airways has announced that One Direction, one of the world's biggest bands, is to host the ultimate high-flying dinner date on BA jet. The fab five, Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik, will take to the skies to help raise funds for Comic Relief. The charter flight will be given the original flight number BA1D. They will be joined on the exclusive sky-high date by eight lucky fans who will have the chance to win tickets in a competition which has been launched on social media sites including the British Airways Facebook ...

$130k Raised for Variety's Culinary Night of Nights

2012-07-04

Amongst the stand out performances, was rising star, Melanie Dyer, who had impressed Joel Madden with her encore performance during The Voice's blind auditions. Melanie was amongst celebrities, radio star Michael 'Wippa' Wipfli, past and present MasterChef contestants Alvin Quah, Audra Morrice and Kylie Millar as well as personalities, Steve Willis, 'Commando' from The Biggest Loser, Karen Ledbury, Lizzy Lovett, Glenn Wheeler, who all frocked up for a night of culinary indulgence. The event raised an enormous $130k NET for Variety - the Children's Charity. Guests ...

During Winter Months AAMI See Surge in Animal Collision Claims

2012-07-04

The shorter days of winter see a 40% jump in animal collisions on Australian roads compared to the summer months, according to claims data from leading national insurer, AAMI. With twilight coinciding more closely with peak hour on rural roads, and city drivers taking to the country for a winter break, animals and cars are more likely to cross paths. "Through the winter months, daylight is shorter and we are on the roads more at the very time of day when animals, such as kangaroos, tend to be more active and invade our roadways," said Reuben Aitchison, AAMI ...

Secrets of lung cancer drug resistance revealed at UCSF

2012-07-03

People with lung cancer who are treated with the drug Tarceva face a daunting uncertainty: although their tumors may initially shrink, it's not a question of whether their cancer will return—it's a question of when. And for far too many, it happens far too soon. Now, a team of researchers at the University of California, San Francisco's Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center has discovered that a human protein called AXL drives resistance to Tarceva, which suggests that blocking the protein may prevent resistance to the cancer drug. The discovery, described ...

Annals of Internal Medicine tip sheet for July 3, 2012, issue

2012-07-03

1. After First Heart Attack, Patients Likely to Return to the Hospital for Unrelated Issues Comorbid Conditions and Treatment Complications Contribute to High Rehospitalization Rate Each year nearly 785,000 people are hospitalized for a first heart attack. Treatment advances have contributed to improved survival rates, but rehospitalization in the first 30 days after discharge remains a common and costly problem. Researchers studied 3,010 patients in one health system who were hospitalized with a first-time heart attack between 1987 and 2010 to determine the rate of rehospitalization, ...

Are brown widows displacing black widow spiders around southern California homes?

2012-07-03

Brown widow spiders are relatively new to North America, where they were first documented in Florida in 1935, and even newer to southern California, where they were only recently discovered in 2003. However, in the last decade they have been so successful that they may be displacing native black widow spiders. If so, the overall danger to homeowners may decrease because brown widow spider bites are less toxic than those of native western black widow spiders. In "The Prevalence of Brown Widow and Black Widow Spiders (Araneae: Theridiidae) in Urban Southern California," ...

Do the world's smallest flies decapitate tiny ants?

2012-07-03

A new species of phorid fly from Thailand is the smallest fly ever discovered. At just 0.40 millimeters in length, it is 15 times smaller than a house fly and five times smaller than a fruit fly. The tiny fly, Euryplatea nanaknihali, is also the first of its genus to be discovered in Asia, and it belongs to a fly family (Phoridae) that is known for "decapitating" ants. Some species in the Phoridae fly family lay eggs in the bodies of ants, and the resulting larvae feed in the ants' heads, eventually causing decapitation. In fact, some of these phorid flies are being ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

One of the largest studies of its kind finds early intervention with iron delivered intravenously during pregnancy is a safe and effective treatment for anemia