Much attention has been focused in recent years on the extent to which seafarers may be affected by fatigue, and its possible implications for maritime safety and seafarers' health and welfare. Whilst ISF has been seeking to help companies understand and comply with the new international regulations governing seafarers' hours of work, it has also played a central part in continuing debates at IMO on how the effects of fatigue can best be minimised through non regulatory means.
In 1997, new minimum rest requirements entered into force as part of STCW 95, and in the future these will be augmented by the additional ILO requirements contained in the ILO Convention on Seafarers' Hours of Work and the Manning of Ships (ILO No. 180), which is expected to come into force within the next one or two years.
The new STCW minimum rest requirements have undoubtedly presented an operational challenge to some shipping companies seeking to ensure that they are in compliance. ISF is nevertheless of the view that they generally satisfy employers' needs for flexibility while establishing sensible irreducible standards meeting concerns about health and safety. Moreover, STCW 95 establishes very precise minimum rest limits that should be relatively easy for governments to enforce.
However, as well as being generally stricter than STCW 95, the way in which the new ILO requirements will be applied is rather more uncertain because they provide administrations with the option of choosing to select between very different regimes that stipulate either maximum hours of work or minimum periods of rest. More confusingly (and somewhat illogically) the total amount of work that a seafarer may perform under the ILO maximum work regime is different from that permitted under the ILO minimum rest regime, while further variations from the precise number of hours specified in the ILO Convention are permitted if ships are using collective bargaining agreements that allow different numbers of hours to be worked.
The situation is complicated further because it is still not certain how the ILO rules will actually be enforced. Whereas the STCW minimum rest requirements already apply on a worldwide basis it is not expected that every flag state will ratify the ILO Convention simultaneously. With the agreement of European shipowners and unions, the countries of the European Union have decided to enforce the ILO standards as soon as possible, probably before the end of 2000. The declared intention of the EU is to apply these standards to non-EU flag ships visiting European ports. However, in view of the wide variety of different regimes that are permitted by the ILO rules, it is not yet clear how this will work in practice.
In order to keep shipping companies abreast with developments, ISF is currently revising its booklet International Shipboard Work Hour Regulations: What Employers Need to Know. ISF is also developing computer software that will allow companies to maintain work hour records and check that their seafarers remain in compliance (due to the complexity of the regulations this is difficult to calculate manually). The software should be available to companies in the Summer of 1999.
In spite of the adoption of comprehensive regulations, the issue of fatigue has remained on the IMO work programme. ISF recognises the importance of reducing or alleviating fatigue amongst seafarers, but is not convinced that it is such a serious contributory factor to maritime accidents as some interests appear to argue. For example, the ITF claims that seafarers participating in a survey conducted by the opinion poll company MORI identified fatigue as a major concern. Yet the same ITF/MORI survey report reveals that in spite of the fact that it was conducted before the STCW rest hour limits came into force 'satisfaction with working hours is high with seven in ten seafarers expressing satisfaction'. Of the 19 factors on which seafarers were invited to comment by the MORI study, satisfaction with working hours came higher than any other category.
ISF is nevertheless very interested in addressing fatigue. Regardless of the amount of rest which seafarers enjoy, variable working hours and circadian rhythms (the body clock) mean that, like all human beings, they can be subject to its effects. ISF has therefore been participating in a group of IMO experts that have been given the task of developing an IMO programme to tackle the issue comprehensively
In 1997, new minimum rest requirements entered into force as part of STCW 95, and in the future these will be augmented by the additional ILO requirements contained in the ILO Convention on Seafarers' Hours of Work and the Manning of Ships (ILO No. 180), which is expected to come into force within the next one or two years.
The new STCW minimum rest requirements have undoubtedly presented an operational challenge to some shipping companies seeking to ensure that they are in compliance. ISF is nevertheless of the view that they generally satisfy employers' needs for flexibility while establishing sensible irreducible standards meeting concerns about health and safety. Moreover, STCW 95 establishes very precise minimum rest limits that should be relatively easy for governments to enforce.
However, as well as being generally stricter than STCW 95, the way in which the new ILO requirements will be applied is rather more uncertain because they provide administrations with the option of choosing to select between very different regimes that stipulate either maximum hours of work or minimum periods of rest. More confusingly (and somewhat illogically) the total amount of work that a seafarer may perform under the ILO maximum work regime is different from that permitted under the ILO minimum rest regime, while further variations from the precise number of hours specified in the ILO Convention are permitted if ships are using collective bargaining agreements that allow different numbers of hours to be worked.
The situation is complicated further because it is still not certain how the ILO rules will actually be enforced. Whereas the STCW minimum rest requirements already apply on a worldwide basis it is not expected that every flag state will ratify the ILO Convention simultaneously. With the agreement of European shipowners and unions, the countries of the European Union have decided to enforce the ILO standards as soon as possible, probably before the end of 2000. The declared intention of the EU is to apply these standards to non-EU flag ships visiting European ports. However, in view of the wide variety of different regimes that are permitted by the ILO rules, it is not yet clear how this will work in practice.
In order to keep shipping companies abreast with developments, ISF is currently revising its booklet International Shipboard Work Hour Regulations: What Employers Need to Know. ISF is also developing computer software that will allow companies to maintain work hour records and check that their seafarers remain in compliance (due to the complexity of the regulations this is difficult to calculate manually). The software should be available to companies in the Summer of 1999.
In spite of the adoption of comprehensive regulations, the issue of fatigue has remained on the IMO work programme. ISF recognises the importance of reducing or alleviating fatigue amongst seafarers, but is not convinced that it is such a serious contributory factor to maritime accidents as some interests appear to argue. For example, the ITF claims that seafarers participating in a survey conducted by the opinion poll company MORI identified fatigue as a major concern. Yet the same ITF/MORI survey report reveals that in spite of the fact that it was conducted before the STCW rest hour limits came into force 'satisfaction with working hours is high with seven in ten seafarers expressing satisfaction'. Of the 19 factors on which seafarers were invited to comment by the MORI study, satisfaction with working hours came higher than any other category.
ISF is nevertheless very interested in addressing fatigue. Regardless of the amount of rest which seafarers enjoy, variable working hours and circadian rhythms (the body clock) mean that, like all human beings, they can be subject to its effects. ISF has therefore been participating in a group of IMO experts that have been given the task of developing an IMO programme to tackle the issue comprehensively
请登录后评论~
联系我们人工客服
：1391995811
