最近一项研究表明过度劳累是持续航运业的一个的问题，但没有简单的解决方法。

CARDIFF 30 November - Excessive working hours continues to be a problem

for the shipping industry, a major research study has concluded, but

there is no simple solution. The six-year study found that almost half

the seafarers who took part were working 85 hours or more each week;

that working hours had increased over the past 10 years despite

regulations intended to combat fatigue; and that one in four admitted to

having fallen asleep while on watch. However, a range of strategies will

be needed to prevent or manage fatigue because of the different profiles

of fatigue risk factors in different working groups. Recommendations

included looking again at how working hours are recorded because current

methods are not effective; building fatigue awareness into established

health and safety training courses; and developing a checklist-style

auditing tool that would help to assess work characteristics known to be

risk factors for fatigue and subjective experience of these factors.

Brian Orrell, general secretary of officers’ union Nautilus UK called

for “a radical and urgent response from the government”, while Mary

Martyn, head of the Maritime & Coastguard Agency’s health and safety

branch, commented that the agency agreed that a co-operative approach is

needed, involving regulators, shipping companies and seafarers. The

study was co-sponsored by the MCA and the Health & Safety Executive,

with support from Nautilus UK and the Seafarers’ International Research

Centre, and was carried out by a team from the Centre for Occupational

and Health Psychology at Cardiff University.