Fatigue Among Seafarers

Select Language Chinese Arabic French German Italian Japanese Korean Portuguese Russian Spanish English

There is extensive evidence from both laboratory and field studies showing
that acute fatigue is associated with impaired performance and compromised
safety. Worldwide 51% of marine accidents are caused by only 25% of all the ships and fatigue experienced by seafarers is one of the reasons for these accidents..


The technical use of the term fatigue is imprecise. There are 2 kinds of fatigue experienced by a seafarers 1)Physical fatigue and 2)Mental fatigue. Early stages of fatigue causes productive loss whereas advanced stages of fatigue causes accidents within the ship or even collisions to such an extent that leads to sinking of ships.


Signs of a seafarer suffering from fatigue:-
-Looking tired and yawning frequently
-Looking lost and sleepy
-Unable to respond or react
-Non active at work


What causes fatigue to seafarers ?
-Heat, vibration, noise, inadequate ventilation, poor living conditions in the ship
-Stress due to high job demand
-long lasting employment at sea
-Disturbed & Insufficient sleep
-Seasickness & unpleasant weather conditions.
-Prolonged working schedule everyday for more than 12 hours a day

Prolonged fatigue could lead to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) where treatment and recovery is complex so its very necessary to overcome fatigue..