Seafarers understand that there’s an inevitable amount of risk that comes with working in our industry, whether it’s on the rivers, the Great Lakes, the coasts or the open seas. On multiple fronts, our union consistently strives to minimize or eliminate those dangers—through safety training and education, cooperatively working with our contracted operators, and partnering with others in the maritime industry, including the Coast Guard.Some risks, perhaps most notably the weather, are obvious and uncontrollable.
A recent study commissioned by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) examines a far more subtle but also key hazard. In January, the ITF released the results of a six-year analysis into the role that fatigue plays on the people who crew the world’s merchant vessels.
To better appreciate the study’s findings, I think it’s appropriate to briefly step back and touch on some of our industry’s history.
It wasn’t until the earliest years of the 20th century that the American public started becoming aware of the perils facing American citizens who chose a career at sea. In those days, mariners basically signed their lives away to have a shipboard job. They were worked hard for little pay. They faced dangers from abusive shipowners and officers, from disease and from the sea itself.
For the most part they had no voice on the job and no chance to improve their situation. These were among the many reasons that mariners organized and formed unions, including the forerunner of today’s maritime unions—the International Seamen’s Union.
Led by Andrew Furuseth, the ISU worked with legislators in Washington to craft the Seamen’s Act of 1915, which outlawed many of the tactics used to imprison American mariners aboard ships.
Full steam ahead to the 21st century. This time, the abuses are being laid upon desperate mariners from poor nations around the world. Like their American predecessors, these crew members from faraway lands face abuse and exploitation daily—usually far from the eyes and ears of anyone who might try to help.
Thankfully, the ITF (to which the SIU is affiliated) continues its commendable, necessary role of shining a light on the daily troubles of these workers.
Last month, in announcing the report on shipboard fatigue, the ITF noted that airline crews covered by the International Civil Aviation Organization average between 70 and 100 hours a month of flight time. Yet, the research pointed out that maritime regulation allows crew members to work up to 98 hours a week.
Titled Adequate Crewing and Seafarers’ Fatigue: The International Perspective, the 74-page report shows how long stretches at sea can affect a mariner’s mental and physical health, which can lead to accidents and other safety concerns. Among its findings, the study revealed that one in four seafarers responding said they had fallen asleep on watch. Nearly half the respondents reported working at least 85 hours a week, and half also said their working hours had increased during the past 10 years despite new guidelines and regulations intended to combat fatigue. More than a third said their working hours sometimes posed a danger to their vessel’s safe operations.
The report concludes that the maritime industry and its regulators must acknowledge that serious risks and consequences are undeniable when vessels are crewed by fatigued mariners. Among these dangers are potential for economic and environmental disasters, economic losses due to fines and increased insurance premiums, and serious health implications for the mariners themselves.
The SIU joins with the ITF in calling for immediate action to end the plight faced daily by men and women who simply are trying to make a living for themselves and their families. All work is important and all people should be treated with dignity. That treatment must include proper rest—and fair oversight to ensure it.
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