200966 Benefits of an extra officer
Benefits of an extra officer
MARS Report 200966
During an inspection, a port state control officer (PSCO) recorded his observation that there was evidence of high workload on the chief officer of one of our small tankers. The vessel trades in a short sea area, routinely carrying hazardous cargo and makes 100-150 port calls a year, with tank cleaning conducted on almost every voyage. The vessel had the normal complement of a master and three deck officers; nevertheless, our company decided to assign the vessel one extra (fourth) officer in response to the PSCO's findings.
However, despite recent legislation in some countries against the practice, and industry-wide knowledge of the dangers of over-worked and fatigued deck officers, there are still ships of similar type, size and trade, operating with only two watchkeeping officers.
The benefits of our company's action are many:
The chief officer is not a regular watchkeeper and due to reasonable working hours, can do a better job in managing cargo and maintenance operations.
Junior officers also have a less onerous workload since they do not get assigned some of the chief officer's tasks.
The master also has a reduced workload since some work can be delegated to junior officers.
We now have the time to train junior officers more effectively on board.
The chief officer also has more time for developing the skills required for taking over the rank of a master.
The time available for maintenance and safety work has increased - and this has really good long-term benefits.
Fewer adverse remarks are recorded by vetting inspectors who are pleased to see an extra officer assigned to ships.
The general health of officers has improved since they now have time to exercise and sleep more regularly;
The retention of personnel is significantly higher as officers get better job satisfaction and are more willing to continue in this career.
We do not need to overlap when new officers sign on.
Finally, work and rest periods can be honestly recorded by officers, who are free from pressures to manipulate this data.
In my view, the additional cost of the extra officer is paid back very quickly, especially if seen against the costs of fatigue-related incidents and employing poorly trained and unmotivated personnel.