NavBrief - The Navigator issue 41
A professional navigator must be able to carry out their duties safely. That means not being fatigued or overworked. Don’t risk dropping off – the safety of the ship depends on it!
Being a professional navigator ensures safety for the crew and environment, alongside commercial benefits to the company. It calls for extensive training and experience (with reflection), as well as continuous development and learning. However, even the most professional navigator with the best intentions can make mistakes if they are suffering from fatigue or allow themselves to become distracted.
Excessive workloads can have a devastating effect on performance and safety. In the 1990s, the aviation industry adopted a programme called ‘Human Performance and Limitation’ (HPL). This was designed to help aeroplane pilots understand how the limitations of the human body can affect decision-making. This comprehension is just as crucial to mariners. Ships are industrial machines and humans are flesh and blood. For these to work in harmony, everyone in the maritime industry must understand the limitations (and benefits) of humans – and how to manage them properly.
There are many reasons why a navigator’s performance might be compromised, including fatigue, excessive workload, lack of sleep due to the environment, personal stresses, etc. The difference between ‘work imagined’ and reality is an important issue for shore managers and regulators. Asking the crew for ‘just one more report’ might not seem significant when sitting in a shore office; however, the cumulative impact on seafarers can be significant. We have spent decades reducing crew numbers due to the ‘benefits of technology’. Yet, during the same period we have increased bureaucracy of compliance for reports, inspections, onboard training and commercial communications. Are we realistically readjusting crewing levels to take this into account? Perhaps not.
In this edition of The Navigator, we explore this issue from various points of view, listening particularly to seafarers. We hope that the regulators and operators who read this edition will also take note and rethink the demands upon the mariners. We encourage mariners to take fatigue seriously, know how to spot it in themselves, and others, report truthfully and have the courage to say NO when needed. Captain André LeGoubin offers excellent advice from his many years at sea on pages six and seven, while the Royal Institute of Navigation compares fatigue management at sea with that in the sky on page 10.
There are some good tips for managing fatigue on board, such as adjusting rotas where possible, employing good bridge resource management, paying attention to sleep hygiene and, perhaps most importantly, notifying the Master of issues and concerns where necessary. Short-term fatigue due to weather is one thing, but more prolonged fatigue affecting the whole crew as a result of continued or increasing high workloads must be brought to the attention of shore management. It is one thing to try to make a voyage with minimum people, but this is clearly counter-productive if a ship runs aground.
Navigators must look after themselves, and others on board. Owners and regulators must take stock of realistic crewing levels and whether the notion of ‘work imagined’ is what is happening in reality. Mariners must not be afraid to give realistic feedback.
As always, we encourage readers to share these ideas with your teams on board. It is your professionalism in recognising and managing workload that keeps your crews, ships and the environment safe.