Fatigue Management Program for Canadian Marine Pilots

Literature Review
Poor sleep quality in the maritime industry is caused primarily by the work schedule and by the
fact that sleep is often attempted at physiologically inappropriate times. In addition, sleep loss
can accumulate across days and create chronic fatigue, which cannot be recovered
sufficiently during the assignment. Added to this is the fact that sleeping aboard ship can be less
restful due to noise levels and the motion of the ship.
Incident investigations showed that individuals involved in incidents where fatigue was a major
contributing factor had high levels of fatigue yet most of the companies complied with work
regulations, which permit a maximum of 98 hours in one week (Filor, 1998). Hours of work
regulations alone will not eliminate the problem of fatigue in the maritime industry. Moreover, a
marine tradition that “being fatigued means you are weak” prevents mariners from
understanding that fatigue can be as dangerous as moderate levels of alcohol intoxication
(Reyner & Baulk, 1998; Filor, 1998; Dawson et al., 1998). Research by Dawson and colleagues
(1998) has demonstrated that after a 12-hour shift, fatigue impairs responses, reaction times,
logical reasoning, hand-eye co-ordination, and decision making in similar ways as a blood
alcohol content of 0.048%.
In response to their work schedule, watch keepers generally obtain their sleep in two or more
episodes, which are often taken at times other than at night. This sleep pattern interferes with
circadian rhythms and results in more sleep disturbances and shorter sleep episodes than
experienced by crew members working a single shift every 24 hours (Sanquist et al., 1996; Reyner
& Baulk, 1998). Fatigue-related accidents and laboratory studies have clearly shown that
individuals are more likely to make errors and to fall asleep inadvertently during the night
(Folkard, 1996a; Monk, 1989). Performance impairment measures indicated poor adaptation of
circadian rhythms in response to the mariners’ work schedule (Comperatore & Kingsley, 1998;
Condon et al., 1988a; Sanquist et al., 1996). Unlike performance, alertness ratings tend to decline
only prior to and after each sleep episode. These fluctuations are directly related to watch
changes (Comperatore & Kingsley, 1998; Condon et al., 1988a; Sanquist et al., 1996). These
results indicated that individuals were not able to accurately perceive the accumulation of
fatigue. A fatigue management program would teach them how to better recognize fatigue
symptoms. Comperatore and Kingsley (1998) suggest that “this lack of perception of declining
abilities mirrors a similar effect of alcohol”.
Other factors can lead to sleep fragmentation and circadian rhythm disruptions, such as poor
sleep/wake management, additional duties, stress, time zone crossings, weather conditions, and
emergencies. Poor sleep/wake management can be illustrated by a mariner electing not to use
off-watch time to obtain recovery sleep when needed (Filor, 1998; Rutenfranz et al., 1988;
Comperatore & Kingsley, 1998). Additional duties and long assignment duration (greater than 60
days) will also contribute to increasing fatigue by reducing the opportunity for sleep and
increasing stress levels related to being away from families (Polkard et al., 1990). Trans-meridian
voyages can change shipboard time at a rate of up to one hour per day, thus creating a
situation that could exacerbate misalignment between the circadian rhythm and work/rest
patterns. Finally, situations involving bad weather or emergency procedures will intensify sleep
loss and fatigue symptoms.
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