[BITList] Fwd: Lloyd's List: Send to Colleague

[Michael Feltham]

Begin forwarded message:

From: enquiries at lloydslist.com
Date: 19 February 2009 08:26:09 GMT
To: mj.feltham at madasafish.com
Subject: Lloyd's List: Send to Colleague


The below article was sent to you from Mike Feltham (mj.feltham at madasafish.com 
) with the following message: I thought you might be interested in the  
article below.

IMO under fire over fatigue-related accidents
Sandra Speares - Thursday 19 February 2009

A UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch report into the grounding of  
the general cargo vessel Antari last year has criticised the  
International Maritime Organization for dragging its feet in  
addressing the issue of fatigue-related accidents, writes Sandra  
Speares.

The incident reflected “a continuing and unacceptable trend” of  
fatigue-related accidents in UK waters.

“The IMO has failed to address this issue satisfactorily,” the report  
said.

The report into the grounding off the Antrim coast in June 2008  
concluded that the accident occurred because the watchkeeping officer  
fell asleep with no dedicated lookout being posted.

As a result, the MAIB had taken the “exceptional step of recommending  
that the UK administration takes unilateral action to ensure the  
safety of shipping within UK waters and to protect the environment”.

The MAIB had identified the problem of minimal crewing leading to  
unacceptable levels of fatigue in bridge watchkeepers in a safety  
study in 2004 and recommended that the UK address the issue through  
the IMO as a matter of urgency, the report said.

The UK and Denmark were, however, forced to withdraw papers initially  
submitted to the IMO in favour of a European Commission-led approach.

“In the five years since this report, there have been no changes to  
international standards or requirements to address this issue, and  
similar accidents continue to occur,” the MAIB said.

International standards for hours of rest allowed seafarers to work a  
98-hour week, although some countries were signatories to a code  
limiting working hours to “just” 91 hours per week, the report said.

At night, ships should have an alert officer of the watch and a  
dedicated lookout on the bridge, but the latter was often not provided  
— contrary to requirements — leaving the officer of the watch alone  
for a six-hour watch.

Given the number of accidents that had occurred with officers falling  
asleep, it was possible to extrapolate that there were more unreported  
incidents of ships travelling in UK waters with no-one awake onboard,  
the report said.

“It can only be a matter of time before these ‘unguided missiles’  
cause a catastrophic accident,” the MAIB added.

The report recomends that the UK Department of Transport and the  
Maritime and Coastguard Agency press for an urgent review of process  
and principles for safer crewing at IMO.

The IMO said that as a result of the MAIB safety study in 2004, the UK  
had submitted a proposal to MSC 84 in 2007 “to the effect that,  
through amendment of Solas regulation V/14, an auditable procedure for  
establishing vessels’ safe manning levels should be introduced”.

It added: “This was accepted, and the Maritime Safety Committee  
therefore agreed to include, in the work programme of the STW sub- 
committee and in the agenda for STW 40, a high-priority item on  
‘mandatory requirements for determining safe manning’, with a target  
completion date of 2010.”

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