Empirical Study on the Relationship Between Vacation Schedule and Seafarers’ Fatigue in Chinese Seafarer Population

Abstract

BackgroundFatigue is an important factor for the safety of ships. In order to alleviate fatigue of the seafarers, the STCW Convention (International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping for Seafarers) has made many regulations on the working time of seafarers. At present, if a crew member takes only one day off at home before returning to work on the ship, the working time on the ship must be re-calculated again. If the time spent at home is not sufficient to allow the crew to recover, the regulations of only stipulating the working time, not stipulating the home vacation time, cannot guarantee the crew’s fatigue been well controlled. The aim of present study is to explore the relationship between vacation schedule and fatigue of the seafarers.MethodsIn present study, a simplified stress scale developed by the Ministry of Labor of Japan has been used as a measurement tool. The method of stratified sampling was adopted. Data collection mainly came from domestic ocean-going seafarers (n = 165). Analysis was conducted using the Cross (chi-square) analysis and hierarchical multiple regression analysis methods.ResultsWe found that there was no difference between crew members of different positions in terms of average vacation time and on-board service time (p > 0.05). The length of last vacation time and this service time for seafarers of different positions showed obvious differences (p < 0.01). The rank has a significant effect on the length of the last vacation (χ2 = 101.560, p = 0.000 < 0.01) and the length of this service time (χ2 = 75.624, p = 0.000 < 0.01). Also, the results showed that there was a significant negative correlation between the duration of vacation and overall fatigue (t = –7.160, p = 0.000 < 0.01), while there was a significant positive correlation between the length of service time on board and overall fatigue (t = 3.474, p = 0.001 < 0.01).ConclusionThe results indicated that a reasonable vacation schedule was crucial for the relief of the seafarers’ fatigue, and also played a positive role in the state of working on the ship again.

Mental health and wellbeing of seafaring personnel during COVID-19: Scoping review

“…Several other challenges were identified in this review as negatively affecting the wellbeing of seafarers. Firstly, denial of shore leave seemingly helped to allay fears of COVID‐19 infection but also negatively affected health and work performance; this is unsurprising as it is widely recognized that shore leave is crucial for the mental health and wellbeing of seafarers 2,37,38 . Secondly, seafarers expressed concerns about their finances and future employment—fears which have been echoed across the world by many occupational groups during the pandemic 39 and which appear to be associated with poorer mental health 40,41 .…”

“…Firstly, denial of shore leave seemingly helped to allay fears of COVID-19 infection but also negatively affected health and work performance; this is unsurprising as it is widely recognized that shore leave is crucial for the mental health and wellbeing of seafarers. 2,37,38 Secondly, seafarers expressed concerns about their finances and future employment-fears which have been echoed across the world by many occupational groups during the pandemic 39 and which appear to be associated with poorer mental health. 40,41 Seafarers also reported loneliness and isolation -experiences that are often reported by seafarers even during 'normal' times, 42 but which seemed to be exacerbated by the perception of being completely isolated from the 'outside world' during a time of crisis and the inability to socialize with crew as they normally would.…”

Analysis of influencing factors of subjective career unsuccessfulness of vocational college graduates from the Department of Navigation in China

“…A clear career plan to become senior officials was not stable due to the lack of planning in recent years, leading to subjective career unsuccessfulness. An et al (2022) and Tetemadze et al (2021) argued that excessive workload, insufficient sleep, and fatigue affected ship safety. In addition, Tetemadze et al (2021) stated that lack of on-board socialization and poor interpersonal relationships caused crew fatigue and worsened seafarer health.…”

“…The other two influencing factors of insufficient family support and greater psychological pressure were similar toBao et al (2021) finding that family responsibility and health status was the main factor leading to the exodus of young seafarers. A clear career plan to become senior officials was not stable due to the lack of planning in recent years, leading to subjective career unsuccessfulness An et al (2022). andTetemadze et al (2021) argued that excessive workload, insufficient sleep, and fatigue affected ship safety.…”

Fatigue Detection for Ship OOWs Based on Input Data Features, From the Perspective of Comparison With Vehicle Drivers: A Review

“…Low sleep quality tends to cause fatigue and reduces the driving ability of professional drivers [7]. This is more likely to occur on board a ship because ship OOWs may encounter more difficult and challenging working conditions, as follows [8]: 1) 24/7 working patterns, changing time zones, and shifts (e.g., four-and six-hour shifts [9]), which result in irregular circadian rhythms and working hours, as well as disruption to the biological clock [10,11]. 2) Severe weather, rough seas, seasickness, vibrations, noise, prolonged loneliness, tension, and stress, which result in low sleep quality [12,13].…”