Researchers Building Fatigue Prediction Tool
During the months from April to August this year, 65 officers and crew on 8 ships trading worldwide have been helping researchers on the MARTHA project to collect data on fatigue levels on board their ships. The research team is conducting two linked studies involving Masters of vessels and their crews over the next two years. The first study which has taken place this summer has involved 2-3 months of continual observation on the longer-term psycho-social issues affecting seafarer fatigue.
Volunteer crew members have been rating their fatigue and stress levels, among other factors, in a weekly diary which is then sent directly to the research team by e-mail. Selected crew members are also wearing Actiwatches periodically at the beginning and end of the study period to record their physical activity levels. In addition to this personal data, information is also being collected on the voyages of the individual vessels, including the times of their port calls, PSC inspections, weather conditions and any other situations which is likely to affect the quality of sleep.
Building on its predecessor project HORIZON, the new project MARTHA, sponsored by The TK Foundation, continues this groundbreaking research into seafarer fatigue. Led by Warsash Maritime Academy at Southampton Solent University, the consortium includes the Stress Research Institute in Stockholm; the Centre of Maritime Health and Society in Esbjerg, Denmark; the University of Southampton; and the Dalian Maritime University in China. InterManager is also a partner, and has been playing a major role in helping the consortium to find volunteer shipping companies to participate in the project.
The study is being conducted on four chemical tankers trading in North West Europe and also on four large container vessels which are trading between Asia and Europe and Asia and the South America. Professor Mike Barnett of the Warsash Maritime Academy, which is leading this research study, pays tribute to all the volunteers: “As an ex-seafarer myself, I know how hard the crew on these vessels work every day of their tour, and so I and my colleagues are especially grateful and appreciative of their efforts in completing the weekly diaries.”
“The choice of vessels is deliberate so that we can observe how different trades manage their fatigue risks under different circumstances,” adds Barnett. “Over the winter, we will be replicating the study on eight ships with Chinese crews. We will be using the results from all the data we collect to enhance our fatigue prediction tool called MARTHA”.
The second phase of the project will take place next year, when the researchers will conduct a trial of MARTHA as part of an evaluation of the effectiveness of fatigue prediction tools within a risk management system (FRMS) through another shipboard study. FRMS are also being pioneered in aviation, and involve the use of fatigue prediction models, transparent reporting systems, and training.
Providing training is one of the ways in which the research team can immediately help the shipping companies that have chosen to participate in MARTHA. "As well as giving us data, next year we will be offering training on fatigue awareness to individuals, so their knowledge will be growing about fatigue and how to cope with it, and we hope they will also gain from the experience," Barnett explains. All the volunteers are anonymous and anyone can start a diary whenever they want. He adds: “It will be really good if we can get some of our current volunteers to take part next year as well!”
“Fatigue is a very serious issue which has not been properly researched yet, especially as it relates to the maritime industry. Project HORIZON established baseline information on fatigue, but it is time we explore the whole issue further. I am delighted that industry and the research partners have come together and that the TK Foundation can assist in this extremely important project. I have no doubt the results will be a ‘game changer’”, says Captain Kuba Szymanski, secretary general of InterManager.