Study of issues related to seafarers' labor safety

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Odesa National Maritime University, Ukraine

Navigation and Maritime Safety Departmet

Study of issues related to seafarers' labor safety

Melnyk O., PhD, Ass. Professor

Pasternak O., Senior Lecturer

Checha O., Senior Lecturer

Nykytyuk P., Senior Lecturer

Varlan T., Assistant

Summary

Keywords: maritime transport, labor safety, safety on the ship, crewmember, seafarer

Maritime transport is a reliable means of moving and transporting various cargoes. That is why safety on the ship is of paramount importance. All crewmembers undergo mandatory training and several types of briefings before joining the staff on the ship. The Captain of the ship is responsible for conducting regular drills and performing them on board to maintain the level of training. It is the captain's responsibility as well to familiarize the new joining crewmembers, which assigned to the ship with the features of this certain vessel, internal schedule, job description, as well as actions in connection with familiarization. A newly assigned crewmember must be familiar with the location of rescue equipment, know how to use emergency supplies, and clearly know all the rules.

A crewmember who has not received an initial briefing on safe methods of performing his duties shall not be allowed to work on the ship. The assistant captain or chief engineer in charge of crewmember training is entitled to carry out the training. It is imperative that all work activities are carried out in accordance with work sheets and instructions. They indicate the types of work that can be performed on the ship by the crewmembers themselves. Instructions to this or that equipment and other technical documents (diagrams) are used for clarification.

Technological documents contain a section with information on safe technology of work on the ship. The process is led by the ship's captain or a specially designated person from the command staff. To practice professional skills in the use of technical equipment and onboard aids for various purposes, regular practical exercises in the form of a drill are held.

International and national laws and regulations regulate the training of seafarers, the protection of their life and health, and the protection of the environment. They pay particular attention to the need to provide seafarers with sound knowledge and skills to ensure personal safety and survival in the performance of their duties. This requires a conscious approach to social responsibility, the ability to confront fires and provide first aid to victims.

When the crewmember arrives on board the vessel and before taking on watch or before starting work on board, the crewmember must be briefed on health and safety by the head of department, which he assigned. This may be the chief mate of the captain, chief engineer or/and safety officer. At the same time, the seafarer shall be duly familiarized with:

• the design features of the vessel,

• the vessel's sailing area, the type of cargo being transported,

• the company's health and safety policy,

• their schedule of ship alarms,

• the list of personal protective equipment (PPE).

A seafarer should know:

• where his personal lifesaving equipment is stored,

• in which lifeboat he/she should leave the ship,

• ways of emergency evacuation from the cabin or his workplace.

The seafarer's safety briefing should be recorded in a log or checklist (according to Company policy or the laws of the flag state of the ship) by the signatures of the seafarer and the personnel who gave the briefing. From the beginning of his time on board the ship until the end of the contract, a seafarer must clearly comply with the health and safety requirements.

Every company and ship should have rules that provide crewmembers with precise instructions for the safe and correct performance of certain jobs. Such rules include clear, detailed instructions on how to conduct shipboard work with maximum safety.

Having a written clearance for each type of work which:

• ensures that the officer assigning the work has given the seafarer assigned to a particular job detailed instruction on how to perform the work properly and with maximum safety for himself;

• ensures that all the necessary tools are available to carry out the work in question;

• informs the seafarer in detail of all possible risks involved in carrying out the work and the precautions taken to reduce those risks (for example, fire extinguishers or safety belts);

• ensures that the seafarer is assigned to perform only one type of work, thereby reducing the risk of accident which might occur if several types of work were performed at the same time;

• the right of other crew members of any rank to prevent their fellow seafarer from continuing to work if they consider the work dangerous or carried out in unsafe conditions.

The seafarer has the right to report any non-compliance with occupational health and safety standards that threaten the safety of ship operation (for nonconformable accommodation and inadequate food on board) to the Master, PSC inspectors, union labour inspectors, ITF inspectors or other organizations for the protection of seafarers' rights.

Introduction of automation and telemetry on ships, increases in the duration of their navigation, reduction in the number of crews led to a significant increase in the intensity of labour activity. Distinct peculiarities of navigation conditions in rapidly changing climatic and geographical zones, peculiarities of work and life regime connected with direct exposure to unfavourable factors of ships' habitability inevitably affect the seafarers' organism and lead to deterioration of their working capacity and health. Such unfavourable factors for majority of vessels, especially for those of old construction, can be noise and vibration of high levels, presence of harmful substances in the air, discomfort microclimate of rooms, high levels of non-ionizing electromagnetic radiations on open places of upper decks and service rooms, etc. Physical, chemical and biological factors of shipboard environment in case of exceeding their maximum permissible levels are to be considered as the reasons of seafarers' health deterioration. There is a pronounced cause-and-effect relation between the intensity of their influence and the state of health of the crew, and in 30% of cases, the question is about the increased levels of physical factors of inhabitability of ships.

It is necessary to take into account that most factors of ship environment are characterized by low intensity, i. e. their hygienic value consists in the fact that at long exposure they are not the direct cause of health deterioration, cause pre- pathological changes in organism. In real conditions of long swimming it can manifest itself as deterioration of well-being, reduction of ability to work, increase of general sickness rate of crewmembers at sea. Consequently, such multi-causal conditionality of seafarers' health dictates the need to identify environmental factors that have a decisive influence in specific conditions. Sanitary and hygienic measures are fundamental for preserving seafarers' health and are aimed at preventing adverse effects of the factors of habitability of ships and vessels. At present, the use of advanced achievements of science and technology makes it possible to create on seagoing and river ships more favourable than before working, living and rest conditions for the crewmembers. However, actual conditions of seafarers' life activity do not yet fully meet the requirements of modern ship hygiene. safety labor protection ship's crew

Hygienic assessment of working conditions involves their continuous monitoring, the methodology of which is a set of techniques, procedures and methods, traditional for occupational health and safety, united by a single system approach. However, it can be stated that at the level of shipping companies, the existing system of evaluation of working conditions is only a set of statistical indicators of morbidity, which can be presented as only a very rough assessment of working conditions of seafarers. Due to a number of reasons, inspection of workplaces on ships is not carried out to the full extent, and the shipowners' attitude to the elimination of the identified deficiencies is often formal.

Disease prevention plays a very important role in practical medicine, and on board ship, it is more important than anywhere else. Shipboard conditions are not as conducive to good health as they are on land: there are inevitably limited opportunities for exercise on board, living quarters are not very spacious, and fresh food is not always available. Such conditions cause boredom and stress, which may contribute to some of the illnesses typical of sailors. The following factors contribute to ensuring safe working conditions and the well-being of seafarers, fig.1;

Fig. 1. Faktors ensuring of work on board

Seafaring is an occupation associated with high health risks for seafarers: although accidents on ships occur almost as often as on land, they tend to be more severe and are much more likely to be fatal - according to recent data, 10-20 times more often. One of the reasons why accidents among seafarers are more serious is that heavy equipment is more often used on ships than on shore.

Conclusion

To reduce the frequency and severity of accidents among seafarers as well as other adverse health consequences:

• the shipping company must be focused on improving the safety culture at all levels, from the company manager to the captain and the rank-and-file sailors;

• the company's health and safety policies should be clearly communicated to all employees;

• information and facilities for the enforcement of company health and safety regulations should be available on board all ships;

• work on the ship should be planned in such a way that the risk of both short- and long-term damage to seafarers' health is minimized.

Approved in February 2006, the ILO Maritime Labour Convention sets minimum standards to ensure satisfactory working conditions for seafarers worldwide. It consolidates and improves over 65 other ILO maritime instruments and introduces a system of certification and enforcement. Sometimes the IMO and the ILO join forces to deal with issues of mutual concern. Two examples of such work are the fight for fair treatment of seafarers in maritime casualty cases, in which joint recommendations have now been issued, and the problem of liability and compensation in respect of claims brought in cases of death, injury and abandonment of seafarers.

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