Fatigue at Sea in Swedish Shipping-A Field Study
Journal article, 2010

Background Today many merchant ships sail with only two nautical officers, working a shift schedule of 6 hr on and 6 hr off There are concerns that such a shift schedule is related to fatigue. However, little data exist from onboard studies of seafarers. Methods Data were collected on board 13 ships. Fifteen participants worked on a 6-on, 6-off watch system. and another 15 on a 4-on, 8-off watch system. Electrooculography, actigraphy, diaries, and reaction time tests were used to measure the effects of shift system on fatigue and sleep. Results and Conclusions Sleepiness was higher during the night shift in the 6-on, 6-off system. Moreover, sleepiness increased more during the watch in the 6-on, 6-off system compared to the 4-on, 8-off system. There was a trend toward shorter sleep episodes in the 6-on, 6-off system and sleep was more often split into two episodes.

performance

fatigue

merchant vessels

schedules

psychological functions

driver fatigue

watchkeepers

seafarers

accident risk

circadian-rhythms

work

sleep

subjective sleepiness

shift work

Author

Margareta Lützhöft

Chalmers, Shipping and Marine Technology, Division of Maritime Operations

Anna Dahlgren

Chalmers, Shipping and Marine Technology, Division of Maritime Operations

Albert Kircher

Chalmers, Shipping and Marine Technology, Division of Maritime Operations

B. Thorslund

The Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI)

M. Gillberg

Karolinska Institutet

American Journal of Industrial Medicine

0271-3586 (ISSN) 1097-0274 (eISSN)

Vol. 53 7 733-740

Areas of Advance

Transport

Subject Categories

Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology

DOI

10.1002/ajim.20814

More information

Latest update

4/18/2018