Fatigue due to on board work conditions in merchant vessels

Abstract

[Abstract] Several publications point to the human error like the fundamental cause of the practical whole of theaccidents. Inside these accidents, the fatigue has been identified like a recurrent cause, already was asfirst cause or like an important factor that produces the human error. Investigations carried out duringthe course of these years have shown that the chronic fatigue problems, the problems related to thestress and other problems of the health are associated with the conditions of work on board. On board,the fatigue related to the work depends directly on the characteristics on the work environment that theworker is exposed and, specifically, to the type of demands imposed by the task.With the aim to define in an objective way the levels of fatigue associated with the tasks and relatedaspects of the engineering department crew on board merchant vessels, a survey on workers of thisdepartment was conducted. The results showed a high level of complexity in the work performed due tothe tremendous physical and mental needs required to perform the typical tasks on board these vessels.