28th October 2015
Port States stepping up the scrutiny for hours of work and rest ....
Now the question is whether the compulsory rest hours required by MLC under the well researched rest requirements is actually contributing Safety of life at sea alone or the mishaps as well..?
What is rest at sea? does it mean 'not doing paid job' and using the time to spend on hours and hours on fb and whats app through ship's internet and remaining tired as well distracted and not having added anything extra about the awareness of the ship designs and operating procedures... or truly being de-stressed and well rested..?
And yes how about the efficiency of the officers and ratings from a large variety of cultural backgrounds ... do they all have the same work-efficiency?
Ship's safety depends upon the well rested officers and the crews as well as a well maintained status and well informed and skilled operating staff ..... if the rest hours are going to adversely been interpreted as said above and if the answer to the quality maintenance & operation is not positive then the increase in the number of accidents have some connection with the new well intended but poorly enforced work & rest hours regime ....
Please do not experiment with ship operations and enforce in an immature way and in fact help promote lowering of safety in the name of concepts that are not fully compilable for the sea related ship-board operations !!
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