The Danish Maritime Administration (DMA) has been urged to review its manning-hour requirement on board Danish-flag ships in light of recent findings from an accident report.
The call was made by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) following its report into a fatality on board the Danish-registered, 4,900-dwt Thor Gitta (built 1996).
A Filipino rating was killed when he was hit by a moving lashings bin he was trying to secure in heavy weather.
The report blames fatigue for his poor decision making. It says tiredness contributed to the seafarer taking excessive risks, a common characteristic of fatigue.
As is often the case, the ATSB could not get an accurate account of the seafarer's working hours. But based on a revised six-hour on, six-hour off roster, their analysis showed his fatigue would have been at a high level of performance impairment similar to alcohol intoxication.
Other earlier reports such as one compiled by the UK's Maritime Accident Investigation Branch (Maib) have also expressed concern over the six-on, six-off system for watchkeepers and ratings.
The ATSB sent the report to the DMA, which has rejected its findings on fatigue. The ATSB summarised the DMA's response as "the Danish Maritime Authority disagrees with the statements, indicating that the roster of the AB and the work routine for watchkeepers probably results in a cumulative level of fatigue in the crew".
Despite the rejection, the ATSB is still calling for the DMA to undertake more work on the issue of fatigue and manning hours.
UK officer's union Nautilus has now come out and said it believes more work needs to be done on fatigue. Senior national secretary Allan Graveson said:
"The fact that the DMA can choose to reject the findings of this report demonstrates the need for further research that we are now involved in through the European Union [EU] funded Horizon project."