The DIAGNOSIS OF STRESS AND FATIGUE IN MARITIME WORK ON BOARD

“THE CASE OF SPANISH SEAFARERS”

Abstract

All seafarers wishing to work on a ship must undergo a medical examination prior to embarkation, according to the Maritime Labour Convention, (MLC,2006), and the Standards of Training, Certfication, and Watchkeeping (STCW), in compliance with STCW Regulation I/9 and Section A-I/9. In Spain, this focuses mainly on physical tests of the individual and not so much on his or her mental health. This paper shows the results of a survey on "stress and fatigue in maritime shipboard work". Despite having suffered from both stress and fatigue in the last campaign on board, 49.79% of the respondents acknowledge that they have never been diagnosed with stress, and 52.04% reveal that they have not been diagnosed with fatigue. On the other hand, 55.50% of the participants in this consultation consider it necessary to diagnose stress in the medical examination and 61.40% believe that tests relating to the diagnosis of fatigue are necessary in these examinations. In view of these data, the competent authorities, as well as the different contracting companies, are urged to promote both prevention and mitigation of the possible consequences of suffering from both stress and fatigue in order to avoid unintended consequences such as maritime accidents as a result of stressed and/or fatigued crews, i.e. to include tests on the crew member's mental health before, during and after embarkation in medical examinations, as well as protocols for action by the companies in terms of training and information on these two problems.