THE AUSTRALIAN Maritime Officers Union (AMOU) has strongly criticised what it perceives as a lack of action from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) regarding hours of rest for vessel masters.
The AMOU yesterday (19 November) said it was “mortified” to learn that AMSA decided to make no changes to hours of rest as part of its review of Marine Order 504, calling the authority a “toothless tiger”.
“What a waste of everyone’s time to be sitting in industry reference group meetings where the regulator told us that their intention was not to allow anyone on a vessel to work over 14 hours in 24, only to find that they walked out of the room and bowed to commercial pressure,” said AMOU industrial officer Tracey Ellis.
Marine order 504 is national law that outlines the safety management systems and operational requirements for domestic commercial vessels (DCV) in Australia.
AMSA recently undertook a consultation period earlier this year between May and July, where it received feedback from stakeholders about proposed changes to MO504 relating to safety management systems.
The authority reported it received a total of 109 submissions, claiming the feedback received regarding hours of rest was mixed. It said 75% of submissions were from DCV owners, operators, and masters.
It reported that while there was strong support for changes to from seafarers in certain sectors such as towage, oil, and gas and offshore construction, there was strong opposition from other sectors, including some members of the fishing industry.
Speaking to DCN regarding the decision, an AMSA spokesperson said, “AMSA recognises the complexity in addressing the risk of fatigue and will continue to collaborate with industry to develop risk-based regulatory solutions that improve safety and are practical for all sectors of the maritime industry”.
“Those that opposed advised that a prescriptive approach to rest would be impractical for some sectors due to the need for operational flexibility and to respond quickly to safety concerns.
“From 1 June 2025, all DCV owners will be required to identify the risks of master and crew fatigue and how this is to be managed in their vessel’s risk assessment.”
The spokesperson said fatigue management provides for a broader consideration of risks in addition to the hours of work and rest, including matters such as environmental factors, night work, and suitability of the sleeping environment.
AMSA affirmed its stance that a fatigue management approach is a better outcome for such a diverse industry, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, and said it will develop guidance to assist industry with the implementation of these fatigue management requirements.
Meanwhile, the AMOU criticised the authority’s “lack of backbone” over the decision, citing the enterprise agreements of one of the major towage providers that it says allows tug masters to work up to 18 hours per day, with only 6 or 7 hours rest in any 24 hours, as an example of how not regulating a minimum standard is failing vessel masters.
“The company use a loophole, by saying that they operate under what they deem to be ‘Appropriate Crewing’, to avoid having to have the higher number of crew onboard to comply with the 10 hours rest in 24 required under MO504’s Minimum Crewing,” the union said in its statement.
“The AMOU can’t see how AMSA can in good conscience stand by while companies are putting their crews and vessels at risk of a serious incident,” Ms Ellis said.
“The AMOU is also of the opinion that 10 hours rest is not sufficient in a lot of cases. In the towage example, Masters have to drive home, eat, shower, sleep and return to work and are expected to be rested within that time.”
