Technical Circular No: 040/2022
Download PDF1. Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) vide Marine Notice 05/2022 has informed that a focused inspection campaign (FIC) on Hours of work and rest will be initiated by AMSA.
2. The FIC will be conducted from 01 May 2022 to 30 June 2022.
3. The purpose of the FIC is to determine;
a. The level of compliance with the maximum hours of work or minimum hours of rest for seafarers in accordance with the requirements of International Conventions; and
b. The familiarity of the master and officers with implementing the provisions when working onboard ships.
4. The Focused Inspection Campaign (FIC) is specific to Australia. It will apply to foreign flagged ships and Regulated Australian Vessels (RAVs) arriving at an Australian port.
5. AMSA inspectors will undertake the FIC in conjunction with a normal port or flag State control inspection. Any port State control deficiencies will be reported to regional port State control databases.
6. Accordingly ship owners and masters of ships plying in Australian waters are advised to take a note of above and familiarise themselves with the requirements of the Maritime Labour Convention 2006 (MLC) and the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW), Australian Marine Orders 11 & 28 and their respective safety management system, including how they are implemented onboard.
7. In this regard, owners and masters of ships intending to call Australian ports are advised;
a. To verify beforehand that their ships are in compliance to the requirement using the attached AMSA FIC checklist.
b. In case any deficiency is noted, same is to be rectified immediately before arrival any Australian port. Where considered necessary, surveyors attendance may be requested.
8. IRS surveyors during their next scheduled attendance onboard ships intending to call Australian ports will also verify the ship’s compliance to the above requirements.
9. Further, with respect to the questionnaire, Please be guided as following;
a. An approved standardized table of shipboard working arrangements for each seafarer serving on the ship containing atleast the national requirements for maximum hours of work or the minimum hours of rest and the schedule for service at sea and in port, is to be posted in an easily accessible place on the ship. The table of shipboard working arrangements is to be in the working language or languages of the ship and in English.
b. An up to date records of work or rest, as required under national standards, for each seafarer serving on the ship is to be maintained. Each seafarer to have a copy of the records pertaining to them which must be endorsed by the master, or a person authorized by the master, and by the seafarers. In this regard, it is to be noted that: i. The minimum hours of rest must not be less than ten hours in any 24-hour period and 77 hours in any seven-day period, if the relevant national law relates to hours of rest, or, if the relevant national law relates to hours of work, the maximum hours of work must not exceed 14 hours in any 24-hour period and 72 hours in any seven-day period. ii. Hours of rest may be divided into no more than two periods, one of which must be at least six hours; the interval between consecutive periods of rest must not exceed 14 hours.
c. Compliance with the requirements concerning minimum hours of rest or maximum hours of work as above will be verified by checking relevant documents including deck and engine room log books, SEA and relevant CBA.
d. Musters, fire-fighting and lifeboat drills, and other drills are to be conducted in a manner that minimizes the disturbance of rest periods and does not induce fatigue.
e. Adequate compensatory rest is to be given to seafarers if the normal period of rest is disturbed by call-outs to work, such as when a machinery space is unattended.
f. The master of a ship may suspend the schedule of hours of work or hours of rest and require a seafarer to perform any hours of work necessary for the immediate safety of the ship, persons on board or cargo, or for the purpose of giving assistance to other ships or persons in distress at sea. However, in such instances, as soon as practicable after the normal situation has been restored, seafarers who performed work in a scheduled rest period are to be provided with an adequate period of rest. Whilst the utmost care has been taken in the compilation of the Technical Information, neither Indian Register of Shipping, its affiliates and subsidiaries if any, nor any of its directors, officers, employees or agents assume any responsibility and shall not be liable to any person for any loss, damage or expense caused in any manner whatsoever by reliance on the information in this document.
g. MLC requires that the maximum duration of service periods on board following which a seafarer is entitled to repatriation to be less than 12 months. In this regard, AMSA has specified that maximum duration of shipboard employment must not exceed 11 months. Accordingly, ensure that no seafarer onboard has periods of shipboard employment exceeding 11 months.
10. This Technical Circular supersedes and revokes earlier Technical Circular No. 037/2022, dated 05th May 2022.
Enclosure:
Disclaimer:
This Technical Circular and the material contained in it is provided only for the purpose of supplying current information to the reader and not as an advice to be relied upon by any person. While we have taken utmost care to be as factual as possible, readers/ users are advised to verify the exact text and content of the Regulation from the original source/ issuing Authority.