Crewman’s fatigue led to crash at sea
A fishing company has been fined for the ‘‘reckless’’ conditions aboard one of its boats, leading to its capsize.
A 17-year-old deckhand, who had never before been on watch by himself at night, fell asleep at the wheel allowing it to smash into rocks near Howe Point in the Bay of Islands in January 2016, Maritime NZ said.
The case was taken to court. The court found that crew fatigue led to the grounding.
The teen in question had worked a full day, slept for less than one hour, and was then woken to take his turn on watch.
He fell asleep at the helm and the vessel ran on autopilot for a while before crashing.
The boat, named Jan, was a total wreck and all three crew had to abandon ship.
Maritime NZ prosecuted the fishing company, Wild Fish (NZ) Ltd, under the Maritime Transport Act in the North Shore District Court on Tuesday. The company was fined $27,200.
Maritime NZ northern regional manager Neil Rowarth said the prosecution sent a strong message around fatigue at sea.
‘‘Crew fatigue is real and potentially disastrous for ships and their crew.
‘‘With all three of Jan’s crew, including the helmsman, asleep it was a matter of luck that this was not a fatal accident.’’
He said maritime operators and ship masters were responsible for making sure crew got enough sleep to operate safely.
The incident was made worse by the fact that Wild Fish had installed anti-sleep alarms on its fleet, after a previous fatiguerelated grounding in 2011.
The ‘‘watch alarms’’ sound periodically and help keep crew awake or wake them up if they do fall asleep.
But Rowarth said the company did not tell crew it was installed or how to use it.
Maritime NZ told the court there was no effective system for monitoring crew sleep patterns, then, exacerbating the situation, a crew member with limited watch-keeping experience was permitted to go on watch alone.
‘‘It is clear that the crew of the Jan were entitled to trust that the equipment they were using was adequate, and that they had training and processes in place that were able to keep them safe. That wasn’t the case at all.’’
Maritime NZ said fatigue was one of the biggest factors causing injuries to crew on fishing vessels.
❚ 28 per cent suffer an injury each year (Neilson survey of workers and employers, 2014)
❚ 34 per cent fell asleep at the wheel (Maritime NZ commercial fishing fatigue survey, 2018)
❚ 42 per cent made a bad decision (Maritime NZ commercial fishing fatigue survey, 2018)
❚ 61 per cent of crew report working when overtired (Neilson survey of workers and employers, 2014).