2.
1 Work and Recreation at Sea
E.Zom
Throughout the ages ships' crews have al-
ways had to adapt to the special circum-
stances oflife at sea. Irrespective ofthe size
and type of ship, the common factor in sea-
faring is the requirement to live and work
in a restricted community under special en-
vironmental conditions. The hard life en-
dured by seafarers in former years has been
made much easier by revolutionary en-
gineering progress and better ship design,
but technical innovations always create
new problems. The increasing trend to-
wards automation on board has reduced
considerably the physical work required,
and the standard of safety at work has been
correspondingly raised. This has naturally
been accompanied by facilities for a heal-
thier and generally improved way of life.
While these changes are to be welcomed,
there is still room for improvement. The
change from traditional seafaring to a
modem shipping industry, associated with
fewer crew members and quicker ship tum-
round in ports has increased the mental
strain and the isolation from social con-
tacts ashore. Any research project on "the
ship of the future" must take account of
these aspects in addition to subjects such as
the ship's operation and professional edu-
cation of the seafarers.
2.1.1 Work Structure and Hazards
of the Individual Shipping
Branches
All the various shipping trades, whether
foreign-going, coastal or fishing, have nu-
merous hazards. These hazards vary ac-
cording to the type of ship and the nature
W. H. G. Goethe et al. (eds.), Handbook of Nautical Medicine
© Springer-Verlag Berlin, Heidelberg 1984
of the individual jobs, but common to them
all is the unavoidable stress caused by the
noise and vibration of the machinery, the
motion of the sea and other macroclimate
influences. The microdimate and possible
chemical or radiation hazards at the indi-
vidual work-place are additional dangers.
The work-Ioad varies according to type
of vessel, occupation and work-place. The
work-Ioad may be increased or decreased
according to the environmental factors.
Therefore, the data ofwork-Ioad studies on
board are not strictly comparable with each
other. These very different results cannot
be considered as representative data.
On board nearly all vessels world-wide,
the crew is subdivided as follows:
Deck staff
Engine room staff
Catering staff
Attempts have been made in several
shipping countries during re cent years to
integrate the deck and engine room person-
nel owing to the reduction of the ship's
crew and the increasing rationalisation of
the ship's operation. Modem merchant
vessels have become larger in size and ton-
nage and are provided with greater propul-
sion power. Consequently, the average
gross tonnage of German vessels increased
from approximately 2000 gross tons in
1952 to approximately 10000 gross tons in
1970. Simultaneously, the ship's crew was
reduced from, say, 70 in 1957 to 30 or even
less in 1974. The duration of voyages and
calls at ports were reduced to approximate-
ly half of the former time periods (Goethe
et al. [10]). In the meantime, approximately
90% of German Federal vessels have been
70 2 The Seafarer's Environment
fully automated. This applies to nearly all
highly developed shipping countries,
whereas the situation of the countries of
the so-called third world is frequently in
conformity with the conditions of about
1950 in the industrial world.
The modem merchant fleet predomi-
nantly consists of motor vessels and only in
small part of turbine-driven ships. The fol-
lowing groups ofvessels are concemed:
Dry cargo vessels
Special cargo vessels (container vessels,
LASH carriers, bulk carriers)
Tankers (crude oil tankers, chemieal tank-
ers, gas tankers etc.)
Multipurpose vessels
Passenger vessels
The peculiarities of the cargo to be trans-
ported by the above-mentioned types of
vessels have a big influence on the work-
load and the hazards on board.
The fishery fleet, with its different types
of vessels, naturally has its own partieular
problems.
The cargo vessels which make up the
biggest part of the merchant fleet mostly
serve as liners. They regularly visit a num-
ber of defined ports according to a time-
table and then return to the horne port.
There are no fixed shipping routes in
tramping. Home ports are visited at ex-
tremely irregular intervals - maybe only
every couple of years. Tramping means un-
favourable work conditions because of
greater mental stress.
If avessei is chartered, it is assigned to a
shipping company and/or agency for one
or more voyages. This implies similar con-
ditions for the crew as in tramping.
There are two types of cargo vessels:
general cargo vessels and bulk carriers.
General cargo consists of mixtures of car-
go, e. g. engine parts, vehides, technieal ar-
tides, chemicals, wood and spiees. The car-
go has to be stowed safely. Therefore,
stowing means very skilIed and difficult
work. Non-adherence to safety regulations
and carelessness at work may lead to severe
accidents. The number of general cargo
vesse1s has been reduced considerably with
the introduction of container vessels.
Bulk liners predominantly carry coal,
ores, cereals and fertilizers. The severity of
possible hazards depends on the peculiari-
ties of the transported cargo. If, for exam-
pIe, the ventilation of the cargo tanks of a
coal freighter is insufficient, this may cause
a high concentration of carbon dioxide,
methane and sometimes hydrogen sul-
phide in the air. When entering the tanks,
crew members may consequently suffer
toxie effects. Spontaneous combustion
may sometimes occur. Although severe
bums are the usual injury in this event, poi-
soning by carbon dioxide mayaIso hap-
pen. The strict control of ventilation is es-
sential to guarantee the safety of the ship's
crew. Ore cargo carries the risk of inhaling
high concentrations of dust in addition to
gas produced by the ore. This may happen
if the ore gets wet, forming toxie chemieal
combinations with hydrogen (e. g. hydro-
gen sulphide). Heavy ore cargo may shift
with the ship's motion during rough seas,
severely affecting the ship's stability. The
transportation of cereals presents similar
hazards. Wet cereals mayaiso lead to spon-
taneous combustion and thus to a very high
concentration of carbon dioxide. There is
also the risk of cargo shifting. The same ap-
plies to other bulk cargoes, which, trans-
ported under the influences of high envi-
ronmental temperatures and humidity, may
form carbon dioxide and other kinds of
toxie gas. This includes a large variety of
cargoes normally considered absolutely
harmless, e. g. vegetables, maize, rice, soya,
potatoes and fruit. Fruit and vegetables
which have been bruised and have rotted
are a particular hazard.
Fruit carriers are special ships equipped
with large cooling plants to prevent over-
ripening. These cooling systems may leak
coolants such as Freon, whieh may be
dangerous because it displaces oxygen and
can cause asphyxia. The regular inspection
of cargo requires frequent lengthy visits to
the cold stores. These temperature changes