Merchant Shipping Act, 1951 (Act No. 57 of 1951)

Regulations

Merchant Shipping (Safe Manning, Training and Certification) Regulations, 2013

Part 5 : Manning Requirements

93. Hours of work: general duty of owners, masters and others
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(1)The master and owner shall take account of the danger posed by fatigue of seafarers, especially those whose duties involve the safe and secure operation of that ship. In preventing fatigue, owners shall take into account the guidelines provided by the Authority.

 

(2)All persons who are assigned duty as officer in charge of a watch or as a rating forming part of a watch and those whose duties involve designated safety, prevention of pollution and security duties shall be provided with a rest period of not less than:
(a)a minimum of 10 hours of rest in any 24-hour period; and
(b)77 hours in any 7-day period.

 

(3)The hours of rest may be divided into no more than two periods, one of which shall be at least six hours in length, and the intervals between consecutive periods of rest shall not exceed 14 hours.

 

(4)The requirements for rest periods laid down in subregulation (2) need not be maintained in the case of an emergency or in other overriding operational conditions.  Musters, fire-fighting and lifeboat drills, and drills prescribed by national laws and regulations and by international instruments, shall be conducted in a manner that minimizes the disturbance of rest periods and does not induce fatigue.

 

(5)The master and owner are required to post watch schedules where they are easily accessible. The schedules shall be established in a format specified by the Authority in one of the official languages of the Republic and in English.

 

(6)If a seafarer is on call, such as when a machinery space is unattended, the seafarer shall have an adequate compensatory rest period if the normal period of rest is disturbed.

 

(7)The master and owner shall require that records of daily hours of rest of seafarers be maintained in a format published by the Authority or approved format containing similar information, in the working language of the ship and a translation into English, to allow monitoring and verification of compliance with the provisions of this regulation. The seafarer shall receive a copy of the record pertaining to him or her, which shall be endorsed by the master or by a person authorized by the master and the seafarer.

 

(8)Nothing in this regulation shall be deemed to impair the right of the master of a ship to 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. Accordingly, the master may suspend the schedule of hours of rest and require a seafarer to perform any hours of work necessary until the normal situation has been restored. As soon as practicable after the normal situation has been restored, the master shall ensure that any seafarers who have performed work in a scheduled rest period are provided with an adequate period of rest.

 

(9)The master or owners may allow exceptions from the required hours of rest in subregulation 2(b) provided that the rest period is not less than 70 hours in any 7-day period.

 

(10)Exceptions from the weekly rest period provided for in subregulation 2 shall not be allowed for more than two consecutive weeks. The intervals between two periods of exceptions on board shall not be less than twice the duration of the exception.

 

(11)The hours of rest provided for in subregulation 2 may be divided into no more than three periods, one of which shall be at least six hours in length and neither of the other two periods shall be less than one hour in length. The intervals between consecutive periods of rest shall not exceed 14 hours. Exceptions shall not extend beyond two 24-hour periods in any 7-day period.

 

(12)The owner and/or master every ship shall provide a schedule of duties setting out, amongst others, the following:
(a)hours of work for each seafarer on watchkeeping or ship handling duties; and
(b)specifying minimum rest periods in accordance with this regulation.

 

(13)The schedule of duties shall be kept onboard and be made available for all watchkeeping seafarers and those with duties and responsibility for safety and pollution prevention.

 

(14)Records of hours of rest and any deviations from these requirements shall be kept onboard for minimum period of five years.

 

(15)Every master and seafarer shall ensure that they are properly rested.

 

(16)Any exceptions that the master makes against the hours as stated in subregulations (8), (9), (10) and (11) shall be recorded in the Official Log Book or deck log book stating the circumstances resulting in such exceptions.