Guidelines on Fatigue

Fatigue is a hazard because it may affect a seafarer’s ability to do their job effectively and safely. Importantly, fatigue affects everyone regardless of skill, knowledge and training. These guidelines were developed to inform each party that has a direct involvement in ship safety (seafarers, Administrations, ship designers, companies, training providers, etc.) of the nature of fatigue, its causes, preventive measures and countermeasures.

Approved by the Maritime Safety Committee of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the guidelines in this publication are composed of self-contained modules addressing the issue of fatigue from different angles: the company, the seafarer, awareness and training, ship design, and the Administration and port State authorities. It also includes examples of sleep and fatigue monitoring tools and of fatigue event report information.