Work environment and safety in shipping

THEME: SAFE, ERGONOMIC SHIPS

Cooperation is smooth on Fox Sunrise .............................................1Safety and ergonomics are profitable ...............................................3SAN has the floor ................................................................................4Outlook .................................................................................................4

Laurin Maritime starts with SAN notebooks . .................................5English summary ...............................................................................6A sense of fairness ............................................................................. 7In brief ..................................................................................................8

YEAR 40 3/16

Darkness has fallen over the port of Trel-leborg. A few dazzling white seagulls gli-de in the black night sky; drizzle is falling slowly. Able body seaman Jimmy Åfeldt heads toward the deckhouse to prepare for bunkering. He makes a note of the de-livery on the white-board: ECA 140 cubic metres, and takes out some sample bottles.

”We take samples of the oil while we are pumping it - the customer gets two bottles and we keep two. If there are any discussions afterwards, we must be able to prove that we delivered the product they ordered,” he says.

Fox Sunrise backs up alongside the German ship Stena Sassnitz. The chief mate, Henrik Benderius, comes onto the deck and things move fast as they secure the mooring ropes fore and aft.

Galvanized hull”There are only two of us out here when we’re bunkering, and it’s important you both know what has to be done,” says Henrik as he controls the stern capstan. ”There’s no time to show people the ro-pes for a long time, so it’s difficult when there are new hands on the job.”

Jimmy lifts the 50 kilogram hose con-nector over the railing, which is taken in the bunker hatch of the ferry by his Ger-man colleagues. Once all the paperwork

is completed and signed he gives the go-ahead on the radio to Henrik, who has gone back to the loading computer on the bridge. The thick hose that winds across the deck and railings expands as the fuel begins to flow and the meter starts tick-ing. The next hour or so is mostly spent keeping an eye on the pumping process before the pace of work speeds up again.

”This is probably one of the best ships I’ve worked on,” says Jimmy when asked if he likes his job here. ”It has a good crew, and the ship is quite easy to work on - you can tell they put some thought into it when it was built.”

There are several others in the seven-man crew, as well as the student officer, who agree with that. Jonas Kristensson is in his tenth year as an able body seaman,

the last three at BRP. At first he had only planned to work as a seaman for a couple of years, and then study to be an officer. But the plan changed, he explained as we sailed through the busy Öresund waters early in the day.

”As long I’m enjoying my work, I don’t feel there is any reason to go on studying. When we were sailing a lot on the North Sea, with bad weather and no cover, I was really tired of it, but this route is much better,” he says.

”The ship’s hull is galvanized so there hasn’t been much need for chipping rust,” he continues. ”It is only in recent years that we’ve used the needle guns a bit more often.” There is virtually no exter-nal pipework on the weather deck, most of it being concealed in the double deck.

Cooperation is smooth on Fox Sunrise

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ENThe ship is designed for those who work on board, and the general ap-proach is that everyone helps out. This makes for good health and sa-fety on BRP Shipping’s bunker ship, Fox Sunrise, even though the-re is a two-watch system and stress levels are high at times.

2 SAN-NEWS 3/16

All ropes are on winches, and on the star-board side of the weather deck there is a thick rubber mat to reduce the risk of da-mage and wear. It is now eleven years since the ship was built, however; the mat has done its job and is partly worn away. As well as the ship being relatively easy to work on, Jonas also appreciates the flat organisation on board.

Unmanned engine room”There is little hierarchy on this ship. Of course we know each other’s responsibili-ties and we respect each other’s professi-onal roles, but even the chief mate gets out and does the painting just like everyo-ne else,” he says.

We cross the deck to the storeroom un-der the forecastle. Protective equipment is kept here, as well as materials for clea-ning up oil in the event of a spill. On the other side of the bulkhead there is a paint store with cans of paint and brushes in a row.

”We have two-component paint for all outdoor jobs, but we use protective equip-ment and most of the mixing is done here on the deck. We usually paint in fine wea-ther, of course, and then you might as well do the mixing out outside, but there is ventilation inside too.”

Fox Sunrise is propelled by five diesel-electric motors with a total power of 1500 kilowatts. The relatively low engine po-wer means that continuous manning in the engine room is not necessary, which Axel Magnusson, chief engineer, is pleased about.

”On the last ship I had problems sleep-ing - not so much on board, but when I got home. Here I work in the daytime and only need to get up for an alarm at night once or twice a week, which works much better.”

The engine room is bright, with a high ceiling. The air feels exceptionally fresh and the noise level is relatively low. Axel points at the white cowlings and grey me-tal covers that enclose the machinery.

”They keep in a lot of the dirt and par-ticles that normally get into the air in an engine room,” he says in a loud voice to be heard through the earplugs. ”They are a bit in the way when doing maintenance, it’s true, but I still prefer having them, and this is probably the best engine room I’ve worked in.”

The number of motors used depends on how much power is needed, but nor-mally the ship switches between two and three motors. Not only is this energy-effi-cient, it also allows Axel to do work on the motors while they are sailing.

”I can do work here virtually any time, and I’m usually down here three or four hours a day. I am responsible for all the engineering and electronics on board, and I also help out on the deck as and when necessary.”

At 10 in the morning the crew gather in

the corner sofa on the bridge. Kaj Lager-ros, the ship’s cook, comes up with a tray of freshly baked cinnamon buns.

”We meet here at 10 am and 3 pm and enjoy a bite with some coffee,” says the master, Emil Wijk. ”It’s great that people like to get together, and we take advanta-ge of the opportunities.”

The bridge is equipped with many de-tails in wood and Emil thinks that the in-struments are well-placed. In the ceiling above the helmsman’s seat there is a VHF radio, intercom, AIS, log and gyro. Stee-ring controls and keypads are mounted on the side of the seat.

”I like that the buttons light up when they are pushed in,” says Emil. ”You need never to think about whether a function is on or not, since it’s clearly visible even in darkness. Some people who are shorter than me may feel that instruments in the ceiling are a little high up, but they can always stand on the foot plate to reach them.”

Fox Sunrise was one of the first Swe-dish ships to be equipped with double electronic charts, which means that no paper charts are used. Updating paper sea charts is otherwise a time-consuming task for the second mate.

”I’ve only worked on this ship so I don’t have much else to compare it with,” says second mate Johannes Lantz. ”But things work really smoothly with ECDIS and on the route we now have, paper charts would probably have been worn out fairly soon by all the rubbing out.”

Freshly baked bread for breakfastKaj Lagerros is down in the galley prepa-ring Saturday dinner, which according to the menu on the wall will be pork tender-loin with curry sauce and various side dishes. The dessert is moist chocolate cake with strawberry topping.

”What we make here in the galley af-fects the whole ship, so I always serve

Axel Magnusson.Jonas Kristensson. Henrik Benderius.

Kaj Lagerros.

”The chief mate is also out painting,

just like anyone else”

SAN-NEWS 3/16 3

When they had the opportunity of building a ship from scratch, the key words for the Peterson brot-hers in Västra Frölunda were fun-ctional, easy to work aboard and environmentally friendly. Today, eleven years later, they say that the decision was financially worthwhile.

When BRP Shipping’s CEO, Mattias Pe-terson and his two brothers had their first chance of ordering a new ship in the 2000’s, they knew what they wanted. As fourth-generation ship-owners with their own experience at sea, they had a clear idea about what was needed to create good working conditions.

Only Swedish crew”We wanted it to be functional so that pe-

ople could concentrate on the right things - loading and unloading,” says Mattias. ”They should not have to worry about too much else.”

The first ship, Fox Sunrise, was ready in 2005 and three years later her sister ship, Fox Luna, was completed. By making things easier for the crew (see article on

page 1), it is possible to keep down the number of employees. This means they have been able to keep the Swedish flag and a Swedish crew.

”Normally there are ten men on a ship of this size, but thanks to its design we manage with seven and still have time to do more. We will continue with a comple-tely Swedish crew as long as we can,” says Mattias.

Cost no obstacleMattias Peterson is honest about the ex-tra costs of all the special solutions BRP chose for their ships, compared with con-ventional designs. Money, though, was not the major obstacle to doing what they wanted.

Continued on page 5.

Safety and ergonomics are profitable

fresh bread for breakfast and something to go with the coffee. We buy supplies at Coop in Sisjön when we moor in Gothen-burg. It’s not exactly the best solution, but it works.”

After working almost 40 years in diffe-rent galleys onboard, he has a lot to com-pare with and he is very happy with his current workplace.

”This is one of the best galleys I have worked in,” he says. ”Large work surfa-ces are good when you’re baking, so you don’t have to run around and look for things.”

Emelie Lundberg, trainee officer, has also settled in well. She is in her third year of studies on the Sea Captain pro-gramme in Kalmar and has worked on several different ships during her practi-ce periods.

”This is probably the best ship I have been on so far,” she says. ”I like to work on tankers and I feel more relaxed when there are fewer people on board.”

But even though the general atmosphe-re is good and the ship is designed well for the work to be done, the work load is still high. The mates and able body sea-men have six on six off watches (work six hours and rest six hours) and in bad wea-ther or with frequent bunkering, the work is heavy.

”If things get really bad and you are worn out, you can tell Emil and he will run the ship for a while,” says Henrik. ”But it is certainly hard work. It’s a good thing we don’t have more than two-week assignments, because it would be diffi-cult to do much more.”

Just before eleven on Saturday evening,

the meter in the deckhouse shows that the transfer to Stena Sassnitz will soon be completed. Jimmy is in the deckhouse, counting down the volume on the radio to Henrik, up on the bridge. When the coun-ter is at 140 cubic metres, the pumps are shut off. Henrik puts on his jacket and steps into his work shoes to help retrieve the hose fitting and cast off. It is 11.30 in the evening when Fox Sunrise is finally moored at the dock once again in Trelle-borg. A few hours’ sleep are now possible before the next bunkering starts at 8.00 on Sunday morning.

”This route is fairly quiet, but someti-mes we are in the wind off Skagen with up to eight bunkerings per day,” says Jimmy. ”Then the stress makes things tough.”

Linda Sundgren

Johannes Lantz. Emil Wijk and Jimmy Åfeldt.

”We want it to be functional so that

people can concentrate on the right things”

4 SAN-NEWS 3/16

~ EDITOR HAS THE FLOOR ~

Work enviromen help with SAN!Order at: info@san-nytt.se eller www.san-nytt.se

WORK ENVIRONMENT COURSE

Interactive course – Better work environment at sea - in Swedish and English. Better work environment at sea is an interactive course developed by SAN. It is mainly aimed at people who work onboard Swedish flagged ships, but everyone involved in work environ-ment management on ships will find the course use-ful. The contents are based on the work environment manual for shipping. Read more here or visit the work environment course.

WORK ENVIRONMENT NOTEBOOKWork environment notebook from SAN. SAN has de-veloped a work environment notebook as an aid in systematic work environment management onboard.It is small and convenient and easily fits into a pocket in your work clothes. In the event of an accident, in-cident or shortcoming, simply take out the notebook and make a note. The work environment notebook can be ordered free of charge by e-mail: info@san-nytt.se.

WORK ENVIRONMENT MANUAL With the help of the Work Environment Manual, it will be easier to keep track of what laws and regulations require regarding the work environment onboard, but it can also function as working material for a safety com-mittee, for example. Latest update: February 2015. Download in pdf or order a copy from Prevent at www.prevent.se

Service personnel’s work environmentA perennial issue is the increasing amount of stress among service person-nel. The pace of work is always on the in-crease, and so is the sickness rate. At the same time, we have a growing problem with the Swedish Social Insurance Agen-cy, who stop paying sickness allowance on the pretext that people can take work elsewhere. As to where these jobs are, ho-wever, they don’t give any clues. This trend is tough on individual employees and naturally it is a concern for both em-ployers and trade unions.

An on-going research project is trying to find out more about the situation and come up with proposals for measures. The project is called Service Personnel’s

Work Environment and is financed by the Swedish Mercantile Marine Foundation. It is now in the final phase, and the pro-ject leaders have invited interested par-ties to a workshop. The idea is to give specialists the opportunity of proposing measures to improve the work environ-ment for onboard personnel. The project involves collaboration between Linnaeus University and the Swedish Social Insu-rance Agency, under the leadership of three very experienced and knowledgea-ble people. Cecilia Österman is a resear-cher who works at the Swedish Environ-mental Research Institute, IVL. She has long experience in shipping, both as a marine officer and as a teacher and re-

searcher at the Kalmar Maritime Acade-my. Carl Hult is an associate professor at the Maritime University of Kalmar who has devoted many years to maritime re-search. Mats Lindblad is the former ma-nager of the Swedish Social Insurance Agency maritime office and is now wor-king as section manager at the Public Employment Service. This trio, if anyone, has the skills and knowledge required to help solve the difficult situation that has arisen. Despite the scale of the challen-ges we now face, they are the reason I am able remain optimistic.

Karl Arne Johansson

”Even if the crew members are pretty independent, it is important that offi-cers encourage them and follow up situations. Work is more fun and we can

create a better atmosphere.” Emil Wijk, Master of M/T Fox Sunrise

According to the Paris MOU, ships sai-ling under the Swedish flag are best at complying with international rules on maritime safety and security. This orga-nisation summarises the results of port state controls around Europe each year and publishes white, grey and black lists. The rank order of flags depends on the number of shortcomings noted and ships detained during checks. In total there are 73 nations included.

”This confirms that we are working in the right way with maritime safety. The most important thing, though, is not that

we are best in the world on this year’s list but that we have had an average position of three for many years now. I don’t think there is any other country that can beat that record,” says Tryggve Ahlman at the Swedish Maritime Association, and goes on to explain.

”We talk a lot about safety culture and now it seems that we have also managed to put it into practice. But in reality it is the seafarers on board who do safety work eve-ry day who really deserve praise for this.”

Sweden is followed on the white list by Great Britain, France, Denmark and Nor-

way in that order. Portugal and Spain are climbing up the white list, while India and Switzerland have moved down onto the grey list. At the bottom of the black list are Tanzania, Moldova, Togo, the Como-ros and the Cook Islands. In August, two cargo ships were denied access to Paris MOU ports due to high safety risks. One was the Togo flagged M/V Porhov, which was stopped for checks off Gibraltar. The second, M/V Jigawa, was stopped when arriving at the port of Genoa, Italy. Jigawa sails under the Moldovian flag.

Linda Sundgren

Sweden best flag state~ OUTLOOK ~

SAN-NEWS 3/16 5

Continued from page 3.

”You can always calculate economics in different ways, but looking at the ship’s entire lifespan, I don’t think that it is any more expensive than conventional ships.

Of course, it made things easier when Stena believed in us and signed a five-year charter with the first vessel.”

What was a problem, on the other hand, was finding a shipyard that could deliver what they wanted. The order finally went to a shipyard in Vestnes, Norway.

”The Norwegians were not at all as ex-pensive as we had expected and they knew exactly how to build diesel-electric. They had loads of subcontractors and were brimming with expertise,” says Mattias.

Regulations, authorities and banks were also a worry.

Obsolete regulations ”Many of the regulations are from the 1960s and 1970s. They don’t allow for innovation or modern technical solutions, and this is an area that continues to make

things difficult for us,” says Mattias.

He tells us about an issue that came up recently in con-nection with one of the company’s ships that was go-ing to start on a new route along the Norwegian coast. The Swedish Transport Agen-cy demanded that separator purification should be installed to reduce the amount of oil in the bilge water to 15 ppm per cubic metre of water, which is the limit value for bilge water that is pumped overboard. BRP’s ships all have completely closed systems where all oil mixed with water is pumped ashore, but no considera-tion was given to that.

”We don’t want to pump any oil into the sea, yet they still want us to install a sepa-rator,” says Mattias.

To the question of whether they are considering building a new ship, Mattias answers every day. Exactly which solu-

tions they would like include on board would depend on the ship’s commissions and routes, he says.

”Building a ship that is halfway good for most things provides no added value for the ship owners, those working on board or the cargo owners.”

Linda Sundgren

Vd Rederi BRP, Mattias Peterson.

Several of the Laurin Maritime ships use the SAN work environ-ment notebooks. Even more of the company’s employees on board have been given the notebooks in an effort to increase reports of near-accidents and improvement sugges-tions.

Shipping companies can order free work environment notebooks from SAN for re-porting improvement suggestions, inci-dents and accidents. The idea of the note-books is to ease the flow of information between ships and offices ashore. They are a handy size that fits into a normal pocket, and the printed text is in both Swedish and English. One of the compa-nies that uses the work environment note-books is Laurin Maritime, based in Goth-enburg.

”Getting the crews to report near-acci-dents and deviations to us is key to safety work,” says Carl-Johan Eriksson at the shipping company’s quality department. ”It really is necessary if we’re going to prevent accidents, and the work environ-ment notebook is very useful in this re-spect.”

”But there’s a lot of information that doesn’t reach the shipping company,” says Carl Johan, who recently started

working ashore after eight years as chief mate.

”The worst part of the information flow is probably getting staff to report near-accidents - things that worked out OK but could have been much worse.”

At the end of the summer the shipping company decided to try to improve the reporting of incidents by providing all employees on the Amorina with a note-book each.

”Amorina is in the South Atlantic now,

and it will be some time before the con-signment reaches them and they can start using the notebooks, but in a few months we hope to see some results,” he says.

Would you also like to try a work environ-ment notebook? Place an order with: info@san-nytt.se

Linda Sundgren

Laurin Maritime starting with SAN notebooks

6 SAN-NEWS 3/16

~ THE PROFILE ~

Catarina Persson enjoys her work as chief safety delegate, but the at-mosphere on board has got tougher and her job has become increa-singly difficult to manage. She is now putting her hopes into a newly organised working group.

Catarina Persson, who works with the service personnel on the Birka, says that she has always had a sense of justice. As far back as her childhood, she wanted things to be fair and for people around her to feel good. The same conviction made her take on the role of safety repre-sentative three years ago.

”You can be involved and influence things. We’ve made several improve-ments, such as non-slip floors in the ser-ving aisles and better cooperation for staff on long-term sick leave,” she says when we meet on board during a stay in port in Stockholm.

”Over the last few years the atmosphe-re on board has got tougher,” says Cata-rina, who began work on board in 2011. The problems began with a major re-or-ganisation on 1 January 2015 when the old work teams were disbanded, shifts became longer and relief days were chan-ged. Since then things have become worse.

”Many of the crew are feeling bad and

come to me to talk about it. They are worn out and some don’t feel happy about the new groups that have been made.”

This discontent is reflected in the sick-ness statistics.

”In August we had an alarming amount of sickness registered,” says Catarina. ”It is mainly caused by musculoskeletal pro-blems and psycho-social diagnoses. It is an unhealthy workplace at the moment.”

There is also a large demand for substi-tutes to replace those on sick leave.

”It is good to get new staff, but when there are so many it increases the wor-kload for the usual personnel. We are al-ready understaf-fed, which means that the service personnel must be really efficient - but you can’t demand that from new re-cruits.”

Since there was no consequence analysis or risk as-sessment before the reorganisation, the safety representa-tives put in a report on deficiencies in the work environment (a so-called 66a) to the Swedish Transport Agency. The Agency agreed with the safety represen-tatives. So did the administrative court after the shipping company appealed the decision. Yet nothing has happened, says Catarina.

”But a change must come. As well as the staff’s suffering, all this sick leave costs the company a huge amount of money, and when the staff feel bad it is bound to affect the service on board in the end.”

Mapping ergonomics Despite all these problems, Catarina Persson believes it is possible to turn things around. A first step was taken at the beginning of the summer when two ergonomists came on board to make a survey of heavy lifting, twisting and wor-king heights. Their report will now be considered by the company, the ergono-

mics team and the safety repre-sentatives. A working group has also been set up on board, go-ing under the name of The good workplace. It consists of all the department managers and

their safety delegates, as well as the ship’s nurses and union representatives.

”Everyone must start to think in a ”we” perspective, where the crew and the com-pany work together and not against each other,” says Catarina. ”All of us who work on board here want to do a good job and want things to go well for the company.”

Linda Sundgren

”Everyone must start to think in a ”we” per-spective, where the

crew and the company work together and not against each other”

Chief safety delegate Catarina Persson A sense of fairness

Catarina PerssonAge: 53 Family: Son of 23 who has mo-ved out. Lives: In Värmland. Currently: Main safety represen-tative with great commitment to colleagues’ health and well-being; instrumental in solving is-sues on Birka. Background: Economics de-gree at Karlstad University. Hotel and restaurant trade ashore. Service and administration with TV 4. Ran her own radio produc-tion company. Has worked with service personnel at Birka since 2011. Work environment tip: Reflect on how you choose your words. Talk to each other and not about each other. We are each other’s psycho-social work envi-ronment.

SAN-NEWS 3/16 7

~ IN BRIEF ~

Sjöfartens ArbetsmiljönämndBox 404, 401 26 GothenburgTel: 031-62 94 00E-mail: info@san-nytt.seWeb: www.san-nytt.se/english/

Publisher: Lars Andersson, SARF

Editor: Linda Sundgren tel 08-540 645 15, linda@san-nytt.se

Editorial committee: Johan Marzelius, SjöbefälsföreningenMikael Huss, SjöbefälsföreningenKarl-Arne Johansson, SEKO sjöfolkSAN News is produced with subsidies from the Swedish Marine Work Environment Foundation.

Production: Breakwater Publishing

SAN is a joint body for Swedish Shipowners’ Employer Association (SARF), Maritime Officers’ Association and SEKO Seafarers.

Sjöfartens Arbetsmiljönämnd, SAN, bildades 1956 och är ett

samarbetsorgan mellan arbetsgivare och fackliga organisationer. SAN

verkar för att förbättra arbetsmiljön och öka säkerheten inom svensk

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På www.san-nytt.se får du veta mer om oss.

Få som sysslar med arbetsmiljö lär ha undgått att den nya föreskriften organisatorisk och social arbetsmiljö (AFS 2015:4) trädde i kraft i våras. Men vad innebär den egentligen och hur gör man för att införliva de nya bestämmelserna ombord? De här frågorna och många andra ska vi ge svar på under höstens San-konferens. Självklart kommer vi också att uppmärksamma Sans 60-årsfirande med en historisk tillbakablick på åren som varit. Vi avslutar dagen med en gemensam buffé.

Konferensen hålls torsdagen den 27 oktober i ”Läppstiftet” i Göteborg. Anmäl dig senast den 20 oktober. Inbjudan, program och anmälningsblankett hittar du på Sans hemsida www.san-nytt.se. Deltagandet är kostnadsfritt. För mer information, kontakta Eva Ohlsson på Sjöfartens Arbetsgivareförbund, tfn 031-629540 eller eva.ohlsson@transportforetagen.se.

Varmt välkommen!

Organisatorisk och social arbetsmiljö – en utmaning för sjöfarten

Dags att premiera årets bästa arbetsmiljöinsats!I höst delar vi åter ut San-priset för särskild berömvärda arbetsmiljöinsatser ombord. Mottagaren kan vara en grupp av människor eller någon enskild, besättningsmedlemmar eller landanställda.

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Förslag på kandidater lämnas senast den 1 oktober till Eva Ohlsson, eva.ohlsson@transportforetagen.se eller Sjöfartens Arbetsmiljö-nämnd, Box 404, 401 26 Göteborg.

SAN PRISET 2016

SAN_Nytt_konferens_16_a4.indd 1 2016-06-28 14:40

MLC campaign 2016The Paris MOU is carrying out a th-ree-month inspection campaign to look at levels of compliance with the ILO work environment convention, which came into force in 2013. The campaign was launched on 1 Septem-ber and will continue for three months. Everything from salaries to diet to ca-bins will be surveyed using specially designed questionnaires.

(Paris MOU)

No personnel injuries during onboard fireOn 1 September a fire broke out on Stena Spirit between Karlskrona and Gdynia, Poland. A lorry on the car deck caught fire half an hour before the ferry arrived in Poland. Passengers were assembled on the deck while the crew extinguished the fire. Nobody was injured. What caused the fire is still unclear.

(Maritime journal)

Praise reduces sick leave Appreciation shown by managers is a cheap but effective part of preventing long-term sickness leave. Praise has a particularly noticeable effect on people who suffer from sleeping disorders. This has been shown by a new Danish study at NFA (National Centre for Work Environment Research) invol-ving just over 10,000 people selected at random.

(Life at work)