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Risk Factor Spotlight: Family Stress and Isolation from Family, Winter 2006 In our last issue, we discussed the Crew Endurance Risk Factor of No Opportunity to Exercise. In this issue, we will examine Family Stress and Isolation from Family, describing how these factors affect crew fatigue and how they can be countered. The Roots of Family Stress Family life places many responsibilities and emotional attachments on people. So how does it affect someone on the job? People’s ties to their loved ones may cause them anxiety and depression if their work demands that they spend significant time away from the family. Stress over separation can be a powerful distraction from a job and reduce endurance. Mariners may be away from home for weeks at a time when traveling. Crewmembers who work on vessels inevitably have to spend extended periods of time away from home, since their job fundamentally requires travel. A crewmember’s family life can also affect endurance when various stressors come from the home, such as child or parent care, divorce, or financial worries. When family pressures distract personnel on vessels, the stress weakens the crewmembers’ endurance, increasing the risk of human error that could lead to a vessel accident. Loneliness, isolation, family conflict, and concern about family members are all types of family- related stressors that may harm vessel operators. Long work hours make these problems worse by keeping the operators away from home even longer. Many working parents experience unhappiness over prolonged isolation from their families and missing out raising of their children. The responsibilities associated with home life can easily heighten the stress level of a traveling spouse. More problems can develop when the traveling spouse’s absence creates stress for the rest of the family. Being gone a long time, the household can feel like a one-parent home and frustrate the stay-at-home spouse and children. It is difficult to involve the traveling spouse in family activities, and the family may feel upset and rejected when the traveling spouse returns home tired. Isolation from the Family When traveling spouses spend significant time away from their families, the dynamics change as the traveler comes and goes. Family stress increases with the frequency of the traveler’s departures and arrivals. The family members become less certain of what their home life should be like when one spouse/parent is constantly away. The stress affects everyone in the household, and is a dangerous distraction to the traveling spouse whose job involves operating a vessel or other transportation mode. At the same time, long periods of isolation negatively affect the at-home spouse. The at-home spouse may become depressed because of loneliness, the burden of making household decisions alone, lack of support, and worry about the traveling spouse’s safety. The negative effects on the athome spouse can worsen the traveling spouse’s stress. Traveling spouses may feel guilty about leaving their families alone, knowing that their spouse and children feel lonely when they are gone. The traveler also may be unhappy to have lost the benefit of support by the spouse back home. Extended isolation from their families can cause both stress and depression for traveling spouses, making them vulnerable to fatigue on the job. Consequences Family-related stress can put operators in significant danger on the job. One study found that drivers who experienced stressful life events such as personal conflicts, financial difficulties, illness, or bereavement were five times more likely to cause fatal accidents than other drivers. This danger also applies to mariners. The loss of a spouse by death or divorce is extremely stressful. It can contribute greatly to fatigue, and a grieving individual may experience decreased concentration, sleep deprivation, dehydration, mental fatigue, and memory loss. These effects will diminish alertness and performance. The most dangerous type of stress is chronic psychological stress. Here, stress induced by interpersonal relationships, task design, management style or other factors creates a constant drain on crewmember energy levels. Physiological responses such as elevated pulse and blood pressure expend the operators’ energy even during rest periods. The hormone epinephrine, which is normally released during life threatening situations to provide extra energy for a person to protect himself or herself, can also be released during high stress. This situation creates a substantial energy drain on a person, reducing mental concentration and awareness. The person’s energy cannot be restored until the stress level lessens, so it’s important that crewmembers avoid chronically high stress. Overall, stress at home can adversely affect work performance, and work stresses can affect home life over the long term. Ways to Fight Family-Related Fatigue In general, operators of all types of vehicles perform their work most reliably and effectively when they have a stable marriage with a supportive spouse. A spouse’s psychological support enables the crewmember to cope with the stress of the job, but extended isolation from the family can damage this support. Without a way to cope with work stresses,—such as poor working environment, lack of job satisfaction, lack of autonomy, etc.—the operator is prone to human error. Crewmembers need to know how their families are to avoid undue worry and anxiety, which can lead to increased stress and diminished endurance. Finding ways to keep them in touch with home while they are on the job is helpful. There are a number of measures which can combat operator fatigue caused by family stress and isolation from family. Companies can provide crewmembers with means of communicating with their families so as to reduce their depression and anxiety. Shipboard phone use and Internet email access can easily boost crew morale and allow members to stay in touch with loved ones. Making time available for vessel operators to communicate with their families by cell phone can do the same. |
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Key to Implementing CEMS: Vertical Alignment, Spring 2006 Well, it took 9 issues, but we’ve highlighted all 15 crew endurance risk factors, the complications involved, and tips to improve conditions for each. So now we’re shifting our spotlight to some key components that will help you implement and sustain CEMS indefinitely. Our first focus features what we call “vertical alignment,” which helps knit all the parts of CEMS together by getting many different types of company members involved in promoting and sustaining CEMS practices. Supporting vertical alignment helps to ensure that all members really understand CEMS, its relevance to their lives, and why they should carry out its recommendations. It’s difficult to break vertical alignment into “steps,” – it’s more like creating a “buzz.” Companies must generate and sustain this positive “CEMS buzz” for all who will use it, from the highestlevel managers to the newest deckhands. Companywide Training No company can successfully implement CEMS unless all of its members understand the program, its risk factors, and the factors’ causes and solutions. To support vertical alignment, company members at all levels should understand CEMS so that they can better identify and mitigate endurance risk factors on their vessel or fleet. Companies can build vertical alignment by providing education to as many of its employees as possible. Just knowing what to look for helps build a vessel’s safety culture, creating heightened awareness to promote practices that are working while improving those that aren’t. Training is often best done by sending an employee to become a trained CEMS Coach and/or Expert. This Coach/Expert can then disseminate information, formally or informally, via presentations, computer-based training, handouts, posters, or everyday interactions. Companywide Membership The members of a Crew Endurance Working Group (CEWG) have the power to make or break a successful CEMS program. Establishing vertical alignment here is key because the CEWG is responsible for many critical aspects of implementing a CEMS program. When forming a CEWG, you’d certainly want to involve anyone with interest in CEMS – where there’s a will, they’ll find a way to make it happen! Beyond those who will champion the program, though, a CEWG should also include or represent varied individuals who stand to be affected by CEMS implementation, so that all of these individuals can communicate with each other up and down the company hierarchy.That might mean that a vessel’s cook would voluntarily look into healthier food choices based on training received, or company officers would hear crew praise for alternate policies they approve. By planning and reevaluating together, all members of a CEWG look out for each other’s interests as well as their own. Companywide Buy-In All levels of a company need to be convinced that CEMS is a good idea, or “buy into” the program, if it’s going to be successful. When members see that the program is feasible and will benefit the company, it’s easier to encourage everyone to put it into action. If members don’t buy into the program, it can be easy to stall or undermine progress. This may be especially true for those in charge of the bottom line, who may say, “We just don’t have any extra money right now, forget it!” Company officers who do buy into CEMS, on the other hand, would know enough about each risk factor to best choose how to “pick their battles.” Depending on the resources available, they could use their training and drive to improve working conditions at low or reasonable expense. Even better, some company officers may have so much faith in the program that they’re willing to make an investment (small or large), trusting that it will come back to the company in the form of less accidents, better employee retention, less employee sick days, and/or lower health care payouts. Obtaining buy-in from everyone in the organization is essential, but it won’t happen overnight. Setting the foundation for implementing a CEMS program can take many months, and then several more years to fully establish cultural and organizational changes. Like the CEMS process, obtaining buy-in requires cycles of continuous improvement. Companywide Communication Finally, vertical alignment takes place when members communicate effectively with each other, regardless of status. It’s important for crewmembers to have a way to share their experiences with daily risks up through the ranks. Likewise, those at the upper levels of management should understand how important those risks are, and weigh how equally important it may be to fund or otherwise support CEMS prevention efforts. A good way to assess a company’s vertical alignment in this area is to examine its policies. A company may signal its support of CEMS by responding favorably to requests for changes in napping or courtesy policies. For example, perhaps crewmembers coming off the night watch have to then go eat amongst those just rising for the day. The bright lights may delay their ability to fall asleep. To show support, a vessel’s cook could keep light meal choices handy in the kitchen for the night watch, which they could snack on a few hours before the end of their shift. This would have two effects that could help the night watch fall asleep faster: they can head right to their bunks after work before the sun comes up instead of going to eat, and they wouldn’t have to try to digest a large meal while trying to fall asleep. This solution addresses the concern with some effort on the cook’s part, a company policy allowing for this meal break, and little else. Vertical alignment has a strong impact on a program’s success. One CEMS demonstration project company (check out the latest on the project at our website here ) showed its support for the program by keeping 100% of its fleet trained in CEMS. If upper levels of management believe in CEMS’ importance (as shown here by providing training), they often have the most power to make things happen. What’s In It for Me? CEMS can immediately result in increased awareness and understanding of endurance and fatigue issues, even if a company has just begun. When properly implemented, CEMS provides a three-way win: operating companies get safer, more productive employees, the employees get safer, healthier workplaces and a better quality of life, and the Coast Guard and general public get an overall reduction in risk of fatiguerelated accidents. Changing an organizational culture is not easy. It’s often difficult to change hundreds of years of tradition by trying to adopt new methods, but when everyone sees that it’s in their best interest, they’re more willing to try them. As you think about creating your vertical alignment, just remember that it is adaptable – something any company can do if they are truly willing! |
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CEMS Cited at NTSB "Most Wanted List" Meeting, Winter 2006 The National Transportation Safety Board held a public meeting on Nov. 15 to discuss its “Most Wanted List” of safety improvements, a collection of recommendations to improve transportation safety. During the hearing, NTSB noted the work of the U.S. Coast Guard to reduce marine operator fatigue by developing and promoting the voluntary fatigue management program, the Crew Endurance Management System (CEMS). “Even though there has not been substantive change in regulations yet, this Crew Endurance Management System seems to be making a difference in the marine area,” said Dr. Jana Price, a witness on the panel of NTSB staff. NTSB recommends that transportation agencies establish scientifically-based regulations to limit the hours of service for modal operators and provide sufficient time for operators to rest. The board also recommends more research into circadian body rhythms to learn how to reduce crew fatigue. Limitations on hours of service for vehicle operators in the marine, aviation, and pipeline areas was the focus of NTSB for a while, but projects like CEMS provide further research into other methods of reducing fatigue. “Another tack has been taken, which is fatigue management,” said Dr. Vernon S. Ellingstad, another NTSB staff member. “But we were very narrowly focused on that part of fatigue [hours of service], and I think most administrations disagreed with it.” Through the Most Wanted List, NTSB calls on federal agencies to adopt measures to improve transportation safety in areas where it is deemed inadequate. NTSB first added its recommendations for service hour regulations and fatigue research in 1999. The Department of Transportation first made these recommendations in 1989, and NTSB attached them to the List after seeing insufficient progress. “I think we want the Most Wanted List to affect change and not get entrenched,” said NTSB Member Debbie Hersman. “I think that there is a lot of value in this List, but it loses its value over time and we become like a broken record.” The board unanimously voted to keep its recommendations for combating operator fatigue on the Most Wanted List. For the marine area, the board assigned the yellow color designation, signifying slow-moving but acceptable progress. |
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