Guidelines for Health and Safety on Board Small Fishing Boats

Some stress is good for us. If we don't have enough challenges, it can be hard to "get going" however, if we have too many challenges, we may get stressed and not cope as well. We need the right balance. Whether stress is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ depends on the individual - everyone reacts in different ways. As a general rule though, stress which goes on for a long time will be bad for a person and for the people they’re working with. The right balance can also change over time.

Workplace stress is defined as when someone becomes aware that they are not able to cope with the demands of their work environment, and they have a negative emotional response to that awareness. The key is that they are overwhelmed by the situation and they care about feeling that way - it is having an impact on their happiness or enjoyment of life.

Stressors are things that lead to someone feeling that they are unable to cope with either physical or psychological demands.

Stressors can:

• Be because of things that make the job what it is – for example, the peak workloads in fishing, knowing that the work of being a commercial fisherman is to some degree inherently dangerous, working in cramped conditions on board a vessel.
• Arise because of the way the work is organised. This can include physical factors (such as cold, wetness, noise etc.) as well as physiological factors (such as shift work, lack of time to rest etc.)
• Arise out of excessive work demands such as unrealistic deadlines
• Arise out of personal factors such as health status, relationships, ability to cope with difficult situation etc.

Is stress a significant hazard on my vessel?

In terms of legal liability, an employer is required to take all practicable steps only for those circumstances that they know or ought to know about. If someone says they are stressed, or is acting in such a way that most people would agree they were stressed, then you need to do something.

Fishing work can be difficult for people to cope with. People work long hours and in bad weather. There is not much space on the vessel to get away from other people. This means that owners and skippers need to be looking out for signs of stress in the crew and, where you find it, have effective systems in place to deal with it.

The situation on each vessel will be different. To decide if stress is a significant hazard, you should ask yourself the following questions:

• Is the work emotionally draining or unpleasant?
• Does the work require intense, prolonged concentration?
• Would a mistake have big consequences?
• Is the work inherently hazardous?
• Is the workload unrealistic?
• Is the work too hard for the person?
• Are there factors such as persistent bullying in the workplace?
• Are people separated from their families and/or friends for long periods of time?
• Are people forced to both live and work in close confines with people that they may not necessarily get along well with?

How can I tell if someone is stressed?

Stress is a complex issue. No two people will react in exactly the same way to situations. Owners and skippers need to watch for signs of stress in people who are working on the vessel. Crew need to tell the skipper or owner when they’re feeling stressed, and know that everything possible will be done to deal with the situation.

People who are stressed might show some of these signs:

• Not being aware of safety issues or putting themselves into harm’s way
• Long-term health problems such as depression, ‘burnout’ and heart disease
• Being ‘down’, anxious, irritable of clinically depressed
• Lose confidence, talk about sleeping badly, have slow reactions or behave oddly
• Not be able to get along with people that they used to work well with
• Be irritable or indecisive, or perform poorly and make more mistakes
• Drink more alcohol than usual or use recreational drugs
• Complain about their health and, for example, get frequent headaches.

Legal Requirements

• Stress is a hazard under the HSE Act. It must be managed like any other hazard. Don't wait until an employee has a physical or mental health problem before taking steps to deal with stressors in the workplace.
• The law only requires employers to manage work stressors or the individual’s stressed situation when you can be reasonably expected to know about the stress. Employers then need to do what can reasonably be done in the circumstances to manage the stress.
• Crew should be involved in identifying stress problems and suggest ways to control them.
• There need to be systems in place to assess and deal with identified stress, whatever the source, if the stress places that employee or anyone in the workplace at risk of harm.
• Employees must have confidence that if they report the situation (experiencing stress) that something will be done about it.
• Employers have no direct control over (nor responsibility for) non-work factors. However, if an employer knows about non-work sources of stress, steps may need to be taken to prevent harm where the safety of people in the workplace – the employee included – may be an issue.

How do I manage stress as a hazard?

For all crew

• Identify areas pf the work that are inherently stressful - the list of stressors at the begining of this section.
• Work with the skipper to figure out how to eliminate or reduce the impact of those stressors
• Learn ways that help you to manage your own stress levels.
• Tell your skipper when stress levels get too high.

For the Skipper

• Make sure that work practices on your vessel don't cause unnecessary stress, and have systems in place to deal with crew member stress. You are not required to monitor all your crew members' stress levels all the time. You are required to put things in place to minimise stress and if a crew member says they are stressed you need to take this seriously
• Where possible, create clear work routines and operating procedures so there is a more predictable work environment.
• If a crew member is consistently unable to carry out their work because of non work stress factors, manage this as you would any performance issue. Talk to the crew member about your concerns and work out a way to resolve the situation if possible (remember you only have to take ‘all practicable steps’ to deal with the hazard).
• Be aware that someone who is suffering from stress may be a danger to themselves or to others while working.
• Work out how you will handle a situation where a crew member tells you that they are stressed. Document this and make sure that the crew know that there is s system in place for dealing with stress and that everything possible will be done to deal with the situation in a confidential manner.
• Consider how you will decide whether a crew member is coping with their work or whether they are affected by stress. Schedule time to regularly think about whether stress is a problem on your vessel. Make sure you treat each person as an individual, as different people cope with things in different ways.
• Ensure that there are different activities available on board to allow people to relax on their off duty hours.
• Make sure that there is adequate time available for rest.
• Work to create a supportive environment on board the vessel, and recognition of people’s different needs for space and time to themselves.
• Carefully investigate any crew claims of feeling stressed and put in place any necessary measures to reduce their stress levels.
• Make sure you identify the things in the job that are inherently stressful, and talk about them with potential employees before you offer them the job.