Játtað í:
2016

Granskingarøki:
Heilsa

Verkætlanarslag:
Ph.d.verkætlan

Verkætlanarheiti:
Møði hjá føroyskum fiskimonnum

Játtanarnummar:
0340

Verkætlanarleiðari:
Annbjørg Abrahamsen

Stovnur/virki:
Deildin fyri Arbeiðs- og Almannaheilsu

Aðrir luttakarar:
Pál Weihe, Wessel van Leeuveen og Fróði Debes.

Verkætlanarskeið:
Planned: 01.11.2017-01.11.2019
Actual: 01.11.2017-14.04.2023

Stuðul úr Granskingargrunninum:
1.218.000

Verkætlanarlýsing:
Original
Fatigue has been identified at a major cause or a contributing factor to human errors across industries. A study testing 261 Danish fishermen with the multidimensional fatigue inventory showed, that our of 5 fatigue factors, all men reported mental fatigue. Furthermore, when compared to the Danish population using a scale from 1 to 100, the fishermen's mean was 13 points higher than of middle-aged Danish persons.

From February to July 2014, the undersigned conducted a data collection with the Faroese Accident Insurance Council of all accidents among fishermen registered in a fourty-year period, 1972-2012. In total, 4002 accidents were registered, whereof 23% resulted in permanent disability and 97 in loss of life. The financial ramifications of such disabling accidents affect both the individuals concerned (the workers) and the Faroese society.

Although there are many uncontrollable factors in the fishing industry, appropriate measures should be in place in order to reduce the rates of accidents. Many improvements have been made to do this, however human physiology and psychology are the variables that have remained unchanged and are a big challenge when it comes to working irregular hours, which often result in fatigue.

Seafarers fatigue is a contributing factor in 16% of critical vessel accidents and 33% of personal injury accidents across all types of maritime operations. Therefore activities that can lead to reductions in fatigue and hence accidents should be prioritized.

In a recent review study, I and co-authors found that there is a dearth of studies related to fatigue in fishing. One study showed that 16% of the fishermen had experienced a fatigue related accident/incident, 44% said that they had worked to the point of exhaustion or collapse and 41% had fallen asleep at the wheel. The study supports the argument that fatigue should be considered a key health and safety-risk factor for fishermen and requires further investigation.

Work at sea might be particularly fatigue inducing due to several factors:
Working hours often take place during the circadian trough, forcing sleep to take place during less optimal hours of day.

1. Environmental conditions such as harsh weather conditions, rolling, vibrations and noise may result in difficulties obtaining sufficient rest and recuperation.
2. Being away from home and family for prolonged periods of time may result in psychological stress resulting in sleep problems.

The project aims to answer the following research questions:

1. What is the extent and severity of the influence of fatigue on cognitive functions amongst workers in the fishing fleet?
2. Which factors in fishermen’s working environment contribute to the development of fatigue.
3. Do fishermen themselves see fatigue as a safety challenge?
4. What is a fisherman's sleep quality like?
5. What actions can be taken to prevent fatigue in fishing?

To answer this, we will use The Computerised Mental Performance Assessment System (COMPASS): a fully computerised battery of neuropsychological test assessing cognitive performance. The tasks reflect an individualized Cognitive Performance Profile, and CATSYS will be used to measure manual motor speed and co-ordination. Actigraphy meassures acceleration and enables physical activity and sleep duration to be calculated. This will be used as an objective measure of sleep/wake periods and questionnaires will be used as a subjective measure.

The questionnaires used for this study will be Goldberg's General Health Questionnaire, the MFI-20 "Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory", as well as the "Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index", the "Karolinska Sleep Questionnaire" and the "Karolinska Sleepiness Index".

These will be filled in at the end of every shift. The participants will be tested on three occasions, 10 days before they go to sea, on the way out to sea and on the way back in. To control for learning effects, participants will be provided with the opportunity to have multiple pre-test sessions where they can become fully habituated to the measure and test situation and their learning curve has flattened to a stable plateau. They will be their own controls.

The knowledge gained from this study may help the authorities in their work with health and safety regulations and policy in fishing. The results will also be essential in the implementing of preventive measures to reduce causes for fatigue. The study will inform fishermen and ship-owners about the effects of fatigue, thus increase the industry's awareness of the problem. A higher awareness of fatigue should result in significantly fewer accidents, therefore less health-, material- and economic related losses to individuals, companies and society. Over all the results will be of great value for improving the working conditions and health and safety for fishermen.

The write up of paper articles will start at the end of the project. The following are potential journal titles:

1. "Sleep and fatigue in fishermen - the cognitive consequences"
2. "The effect of fishermen's different jobs and tasks onboard on the expression of fatigue and sleep"
3. "To what degree do environmental factors such as noise, vibrations and roll contribute to fatigue?"

Final
Data was collected from 157 subjects, from 18 trips at sea. The data collection at sea took 15 months, consisted of demographic and psychometric data from questionnaires, logging of roll and noise, cognitive testing at the beginning and end of the trip, as well as measuring of sleep periods and sleepiness throughout the trip. This was followed by an additional 6 months on land, collecting baseline sleep data.

We found that the fishers slept less than what is needed for restoration of physical and mental functions. Using shift systems that permitted longer periods of sleep seemed to promote longer overall sleep per day, than when shifts were cut into smaller chunks, e.g. 8-8 rather than 6-6. Sleeping more than 2 times per day showed lower sleep efficiency than fewer sleep periods. Furthermore, those having a high work rest ratio, working 16 and having 8 hours off, registered significantly more periods of hazardous high sleepiness, that has shown to put safety at risk.

Another finding was that time of day was the variable that had the highest effect on the fishers’ sleepiness levels, with fishers being most sleepy during the night, and sleeping best during the night. Ship movement was the variable with the second largest effect on their sleepiness recordings. The amount of catch did not show any effect on the sleepiness levels. However, a better catch was associated with better sleep, indicating that most likely the psychological effect of a hunter’s high, made the fishers not register the extra energy spent on heavier work, but still it was reflected in better sleep. The built-up of fatigue during the trip resulted in significantly worse presentation on the cognitive tests at the end of the trip. A lower visuospatial memory span and more prolonged reaction times higher than 1000ms were demonstrated at the end of the trip, compared to the beginning.


Støða:
Liðug

Avrik:
The PhD Thesis was defended on 14 April 2023.

Scientific articles, books, thesis etc.
Abrahamsen A, Weihe P, Debes F, Leeuwen WMA van. Sleep, Sleepiness, and Fatigue on Board Faroese Fishing Vessels, Nature and Science of Sleep, 2022; 14: 347–362. Doi: https://doi.org/10.2147/NSS.S342410.

Abrahamsen A, Johannesen Á.R, Leeuwen WMA van, Debes F, Weihe P. Working environment and fatigue among fishers in the North Atlantic – a field study, International Maritime Health Journal 2023; 74, 1: 1–14 Doi: 10.5603/IMH.2023.0001

Abrahamsen A, Weihe P, Leeuwen WMA van, Debes F. Impact of work exposure on cognitive performance in Faroese deep-sea fishers - a field study, International Maritime Health Journal 2022; 73, 3: 150–161. Doi: 10.5603/IMH.2022.0028

See PURE

Publications outside the scientific community, i.e. lectures, periodicals, articles in newspapers, television and radio
Vísindavøka
KVF

Storage and access rights to collected data
The data is stored in secure servers at the Department of Research, the National Hospital of the Faroe Islands, The data is not public available but assess to data can be given upon reasonable request via collaboration, provided that correct permissions are on place.



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