A survey of the work and sleep patterns of Great Barrier Reef Pilots

Summary of Results

This survey represents one of a number of investigations designed to provide information on the work practices of Great Barrier Reef pilots and to identify those aspects of their work that have the potential to cause fatigue. In this investigation a questionnaire was designed to acquire general information on the work and sleep patterns of the pilots, and to assess how these patterns impact on their well-being, fatigue levels and work performance. Information gained from the questionnaire will be used to supplement data from other phases of the project, thereby generating a more complete picture of the fatigue issue.

Questionnaire items sought information on demographics, industry experience, health and lifestyle topics, as well as the extent and impact of any fatigue on bridge performance. Sections on job satisfaction and psychosocial issues were also included. Respondents were also given the opportunity to provide additional comments and elaborate on any issues which may or may not have been raised in the questionnaire. The survey was completed by 35 pilots giving a response rate of 60% and the following is a brief summary of the major findings in each category included in the questionnaire.

Demographics

• Seventy percent of respondents were aged between 41 and 60 years, while 20% were over 60 years of age. The average age of the sample was 53.2 (+ sem 1.64) years.
• The majority of pilots were currently married.

Industry Profile

• On average, pilots had 36 years of general maritime experience and had served for 9.5 years as Great Barrier Reef pilots. These findings would seem to suggest that there is a high level of stability within the pilotage workforce.
• Home port locations were predominantly in the South East Queensland and North Queensland regions.

Recent work history - Previous 6 months

• On average, tours lasted ~ 17 days in duration while breaks between tours were around 11 days.
• Just over 60% of work assignments were performed on the Inner Route.
• Forty seven percent of work was undertaken at night.
• The majority of respondents spent breaks between work assignments in pilot accommodation houses located at Mackay and on Thursday Island.
• Twenty percent of the sample had not taken a holiday in the previous 12 months.

These findings based on self-reported work history given by the pilots were generally consistent with data from the analysis of 4310 work assignments performed between Jan 1 1996 and June 30 1997 and reported earlier.

Health and Lifestyle Habits

Irregular work patterns have the potential to impact on health and lifestyle habits. For instance, engaging in regular exercise and maintaining healthy dietary habits are additional challenges for those working outside normal hours, particularly when extended periods of time are spent away from home.

• The majority of pilots rated their general health as ‘good to excellent’, while physical fitness ratings ranged between ’fair and excellent’.
• Body Mass Index ratings indicated that 15% of the sample were overweight and 56% obese.
• Thirty percent of respondents smoked.
• All respondents reported drinking caffeinated beverages.
• Smoking frequency and caffeine consumption were significantly higher while at sea compared with at home.
• All respondents reported drinking some alcohol, however no alcohol was consumed at sea.
• Pilots reported lower levels of chronic fatigue than normative data based on emergency and industrial shiftworkers.

That a large percentage of respondents were either overweight or obese may warrant closer investigation, particularly in light of the age of the respondents and their increased risk of cardiac stress associated with the varying physical demands of pilotage work.

Sleep and Nap Patterns at sea, ashore and at home

The work patterns of pilots require them to alternate between living at home, working at sea and resting ashore between work assignments. In this section, the questions were designed to gain a general impression of sleep habits in these locations and respondents were asked to report their average sleep habits over a 24-hour period.

• While at sea, pilots reported obtaining 5.5 hours of daily sleep, comprising of ~ 2.5 sleeps periods of 2.2 hours duration. In contrast, at home pilots reverted to a normal sleeping pattern of a single sustained block of sleep.
• A daily sleep debt of 2.3 hours was incurred while at sea.
• Pilots tended to nap more frequently while at sea, compared with ashore and at home.
• Sleep latency (time to fall asleep) was shorter at sea, but longer ashore, compared with at home.
• The time taken to feel alert after waking did not differ between the 3 locations.
• Sleep difficulties (falling and staying asleep) were not affected by location, however sleep was more frequently disturbed at sea and ashore than at home.
• Pilots reported needing less sleep at sea.
• In all three locations, the most frequently used strategy to promote sleep was reading.

Circadian Characteristics

The normal biological rhythms of the human body are designed to facilitate work in the daytime and sleep at night. The irregularity of the work/rest schedules of Great Barrier Reef pilots ensures that they frequently work outside of these basic parameters and risk the effects of 'circadian desynchronisation' which may be characterised by changes in sleep patterns, behaviour, alertness and mental capacity. The impact of shiftwork may be partially moderated by individual differences to cope with working or sleeping outside of the normal awake/ sleep cycles. As a measure of the impact of pilotage on these functions 'The Circadian Type Inventory ' was used to identify the sleep characteristics, and the ability of the pilots to overcome drowsiness in addition to information which characterised them as being morning or evening orientated.

• Compared with normative data based on emergency and industrial shiftworkers, pilots reported being significantly more flexible in sleeping habits and less able to overcome drowsiness.
• Overall, the sample described themselves as being more ‘morning’ than ‘evening’ orientated.

Feelings while working on the Bridge

The purpose of items in this section was to gain a general impression of the presence of tension and fatigue while working on the bridge, to distinguish factors which most often contribute to fatigue and to identify strategies used by pilots to reduce fatigue. Additional items were included to assess the extent and degree of performance decrement and periods of vulnerability to reduced performance levels across the 24-hour cycle. Pilotage specific experiences were also addressed.

• There was strong evidence that the frequency of tiredness and/or decreased alertness while working on the bridge was greater at the end of a work assignment than at the beginning. Moreover, the onset of fatigue occurred earlier during bridge periods performed at the end of a work assignment.
• Most pilots considered that boredom, lack of sleep, workload and time of day contributed to fatigue at least sometimes.
• Active, rather than passive strategies were more frequently used to combat fatigue, with stretching and performing light exercise and taking a shower being the most frequently used strategies.
• A number of respondents indicated performance decreased to varying degrees while working on the bridge. In particular, performance decrements manifested as an increased difficulty in concentrating and maintaining attention and memory problems.
• The majority of the sample reported being most vulnerable to performance decrements between the hours of 2400 and 0800.
• Correct judgment and optimal alertness levels were factors identified by most respondents as being highly relevant to pilotage work.

Job Satisfaction

To gain an impression of job satisfaction, respondents were asked to rate the five best and five worse features of working as a Great Barrier Reef pilot.

Satisfaction

• Satisfaction associated with a job well done at the completion of a work assignment was the most frequently rated best feature of pilotage work. The high level of responsibility, mental stimulation and challenges involved in navigating ships through the Great Barrier Reef region were also favourably rated by pilots.
• The variability of ship types, crew and weather encountered during pilotage duties was appealing.
• A further rewarding feature of the work was being part of a group sharing the same professional background, and meeting and working with other professional seafarers.

Dissatisfaction

• Dissatisfaction with pilotage work chiefly related to factors extrinsic to the actual act of piloting. For example, financial concerns since the commercial changes in the structure of Great Barrier Reef pilotage operations was the most frequently expressed factor leading to job dissatisfaction. Pilots also expressed concern over the impact of competition on safety.
• Time away from family and the disruption caused by pilotage work to family life were also unattractive features of the job.
• The unhygienic conditions on board some foreign ships and the attitude of AMSA were a source of job dissatisfaction.

Dyadic Adjustment

Given the important relationship between a stable home life and work performance, particularly in home and away occupations, items were included to assess dyadic adjustment. The measures used were based on previous work on -----and developed by Spanier (1967).

• The distribution of responses to the series of questions on dyadic adjustment was skewed towards the end of the scale indicating satisfaction with one’s dyadic relationship. Eighty-six per cent of pilots indicated thing went well between themselves and their partner ‘most to all’ of the time.
• Seventy-five per cent of respondents reported a high level of marital satisfaction.

Miscellaneous Comments

Pilots were given the opportunity to provide additional comments on issues that may or may not have been included in the Questionnaire. In this analysis, comments fell under three broad areas related to 1) general industry issues; 2) work at sea; and 3) the home situation. Within these broad areas, themes were identified and comments then coded as negative, positive, suggestions or other. Of the 35 respondents to the questionnaire, 29 pilots (83%) offered additional comments ranging from a few paragraphs to several pages.

Negative comments

• On general industry topics, over half the negative comments related to the impact of competition on: income, stress and anxiety levels, job security, increased workloads/decreased rest breaks and the manipulative position in a competitive environment of company managers, infrastructure providers and shipping agents.
• While working at sea, respondents raised considerable concern regarding the impact of competition on safety issues. Additionally, concerns were raised regarding competency levels of many bridge teams.
• At home, commentaries from pilots indicated that competition in pilotage operations has impacted negatively on home and family life.

Positive comments

• From an industry perspective, comments indicated that pilots perceive pilotage as a service to the community and protection for the environment.
• While at sea, competent bridge teams provided good back up for pilots and considerably reduced stress levels experienced by pilots.
• Periods at home were considered to be valuable time for relaxing with family.

Suggestions

Several suggestions were received and these chiefly related to:

• A review of the practice of pilots being on ships for some days prior to, or after the compulsory pilotage region.
• Charting of alternative shipping channels. For example, the use of the Fairway Channel region of the Inner Route would eliminate one of the most difficult sections of this route and permit more extensive rest and sleep periods.

Although based on self-report data, the results of the survey identified a number of factors which have the potential to impact directly or indirectly on the development of fatigue in GBR pilots. Most measures demonstrated consistency with earlier findings on this population with respect to factors conducive to fatigue. Sleep patterns were highly compromised at sea which occurred as a function of the irregularity of the work and rest schedules, relatively long periods of sustained work, frequently at night, and the necessity to work and sleep at times incompatible with the normal biological rhythms of the body. Pilots experienced fatigue while working on the bridge particularly towards the end of work assignments and the contributing factors included boredom, lack of sleep and workloads. The potential for a decrement in performance was further substantiated by difficulty experienced by some pilots in maintaining concentration and attention and in memory lapses.

In conformity with research on other workers the results suggest that fatigue in GBR pilots is multifactorial involving a range of work related and personal factors which in part reflect the unique characteristics of working at sea in a 24 hour industry. Pilots are satisfied with the challenges and responsibilities associated with their work but rate factors such as competition in pilotage operations and insecurity as being the least satisfying aspects of pilotage. The potential for some of these concerns to impact on safety was identified by some pilots.

The survey results provide further evidence of the strong potential for fatigue among GBR pilots and the need for appropriate and well monitored work/rest guidelines.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

In the past, research examining the fatigue contribution to transportation accidents has been constrained by a number of issues. For one, human fatigue generally leaves no tell tale signs and hence, can only be inferred from circumstantial evidence (Brown 1994; Lauber & Kayten 1988; Transportation Safety Board 1997). Secondly, there has been a lack of a universally accepted definition of fatigue (McCallum et al. 1996; Transportation Safety Board 1997). Thirdly, accident investigation procedures were not standardised (McCallum et al. 1996; Transportation Safety Board, 1997). As a consequence, the role of fatigue in past accidents has more than likely been under-reported (Lauber & Kayten 1988; McCallum et al. 1996; Transportation Safety Board 1997).

More recent work however, has enabled greater insight into the relationship between both fatigue and vehicle and personnel accidents. For instance, by developing a ‘fatigue index’, the US Coast Guard Research and Development Centre identified that 16 percent of critical vessel casualties and 33 percent of personnel injury casualties occurring in US coastal waters between 1 July and 31 December 1995, had some fatigue contribution (McCallum et al. 1996). These figures were more than 10 times greater than figures based on data collected in 1993 (1.2 percent and 1.3 percent for vessel casualties and personnel injuries respectively) (McCallum et al. 1996) Additionally, it has been recognised that the relative risk of accident is greatest when work is carried out during the circadian troughs in alertness (Brown 1994; Couper 1996; Folkard 1997; Sanquist et al. 1996) and as time on task increases (Folkard 1997; Seafarers International Research Centre 1996).

While there is a growing body of evidence indicating fatigue contributes to a significant number of marine accidents, little is known about the extent and aetiology of fatigue in marine pilots. Results from earlier phases of the present project (Parker et al. unpublished data) and data collected from other groups of marine pilots (Berger 1984; de Vries-Grierer 1982; Shipley & Cook 1980; Sparks 1992) suggests a high presence of potential fatigue factors in the work practices of pilots. For example, the irregularity of work schedules, long on-duty periods, night work and poor sleep associated with marine pilotage work are but a few of the factors which could impact on the fatigue status of pilots. Additionally, that pilots engage in substantial amounts of work-related travel and are frequently separated from family and friends while staying in alternative accommodation, may also contribute to increased levels of fatigue.

Given that high levels of fatigue can have a significant impact on work performance and personal well-being (Griffiths 1993; Monk & Folkard 1992; Scott & Ladou 1990), this survey was undertaken to seek information concerning the demography, and general work history of GBR pilots and any personal and industry specific factors which may impact on the development of fatigue in this population. The survey is part of a larger investigation concerned with the fatigue aspects of GBR pilots, the results of which will provide the basis for the development of work scheduling guidelines and fatigue management programs.

2.0 METHODOLOGY

The methodology applied in this phase of the investigation involved the development, distribution and analysis of a questionnaire which was designed to acquire general information on the work and sleep patterns of Great Barrier Reef pilots. The information was also used to assess how these patterns impact on pilot well-being, fatigue levels and work performance. The final questionnaire contained 63 questions (211 items) and was distributed to all Great Barrier Reef pilots (n=58). A Pilot Advisory Group consisting of one pilot from each of the three pilotage companies consulted with the research group during the development of the instrument and subsequent phases of the project.

2.1 Development of the questionnaire

Questions addressing issues which are experienced by most workers involved in unconventional work hours were based on the ‘Shiftwork Index’ developed by Barton and colleagues (1995). Industry specific questions relating to pilotage work were based on previous studies of Great Barrier Reef pilots (Parker et al.1997) and other seafaring and marine pilot groups (Berger 1984; British Columbia/States Oil Spill Task Force 1997; Sanquist et al.1996; Couper 1996; Shipley 1978). A draft copy of the questionnaire was circulated to Pilot Advisory Group members, and then modified on the basis of their feedback.

2.2 Pilot testing

The questionnaire was trialed by administration to two recently retired Great Barrier Reef pilots. The pilots completed the document and commented on content, suitability and acceptability. Their comments were incorporated into the questionnaire before it was distributed to the pilot group. A copy of the questionnaire is shown in Appendix 6.

2.3 Questionnaire distribution and reminder system

The questionnaire (including a stamped addressed envelope for ease of return) was distributed by the three pilot companies operating in the Great Barrier Reef region and posted to the home address of each pilot. The diverse location of participants in a number of Queensland coastal areas and interstate made personal administration of the questionnaires impractical. An information package sent with the questionnaire fully explained the purpose of the study and all aspects of confidentiality. A reminder system consisting of two individual reminders to pilots as well as facsimile messages to the pilot accommodation house on Thursday Island, was implemented to encourage project participation and maximise responses.

2.4 Measures

The final questionnaire totalled 211 items and explored the broad nature of fatigue in marine pilots. It sought information on: (i) demographic characteristics (age, marital status and number of children under 18 years of age; (ii) industry experience and recent work history; (iii) sleep patterns at sea, ashore and at home; (iv) ratings of health, fitness and chronic fatigue; (v) illnesses, sleep apnea and sea sickness; (vi) lifestyle habits (smoking, caffeine and alcohol consumption); (vii) circadian characteristics and morningness/eveningness; (viii) feelings while working on the bridge (tension, fatigue, performance levels, vulnerability to performance decrements, impact of performance decrements); (ix) factors contributing to fatigue; (x) strategies to combat fatigue; (xi) pilotage specific experiences; (xii) job satisfaction and (xiii) dyadic adjustment.

Space for additional comments was provided to enable pilots to elaborate on issues or to raise other pertinent points not addressed by the questionnaire. Further details of each of the measures including index and scale construction have been shown in Appendix 1.

3.0 DATA ANALYSIS

3.1 The Quantitative Data

The quantitative data was analysed using SAS-PC. Standard univariate statistics were used to describe responses. Repeated measures Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was undertaken to compare mean aggregate scores at sea, ashore and at home. Comparisons of tension and fatigue at the beginning and end of work assignments were also tested by ANOVA. For dichotomised variables, Friedman’s two way ANOVA test based on ranks was used. When there was evidence of significant differences, post-hoc tests were used to clarify the nature of those differences.

In order to exercise some control over the overall experimentwise error rate (type I error rate) and minimise the number of spuriously significant results, a cut-off value of 0.01 was used to assess the statistical significance of p-values.

Some modification of existing scales was undertaken to improve reliability and validity of responses. These changes mostly involved the use of more response categories than were included in the original scales to allow respondents greater flexibility in their answers. In all cases, the aggregate scores were rescaled so that they had the same maximum and minimum as the original scales, thereby enabling comparisons with data from other occupational groups to be made (Barton et al.1995; Sanquist et al.1996). Factor analysis, using the principal components method to extract the initial factors and a promax (oblique) rotation method, was used to help identify constructs underlying a series of questions dealing with knowledge, attitudes and beliefs. Further item analysis involving assessment of the reliability of scales and their interpretability was undertaken before the scales were finalised.

Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were calculated to assess the reliability of the aggregate scales used in the questionnaire. Appendix 5 shows the alpha coefficients for the scales.

3.2 The Qualitative Data

To facilitate interpretation of responses to the questionnaire and provide a clearer understanding of the context within which responses were made, participants were given the opportunity to include additional comments about questionnaire items or other relevant issues. This qualitative data was analysed by examining the comments for recurrent patterns and themes and the frequency of responses within these themes. The data has been incorporated within the relevant sections of the write up and a synopsis of the comments has been included in Appendix 2. Because of the small sample size and to preserve anonymity, no identifying information has been included.

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