Health, Medical Fitness, Fatigue and Crew Resource Management
Health, medical fitness, fatigue and crew resource management covers the human side: your fitness to hold a certificate, the medical care you can give on board, and how you manage rest and teamwork.
Fitness
- A valid medical fitness certificate is a condition of the certificate of qualification; it covers vision (acuity and colour vision), hearing, cardiovascular and neurological conditions, diabetes, epilepsy and medication that impairs alertness.
- Alcohol and drugs impair judgement and are prohibited; you must report any change in health that affects your ability to work.
Medical care on board
First-aid kit and guide, radio-medical advice through the waterway radio station, and basic skills: CPR, recovery position, bleeding control, burns, hypothermia, drowning and crush injuries in confined spaces.
Fatigue
Working-time and rest rules exist because fatigue causes collisions. Signs: micro-sleeps, slow reactions, irritability, poor radio discipline. Countermeasures: protected sleep, rotating watches, avoiding long single-handed stretches, food and hydration, no alcohol as a sleep aid.
Crew resource management
Brief before every demanding manoeuvre; use closed-loop communication ("helm hard a-starboard" - "hard a-starboard, understood"); encourage challenge from junior crew; keep situational awareness; share the plan when the master leaves the wheelhouse.
Worked example
You plan a 14-hour day to reach a lock before it closes. The boatman has slept four hours after a night watch. Correct decision: slow the plan, split the watch or stop; a tired helmsman on a bend at dusk is a foreseeable accident, and the master carries responsibility for the crew's rest.
Traps
Concealing a medical condition to keep the job; treating coffee as a substitute for sleep; a master who does not tolerate correction; single-handed lock approaches while the second crew member cooks.