We recently have had a crew member come aboard that is training to become a mate of tow. She disclosed that she had not slept more than 2hrs in the last 48 hours and that she suffers from insomnia. I pressed her about this issue and the levity of becoming a mate, the responsibility and holding her fellow crew members lives in her hands if she were to fall asleep at the helm.
She responded that she would tell the captain if she felt too fatigued to drive, but I feel this is a bigger issue, and not a good excuse. She is getting “rest” in her off time but is dragging by when on watch. Has anyone ever had a similar experience or what would be the correct answer to this problem? IMO she should (herself) consider a different career path (or remain AB, no watchstanding), or I need to bring this to the attention of the port captain.
Reading a book while tucked into my bunk always knocked me out fairly quickly. My wife bought a Kindle for me a few years before I retired, and that was even better, not needing a separate light.
Yeah I don’t think thats the issue here, it’s a diagnosis that needs to be made to a doctor but she has not disclosed it during a uscg physical. I understand everyone has a hard time falling asleep on a boat, but this goes beyond that.
Yeah I have plenty of go-to remedies for myself falling asleep, however I think she suffers from a medical condition which affects her ability to sleep. There is another gcaptain post on narcolepsy, and this trends in a similar direction. I just don’t feel this crewmember medically meets the criteria to be a part of a bridge watch, or maybe even work on boats at all.
Let her finish the trip , it’s not like she’s standing her own watch , write your review when she departs and comments and concerns , and when she’s gets on with another crew let them deal with it and note it
I think most of the replies her are missing a major point. This trainee’s perception of the onboard culture allowed them to be vulnerable and disclose a personal situation that negatively impacts their performance. This suggests that there’s an established non-punitive safety culture which is hard to establish and easily destroyed by mishandling this situation.
There’s lots of ways to help them get more effective rest but giving them the opportunity to engage in vigorous manual labor (if it’s relatively safe) rather than correcting charts might be a reasonable way to get them some exercise if there’s not onboard gym facilities.
That’s a good point. Other than the occasional tie up it’s easy to gain weight here. Perhaps I could have her reorganize the paint locker with the 5gal pales on the top shelf haha
I feel that her performance is not the real issue, but the worry that after being checked off, she could fall asleep at the wheel. Ive found not all ABs understand the levity of becoming a mate. We don’t keep lookouts on the wheelhouse on this vessel.
However, if she can’t fall asleep in bed, maybe she wouldn’t fall asleep in the wheelhouse either. I don’t know enough about insomnia to say whether it’s medically diagnosed inability to sleep, or something controllable where she’s playing around on her phone when she’s off watch.
One is situational, I can have a hard time going to sleep on an off-watch the first day or maybe into the second, but soon enough I am asleep before I hit the bunk even if someone is using power tools next to my ear.
The other is she has an ongoing medical issue all the time, not just adapting to an odd schedule. This is not good for any task involving moving objects and safety, I wouldn’t want her flying my plane or driving my car either.
if you even been on a trip with someone who just cannot sleep, by day 4 or so they are a danger to themselves and others.
This is my worry. She has been on several tugs in the fleet over the last couple months and the sleep deprivation has not gotten any better. I just find it odd that I can’t find any cfr on resting that hits on this point. IMO it would be easy to pass a USCG physical and not even mention you suffer from insomnia. The only thing I can do for now is check in with her on how much sleep she has had (which would behoove her to lie). If she has her TOAR signed off, I would feel quite guilty for the next crew if there were an accident on her watch.
Nope, sorry. None of the above. Without disclosing too much, some ADHD is involved and possibly other mental disorders but nothing that would interfere with duties.
