Do YOU need one?
The simple answer is YES. Under the revised Marine Order 504 a Fatigue Risk Management Plan or FRMP for short is required. You are required to have a FRMP in place by June 1, 2025, but hopefully AMSA will give you a bit of leeway but unfortunately we cannot guarantee it!
A simple FRMP should include:
- Roles and responsibilities.
This should identify the owner, Master and crew members
- Minimum rest periods.
Identify the need for a minimum of 10 hours rest in every 24 hours period and that this need not be a continuous 10 hours but can be cumulative. This means you can take multiple rest periods within the 24-hour period.
- How to manage fatigue related impairment?
Here you need to identify how you are going to manage fatigue related impairment for crew members, the Master and Watchkeepers if required.
- Levels of risk and actions required to manage them.
This is where you need to list how to deal with different levels of fatigue related impairment. In general, there should be 3 levels of impairment, these being:
* Low
* Medium
* High
It’s important to list how to deal with each level of fatigue with all crew members (Masters, deckhands, watchkeepers, etc.). note that this is a critical step in dealing with fatigue.
- Reporting form related impairment
This is where you identify where and how crew members report their levels of fatigue related impairment. Here you need to who the deckhands report to and where the Master is to report fatigue related impairment.
- Revision Log
It’s good to include a revision log so as you can record any changes made to your FRMP including the date changes were made.
Shorlink’s Recommendation
Number one recommendation is to start working on developing your FRMP sooner rather than latter as it’s going to form a major part of your documentation.
Failing to have a FRP means you will not be compliant with the revised MO504 leaving you open to being issued with an improvement notice or worse still a prohibition notice stopping you from working and that’s not want you need!
Tip
AMSA are moving to ensure all commercial vessel have a Fatigue Management Risk Plan (FRMP), do you have one? Most vessel owners don’t which is why we’ve developed one which we can modify to suit all vessels and all operations.
Don’t have a FRMP then contact Shorlink for assistance in developing yours!
