General information on hours of work and rest

Norwegian legislation on hours of work and rest for seafarers is based on standards laid down in the Maritime Labour Convention and the STCW convention

MLC establish that the normal working hours' standard for seafarers,  like for other employees, shall be based on an eight-hour day with one day of rest per week and rest on public holidays. The parties may enter into collective agreements providing for other suitable working hours under a shift or watch-system, but that means that hours worked beyond 8 hours per day or 40 hours per week on board must be compensated.

The provisions on hours of rest are protective rules based on international minimum standars, intended to prevent fatigue. The provisions on hours of rest also set limits on the extent to which work hours beyond ordinary working hours may be reuquired.

The STCW convention points out that the following should be taken into account in the application of the detailed minimum standars of hours of rest:

• provisions made to prevent fatigue should ensure that excessive or unreasonable overall working hours are not undertaken. In particular, the minimum rest periods specified in section A-VIII/1 should not be interpreted as implying that all other hours may be devoted to watchkeeping or other duties;
• the frequency and length of leave periods, and the granting of compensatory leave, are material factors in preventing fatigue from building up over a period of time; and
• the provisions may be varied for ships on short sea voyages, provided special safety arrangements are put in place.

Working hours is defined as the time spent carrying out practical work or the time when the employee is required to carry out duties, typically in a watch system.

Hours of rest is a continuous period of at least one hour outside of working hours. During the rest period, the employee is free to use the time for rest without work‑related obligations (except in emergencies and legally required drills).

The regular working hours shall be 8 hours a day, with one day of rest per week and rest on holidays.

The parties can enter into separate collective agreements that provide for other working hours, but these agreements must nevertheless compensate for exceeded working hours, for example through increased free periods, time off or similar arrangements. But it is important to note that the requirement for minimum rest periods (daily and weekly rest) in Section 24 of the Ship Safety Act must always be followed.

Musters and drills prescribed by or pursuant to law shall be conducted in a manner that minimizes the disturbance of rest periods and does not induce  fatigue in the seafarers.

On passenger ships on regular domestic voyages with shift or watch systems and other ships of less than 300 gross tonnage, the regular working hours may be exceeded, however not to the extent that the total number of working hours during a period of 12 weeks at the most exceed an average of 56 hours a week

Employees under the age of 18 must not work between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. for periods that do not allow you to get at least 9 hours of continous rest during this period.

However, this does not apply to extra work due to safety issues.

Persons working on board must be sufficiently rested to perform their tasks in a safe and proper manner. The ship shall be safely manned so that the provisions related to hours of rest are met.

There shall be a document on board showing the seafarers’ shipboard working arrangements. The document shall state the commencement and end of each seafarer’s ordinary working hours, as well as the daily total hours of rest.

The form used for the shipboard working arrangement shall be posted on board in a readily accessible place.

The forms shall be in the working languages of the ship and in English

All seafarers shall be supplied with a registration form for recording of their own daily hours of rest.

The master or whomever authorized by him, shall verify and register the hours of  rest in every period of 24 hours and 7 days (168 hours).

The registration shall be done in arrears and based on the actual rest time each individual seafarer has had. In the recording, deviations from the planned rest  period must be stated and commented on, e.g. in the event of interrupted rest  period due to security service in the form of exercises or emergency situations.

The Norwegian Maritime Authority has issued the form "Record of hours of rest for seafarers" (KS 0300) based on international standard format. The company may choose a different design/format, but the content must comply with the standard form to ensure consistency in international inspections.

Records of hours of rest may also be established by electronic means. This information shall be brought to the attention of the seafarers on board. Recorded information shall be made available to the seafarer concerned and otherwise for the purpose of inspections by the supervising authorities or the competent authority of a Port State.

The following intervals in the Ship Security Act section 24 first paragraph must be complied with, unless exceptions on given terms in the second to fifth paragraphs provide an exemption from the main rule.

The hours of rest shall not be less than ten hours in any 24-hour period and 77 hours in any 168-hour period (equivalent to a consecutive 7-day period).

Converted to weeks and 24-hour periods, this means that an employee who works 7 consecutive days must have 11 hours of rest per 24-hour period.

The first 24-hour period commences the first time the seafarer starts to work (first watch) on a calendar day and ends at the same time the following day. In other words, the first hours of rest to be recorded are the hours of rest following the first work period. For instance, if the work starts at 8 a.m., it shall end no later than 10 p.m. if the work is continous. The next rest period in this example must be at least 10 hours, and the hours of rest are recorded with a line (or cross) going at least 8 hours into the next date, that is until 8 a.m. the following day.

Furthermore, any 24-hour period – starting at any moment during one day until the same time the next day – must comprise at least ten hours of rest.

Hours of rest may be divided into two periods, one of which shall be at least six hours in length. The interval between consecutive periods of rest (i.e. the duration of the working period), shall not exceed 14 hours.

The provision states that the rest period, as stated in the first paragraph, may be divided into two periods, one of which shall be at least 6 hours. The third sentence states that the interval between consecutive rest periods (i.e. the duration of working hours) shall not exceed 14 hours.

Short breaks, meaning breaks of less than one hour, are not considered rest periods. Lunch breaks are not included in the hours of rest.

When a seafarer is on call, such as when a machinery space is unattended, the seafarer shall have an adequate compensatory rest period if the normal period of rest is disturbed by call-outs to work. (cf. MLC A2.3 item 8) and STCW Section A-VIII/1.

The master may require seafarers to perform any working hours necessary for the safety of the ship, persons on board or cargo, or for the purpose of giving assistance to other ships or persons in distress at sea. The master may suspend the schedule of working hours or hours of rest and require a seafarer to perform any working hours necessary until the normal situation has been restored.

In situations with extra work due to emergency situations pursuant to section 24 second paragraph of the Ship Safety and Security Act, the master shall ensure, as soon as practicable after the normal situation has been restored, that any seafarer who has performed work in a scheduled rest period is provided with an adequate period of rest. If the scheduled rest period is disrupted, you shall only register the actual rest period and note in the comment field whether the deviation was caused by an emergency, muster, drill or overriding operational conditions (specify in brief).

• Emergencies
  An emergency may occur on your own ship or on someone else's ship and is an extraordinary critical situation threathening life or health, the environment or material values, including the vessel. Situations or work that is planned are not included in the exception.
• Work as a consequense of musters or drills prescribed by or pursuant to law
  Drills often include the whole crew, which might affect the hours of rest for individual members. Musters and drills must nevertheless be scheduled and conducted in a manner that minimises the disturbace of rest periods and does not induce fatigue. The heads of department on board must be careful to ensure that it is not always the same people who participate in drills during their scheduled hours of rest.
• Overriding operational conditions
  These apply to watchkeeping personnel whose duties involve designated tasks related to safety, emergency preparedness or prevention of pollution in connection with work resulting from overriding operational conditions.
  Overriding operational conditions mean work required for the purpose of safety or the environment, or work which could not reasonably have been predicted before the start of the journey.
  Ordinary operational functions, such as port calls or departures, or loading and unloading are therefore not overriding operational conditions. One example of what may be considered overriding operational conditions is that an additional navigator must be summoned on the bridge because the navigation of the ship is particularly challenging. Another is that problems in the engine room make it necessary to summon one of the engineer officers on call.

Exceptions from the provision of the first paragraph may be made in a binding collective bargaining agreement. When making axceptions, due consideration shall be given to the health and safety of the seafarers, including the need for rest.

The 24-hour rest period may not be exempted, and must always be a minimum of 10 hours.

Exceptions may only be set out under under the conditions mentioned in the Ship Security Act section 24, fourth paragraph:

For seafarers forming a part of a navigational watch or engineering watch or who have designated tasks related to safety, emergency preparedness ore prevention of pollution, exceptions from the main rule may be set out in a collective bargaining agreement under the following conditions only:

• The weekly rest period may be reduced to 70 hours for a period of no more than two consecutive weeks. The intervals between two periods of exceptions shall not be less than twice the duration of the exception.
  The 24-hour rest period may not be exempted, and must always be a minimum of 10 hours. The weekly rest period, however, may be reduced from 77 to 70 hours. This can be done for a maximum of up to two weeks, but it may not be repeated until four new weeks have passed where the employee has partly 11 hours of rest during a 24-hour period and 77 hours of weekly rest. If the exception is only done one week, two new weeks must pass before it can be repeated.
• For up to two days per week, the daily hours of rest may be divided into no more than three periods, one of which shall be at least 6 hours in lenght, and neither of the other two periods shall be less than 1 hour in lenght. The interval between two consecutive periods of rest shall not exceed 14 hours.
  While the main rule is that there should be two periods of rest, as an exception, the daily hours of rest may be divided into three periods, one of which shall be at least 6 hours in length, and neither of the other two periods shall be less than 1 hour in lenght.
  The 24-hour rest period may not be reduced from 10 hours, but the rest periods may be split into 6+2+2, 6+3+1 hours etc. This may be done for a maximum of two 24-hour periods in any seven-day period.

As far as practicable, exceptions shall comply with the provisions of the main rule, but the conditions mentioned above may leave room for more frequent or longer leave periods or additional rest periods for seafarers on watch or seafarers working on ships engaged on short voyages. The collective bargaining agreement must provide compensation such as more spare time, compensatory leave or similar.

For personnel on passenger ships practicing shift work and operating in trade area 1 and 2, the supervisory authority may lay down exceptions from the first paragrafh beyond the limitations specified in the fourth paragrafh. Further conditions for such exceptions may be laid down, and the concerned seafarers' and shipowners' organisations shall give reasoned opinions before exceptions are made.

In principle, the regular provisions on hours of rest apply to all seafarers on vessels subject to the Ship Safety and Security Act. The provisions are flexible to some extent, as exception from the main rule of the first paragraph may be set out in a binding collective agreement. Please note, however, that a collective agreement may only stipulate exceptions within the limitations of the fourth paragraph. Exceptions may not be made from the daily hours of rest in a collective agreement, and may not be less than 10 hours in any 24-hour period.

The fifth paragraph allows for the company to apply for exception from the 10-hour rest in a 24-hour period for personnel on a designated route or production area in trade areas 1 and 2.

A shift arrangement needs to be in place where the crew work on board for a specified period before being replaced by other crew, and where those who are replaced may leave the ship.

The organisations concerned shall provide reasoned opinion before an exception is made. 

If the application is granted, the company may receive a decision from the Norwegian Maritime Authority stating that the hours of rest, on certain conditions, may be reduced from the main rule of minimum 10 hours of rest in any 24-hour period.

The terms and conditions of the exception will be considered in each case. Traffic volume, summer/winter season, illness, plan for rest periods etc. may be relevant aspects when considering the exception.

The rest period may be done on board or ashore. Rest periods ashore are common for seafarers working on board a ship engaged on short voyages. However, the provisions on hours of rest must in such cases prevent an employee from having a different part time job ashore stopping him/her from spending the provided time resting. The intention behind the rest period requirements is clearly that seafarers should not use the rest periods working for another employer.

The registered information must be available to the person it applies to, and it must be available for control by the authority or by the relevant authority in a port State.

Forms for recording hours of rest shall be kept and available on board for a minimum of 6 months after they have been completed. In additionm the registration forms shall be kept by the shipping company for a minimum of 3 years after being completed.

The Norwegian Maritime Authority may at any time require access to documentation confirming the shipboard working arrangements and recording of the hours of rest.

If an inspection conducted reveals non-compliance with the provisions and requirements on hours of work and rest in law and regulations, the supervising authority shall take the measures necessary to ensure that any conditions on board which are clearly hazardous to the safety or health of seafarers are rectified, and to avoid future violations, including revision of the ship crew. 

If seafarers in charge of the first watch or subsequent relieving watches show signs of being unduly fatigued so that they may not be able to carry out their tasks, steps shall be taken to ensure that the ship will not leave port until the deficiencies found have been rectified or the seafarers in question have been sufficiently rested.