Maritime & Shipping · United States
Seafarers stand watch systems such as six-on/six-off for weeks at a time, with broken sleep, noise and motion. Fatigue on watch raises the risk of grounding, collision and injury.
Reg Watch
Regulatory change that affects how you manage fatigue in maritime & shipping: what has changed in the last 12 months, and what is on the way.
Upcoming changeExpected from October 2027Within 12 months
OSHA's heat injury and illness standard, proposed August 2024 and covering shipyard and other maritime work, is still a proposal: a supplemental proposal is projected for December 2026 and final action for October 2027. No Coast Guard change to hours of rest is proposed.
Regulatory changes checked as at October 1, 2026.
Regulation
Maritime is one of very few US industries with a numeric, legally binding rest requirement - enforced by the Coast Guard, not OSHA. Watchkeeping officers, watch ratings and crew with designated safety or security duties on seagoing vessels beyond the boundary line have minimum rest hours under the STCW rules. Separately, work-hour and watch limits in the shipping statute bind towing vessel operators and crews on larger merchant vessels. Fishing vessels, barges, inland-waters vessels and vessels under 200 gross tons fall outside the STCW rest rules altogether.
USCGLogos identify the regulator and don’t imply endorsement.
The US Coast Guard, not OSHA, is the primary safety regulator for vessels and seafarers - including rest-hour rules. OSHA's reach is largely limited to shoreside terminals and offices. Injury compensation runs through the federal Jones Act and Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act rather than state workers' comp.
On seagoing vessels beyond the boundary line, covered personnel must get at least 10 hours rest in any 24 and 77 hours in any 7 days, in no more than two blocks with one of at least 6 hours and no more than 14 hours between them, with daily rest records kept aboard and copied to each crew member. A licensed towing vessel operator may not work more than 12 hours in any 24 except in an emergency. Licensed officers, sailors and oilers on merchant vessels over 100 gross tons must be in at least three watches at sea. On tankers the limit is 15 hours in 24.
Coast Guard civil penalties for watch and manning violations run to $23,647 per violation, and vessel inspection violations to $14,988, on the schedule applying to assessments issued after 29 December 2025. Rest-hour breaches are cited at inspection and at Port State Control and can put a certificate of inspection at risk. The larger exposure is civil: under the Jones Act an injured seafarer brings an uncapped negligence claim, and a rest record showing hours that were available but not slept is the document the plaintiff will use.
Coast Guard civil penalty maximums: $23,647 per violation for watch and manning breaches under 46 U.S.C. 8104(i) and (j) and 8101(f); $14,988 for vessel inspection violations under 46 U.S.C. 3318(a). Applies to assessments issued after 29 December 2025.
Sources: US Coast Guard hours-of-rest rule (46 CFR 15.1111); federal watch and 12-hour rules (46 U.S.C. 8104); Coast Guard civil penalty schedule (33 CFR 27.3); the Jones Act; Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act; NTSB report on the Elliot Cheramie.
Fatigue-critical roles
The roles where a fatigued worker is most likely to cause serious harm, the tasks that carry the risk, and why fatigue builds up in them.
| Role | Risk | High-risk tasks | Why fatigue builds |
|---|---|---|---|
Mate (licensed deck officer)Rules
| Critical risk | Keeping a bridge watch alone in the 00:00-04:00 or 04:00-08:00 watch; collision avoidance in coastal traffic; port arrival straight after cargo work | 6-on/6-off or 4-on/8-off watches, port-call cargo work eating rest, time-zone changes, months-long tours |
Assistant engineer (licensed engineer)Rules
| Critical risk | Unmanned machinery space on-call alarm response at night; engine-room watch; bunkering, fuel changeover and blackout recovery after broken sleep | UMS on-call nights with repeated alarms, port maintenance during rest periods, heat and noise |
State pilot / bar pilotRules
| Critical risk | Conning large ships through pilotage waters at night; boarding by pilot ladder in swell; back-to-back jobs and long coastal pilotages | 24/7 on-call job lists, night jobs, long transits and travel between jobs, irregular rest |
Towing vessel operator (master / mate - pilot of towing vessels)Rules
| Critical risk | Ship-assist and harbor towage at night on short notice; towline handling near girting risk; coastal barge towing on two-watch systems | On-call 24 h harbor rosters, two-watch towing (6-on/6-off), back-to-back jobs |
Master / operator (passenger vessel); fishing vessel captainRules
| Critical risk | Skippering a ferry or workboat with minimum crew on long days; night fishing then steaming home after hauling; lone watch on small vessels | Long seasonal days, early starts, split shifts on commuter ferries, multi-day trips with fragmented sleep |
Able seaman (AB) / ordinary seaman on watchRules
| High risk | Lookout and helm on night watches; mooring and anchor work during port calls that cut into rest; fire rounds | Watch rotations, port-call work in rest periods, long tours |
Stories
Published findings and prosecutions from regulators, courts and investigators in the United States.
Story 1 of 23
How the suite fits
Grades describe how strongly a product connects to an obligation. None discharges an obligation, and none carries a compliance warranty.
Sleepfit supports what the rest-hour rules cannot reach: what crew actually sleep in the hours the schedule gave them. Rest records show opportunity; only measurement shows sleep obtained.
About SleepfitNo US maritime rule requires a fitness check at the point of work; 46 CFR 15.1111 governs rest hours. Fatiguefit4Duty supports the record that a master acted on a fatigued watchstander. A fitness-for-duty check, not a fitness-for-duty decision - the duty call stays with you.
About Fatiguefit4DutyNo US maritime rule names fatigue training; STCW and 46 CFR training requirements do not reach it. Awareness eLearning supplies fatigue and sleep content with a completion record for masters, mates and watch officers.
About Awareness eLearningMarine casualties must be reported under 46 CFR Part 4, and no rule names fatigue as something you must examine. Was It Fatigue? supports your investigation and the record a Jones Act claim will test. A structured judgment aid, not a determination of cause.
About Was It Fatigue?SleepWellBaby is a voluntary benefit with no Coast Guard requirement behind it. It supports crew with infants at home during shore rotations, when recovery sleep is meant to happen.
About SleepWellBabyRecommended bundle
Every bundle is priced on prevalence: your whole cohort gets access, and you pay for the share predicted to need each product. How pricing works.
Proactive fatigue risk: assess, manage and train, with sleep screening underneath.
Assess, manage, investigate: from the Census to the point of duty to the post-incident review.
Why this pairing in the United States
46 CFR 15.1111 sets rest hours, which show opportunity, not sleep. Sleepfit measures sleep obtained; Fatiguefit4Duty adds a pre-watch check and a record that the master acted; Awareness eLearning trains watchkeepers. Fatigue Lifecycle adds review of Part 4 casualties.
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