Rest Hours Requirement as per STCW.
- A minimum of 10 hours of rest in any 24-hour period
- 77 working hours in any 7-day period
- The hours of rest may be divided into no more than two periods, one of which shall be at least 6 hours in length, and the intervals between consecutive periods of rest shall not exceed 14 hours.
STCW Requirements for Work and rest Hours
STCW Chapter A-VIII/1 (Fitness for duty) defines the work and rest hours requirements.
Let us understand each point of the regulation one by one.
A minimum of 10 hours of rest in any 24-hour period
The first requirement about the rest hours is to have a minimum of 10 hours of rest in any 24hour period.
Let us say below are the work and rest hours for 1st of a month for a seafarer.
Does this comply with the 10 hours rest in any 24 hours period?
Yes, of course !!! In this day the seafarer has got the rest from 0000-0600 hrs and then 2000-2400 Hrs
amounting to 10 hours.
But there is more to this requirement than it meets the eye. Let us say next day this seafarer came to work at 0500 Hrs and knocked off at 1000 Hrs. After that, he was off for the full day.
Does it still comply with 10 hours rest requirement?
No, it does not comply now. Why?
The requirement is for 10 hours of rest in ANY 24 hour period. I can choose any 24 hour period and check if he got 10 hours rest in that period or not.
In this case, I choose 24 hour period from 0600 Hrs on 01st day to 0600 Hrs on the next day.
Count the rest hours in this 24 hours period.
It comes out to be 9 hours only. So in this 24 hour period, he got total rest of 09 hours only and
would not comply with the 10 hours of rest requirement.
The takeaway point is that the word “any” is important in this requirement.
