Seacare Online Help - Ship Survey

Lodging Ship Survey

Lodging Ship Survey provides for the data entry of ship activity data within a given period.

Lodging Ship Survey is made up of the following steps:

Ship Survey
Ship Activity Survey
Survey Review

Ship Survey

This screen collects information on whether a ship was covered by the Seafarers and OHS(MI) Acts during a period and the operator name for the ship

Ship Activity Survey

This screen collects activity data for Ships that were covered by the Seafarers Act or the OHS(MI) Act during the period. It collects the following fields:

Crew Complement - The standard complement of seafarers engaged on each ship at any one time.
Days Operated in Period - If a vessel operates for the whole of the reporting period, the number of days operated will be 184 (July to December) and 181 (January to June - 182 in a leap year).
Standard Shift Hours per Day - Hours (on average) worked in a shift by an employee (according to the relevant industrial Award, Agreement or AWA).
Standard Work Days per Week - Days (on average) worked in a week by an employee (according to the relevant industrial Award, Agreement or AWA).
Daily Hours of Operation - Hours (on average) per day the crew are on board, whether at work or not.

These values are used to calculate the number of Full time equivalent (FTE) employees and Hours worked. In turn, these calculated values are used to determine rates of incidence and frequency.

FTE employees is used to calculate the injury incidence rate (claims per 1,000 employees).
Hours worked is used to calculate the injury frequency rate (claims per 1 million hours worked).

Calculating the number of full time equivalent (FTE) employees.

The formula for calculating the FTE employees:

FTE Employees = Number of Berths X (Days Operated in Period / Total Days in Period) X (Standard Shift Hours per Day X Standard Work Days per Week) / 40.4.
Where Total Days in Period = 184 (July to December) or 181 (January to June - 182 in a leap year).

Example 1: on a trading ship with a crew complement of 17, operated for the full period (July to December), where the average working week as specified by the relevant industrial instrument applicable during the reporting period is 7 days per week of 11 hours the inputs to the formula will be:
17 X (184 / 184) X (11 * 7) / 40.4 = 32.4 FTE employees.
Example 2: if the employer was a dredging operator (covered by the Seafarers Act), with a crew complement of 26, operating for the full period (July to December) and where the crew return to shore at the end of each shift and where the shift is 12 hours per day over 5 days per week (average weekly hours are 60), the inputs to the formula will be:
26 X (184 / 184) X (12 * 5) / 40.4 = 38.6 FTE employees.
Example 3: if the example above there was only 100 days of operation in the period (July to December), the inputs to the formula will be:
26 X (100 / 184) X (12 * 5) / 40.4 = 21 FTE employees.

Note: To calculate the full time equivalent (FTE) employees, a divisor of 40.4 standard hours worked per week is used. This provides a conservative, industry standard benchmark, which is considered to be more realistic than the divisor of 35 hours specified in the relevant Australian Standard for Workplace Injury and Disease Recording (AS 1885.1 1990).

Calculating hours worked

The formula for calculating hours worked is:

Hours Worked = Number of Berths X Days Operated in Period X Daily Hours of Operation

Example 1: on a trading ship with a crew complement of 17, where the ship is operated for the full period (July to December) and the ship operates 24 hours per day, the inputs using the formula will be:
17 X 184 X 24 = 75,072 hours worked
Example 2: if the employer operates in the offshore sector, where the crewing complement is 11, and the ship completed a contract part way through the reporting period - it operated for 142 days from total available days of 184, the inputs to the formula will be:
11 X 142 X 24 = 37,488 hours worked.
Example 3: if the employer was a dredging operator (and is covered by the Seafarers Act), with a crew complement of 26, operating for the full period (July to December) and where the crew return to shore at the end of each shift and where the shift is 12 hours per day, the inputs to the formula will be:
26 X 184 X 12 = 57,408 hours worked.

Note: The pre 2003-04 employer adjustment to hours worked for ESD reporting - to 12 hours in the bluewater sector, and 14 hours in the offshore sector - must no longer be used.

Why the values under the Seafarers Act and under the OHS(MI) Act may differ

There are three principal reasons why the reported values under the Seafarers Act and the OHS(MI) Act may differ for some employers.

First, some employers may have a section 20A exemption from the operation of the Seafarers Act in place for some or all of their employees. Where such an exemption is in place for the duration of the reporting period, the employer should not report the employees subject to the s20A exemption as being under the Seafarers Act in that reporting period. However, as there is no similar exemption from the operation of the OHS(MI) Act, those employees will remain covered by that Act and should be recorded as being employees under the OHS(MI) Act during that same reporting period.

Second, some employers in the offshore oil and gas industry will operate (or supply labour to) vessels which, during the reporting period, are covered by the Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act 1967 (P(SL) Act) for OHS purposes, so those employees will not be reported as OHS(MI) Act employees. Such employees will nevertheless usually be covered by the Seafarers Act during such times and should be reported as such.

Third, where an employer or operator obtains a declaration from AMSA under s8A or s8AA of the Navigation Act 1912 (Navigation Act) in relation to a particular vessel, and the declaration remains in force for the duration of the reporting period, the OHS(MI) Act will automatically apply to that vessel and its employees during the reporting period. However, a s8A or 8AA declaration by AMSA will only apply the Seafarers Act if the vessel is also a “prescribed ship” and there is “employment of employees” i.e. there is an employer-employee relationship.

Note 1: where a s20A exemption is not in place for the majority of the reporting period, or where for the majority of the reporting period the P(SL) Act does not apply, the employees should be reported as being employed under the Seafarers Act and/or the OHS(MI) Act. On the other hand where the s8A or s8AA declaration which brought the vessel under the Seafarers or OHS(MI) Acts was not in force for the majority of the reporting period, the employees should not be reported as being covered by one or both of these Acts during that reporting period.

Survey Review

This screen provides a summary of data inputs for the previous screens and shows the calculated values for FTE employees and Hours worked. Please review the data for accuracy before submitting to Seacare.