Section 10 in The Merchant Shipping (Maritime Labour) Rules, 2016
10. Hours of work and rest.
(1)For the purpose of these rules, the term.-(a)"hours of work" means time during which seafarers are required to do work on account of the ship;(b)"hours of rest" means time outside the hours of work but does not include short breaks or meal breaks up to one hour during the hours of work.(2)The normal working hours standard for seafarers shall not exceed an eight-hour day with one day rest per week and rest on public holidays as per collective bargaining agreement or seafarers' employment agreement.(3)The ship owner shall adopt minimum hours of the rest which shall be,-(i)not less than ten hours in any twenty-four hour period; and(ii)not less than seventy-seven hours in total for a period of seven days in different spells.(4)Minimum ten hours of rest may be divided into no more than two periods, one of which shall be at least six hours in length and the interval between consecutive periods of rest shall not exceed fourteen hours.(5)Musters, fire-fighting and lifeboat drills, and drills provided by the Act and rules made thereunder and by the International instruments shall be conducted in a manner that minimises the disturbance of rest period and does not induce fatigue.(6)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.(7)If no collective bargaining agreement or arbitration award exists or if the Director General of Shipping determines that the provisions in the agreement or award in respect of sub-rule (5) or sub-rule (6) are inadequate, the Director General of Shipping may specify such provisions to ensure the seafarers concerned to have sufficient rest.(8)The ship owner shall ensure the posting, in an easily accessible place, of a table with the shipboard working arrangements, which shall contain for every position at least.-(a)the schedule of service at sea and service in port; and(b)the minimum hours of rest as agreed upon within the frame-work of the applicable collective bargaining agreements.(9)The table referred to in sub-rule (8) shall be established in a standardised format as specified by the Director General of Shipping in the working language or languages of the ship and in English.(10)The ship owner shall maintain records of seafarers' daily hours of rest to allow monitoring of compliance with the provision of sub-rules (3) to (9).(11)The records shall be in a standardised format specified by the Director General of Shipping taking into account any available guidelines of the International Labour Organisation and the format shall be in any standard format prepared by the Organisation in the languages required by sub-rule (9).(12)Copy of the records pertaining to the seafarers shall be endorsed by the master or a person authorised by the master.(13)(a)Nothing contained in this rule shall prevent the right of the master of a ship to require a seafarer to perform any hours of work necessary for the immediate 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;(b)In accordance with the provisions of clause (a), the master may suspend the schedule of hours of work or hours of rest and require a seafarer to perform any hours of work necessary until the normal situation has been restored;(c)As soon as practicable, after the normal situation has been restored, the master shall ensure that any seafarers who have performed work in a scheduled rest period are provided with an adequate period of rest.(14)(a)relaxations from the required hours of rest under sub-rule (3) and sub-rule (4) may be allowed for not more than two consecutive weeks provided that the rest period is not less than seventy hours in any seven day period, and the interval between two periods of relaxation on board shall not be less than twice the duration of the relaxation;(b)the ten hours of rest in a twenty four hour period provided during the relaxation may be divided into no more than three periods, one of which shall be at least six hours in length, and the said periods shall not be less than one hour in length;(c)Interval between consecutive periods of rest shall not exceed fourteen hours: Provided that no relaxation shall be made for duty beyond twenty four hour in any seven day period.
