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16 May 2005 - New Alcohol Limits for
Professional Seafarers
Navigation
The Government has introduced new alcohol limits for
professional seafarers, which mirror those applied to motorists.
The new limits have been introduced to curb what the Government
describes as a "crackdown on drunken sailors" and will apply to UK registered
vessels throughout the globe, plus any foreign ships within UK waters.
Consultations took place over a 4 year period, with substantial
input from the National Union of Marine, Aviation and Shipping Transport (NUMAST).
It must be said that the Government's commissioned research
found "low to non-existent" evidence of alcohol abuse by seafarers within
companies who had active alcohol policies in force, such as the following:
NUMAST also pointed out that there was little evidence of
alcohol being the cause of accidents within the industry. The
largest cause of accidents at sea were related to excessive hours and fatigue.
Proposals are being set in motion for the new limits to be
applied to sea users of leisure crafts, as reckless navigation by them could
threaten the safety of larger vessels.
The application of the new limits will be the same as road user
testing.
Police will be able to use the same testing equipment and
procedures as they do on motorists, with the limits being set at 80 milligrammes
of alcohol in 100 milliletres of blood.
Article by Alexandra Johnston
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