Singapore legislation
Section 16
Section 16
Hours of rest
(1)
Every shipowner must ensure that every seafarer in the shipowner’s employment is given the hours of rest in accordance with this section.
(2)
The minimum hours of rest are 10 hours in any 24‑hour period and 77 hours in any 7‑day period.
(3)
The minimum hours of rest may be divided into no more than 2 periods, one of which must be at least 6 hours in length, and the interval between consecutive periods of rest must not exceed 14 hours.
(4)
Where a seafarer is employed in work during hours of rest, he or she must be compensated with an equivalent period of rest in the next rest period, or if not possible, as soon as practicable after that.
(5)
A person must not cause or permit payment to be made in lieu of hours of rest.
(6)
The master must cause for every position —
the schedule of service at sea and service in port;
the minimum hours of rest required by this Act; and
all other information on working arrangements that may be required by the Director from time to time,to be displayed in English and the working language or languages of the ship using such format as may be prescribed by the Authority and posted in an easily accessible place on board the ship.
(7)
The master must maintain a record of each seafarer’s daily hours of rest on board the ship, which must —
be in a standardised format that may be prescribed by the Authority; and
be in English and, if the working language of the ship is not English, also be in the working language or languages of the ship.
(8)
The master must at the end of each month cause a seafarer to be given a record of the seafarer’s daily hours of rest mentioned in subsection (7) that has been endorsed by or on behalf of the master.
(9)
The Director may, in any particular case, permit exceptions to the hours of rest set out in this section in accordance with and subject to any prescribed conditions.
(10)
Nothing in this section prevents the master from suspending a seafarer’s hours of rest for the purposes of performing work that is 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, provided that the seafarer is compensated with an equivalent period of rest as soon as practicable after the normal situation has been restored.
(11)
Any shipowner who contravenes subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000.