out of four seafarers, one show signs of depression- A study
More than a quarter of seafarers show signs of depression, and many won’t ask for help, according to a study of seafarers’ mental health presented at Sailors’ Society’s Wellness at Sea conference on March 16, London.
The study of more than 1,000 seafarers was carried out by international maritime charity Sailors’ Society and Yale University, with more than one in six of the respondents coming from the UK.
Some 26 percent of seafarers said they had felt “down, depressed or hopeless” on several days over the previous two weeks, the study findings show.
Furthermore, the seafarers said the quality and amount of food on board can have a big impact on their mental health, alongside isolation from their families and length of their contracts.
Nearly half (45 percent) of the seafarers who reported symptoms of depression said they had not asked anybody for help. Around one-third said they had turned to family and/or friends, but only 21 percent said they had spoken to a colleague, despite spending months on a ship with them, the study finds.
“Shipping is perhaps the most international of all the world's great industries,and also one of the most dangerous”(IMO, 2011).A range of approaches have been introduced to enhance maritime transport safety, such as developing new methods of transportation, introducing numerous technical innovations, increasing traffic surveillance and control, etc. Nevertheless, accidents with catastrophic consequences still happen,which implies that all these measures are not sufficiently effective.Fatigue has been identified as a major contributing factor in numerous maritime accidents,such as EXXON VALDEZ ( Raby and Mc Callum, 1997)and HERALD OF FREE ENTERPRISE(Wellensetal., 2005). In the competitive 24-hour industry where shift work and long working hours are common, the potential for fatigue at sea is extremely great.It is illustrated in some recent publications that seafarers’ fatigue is common and widespread (Smith, et al., 2006; Smith, 2007;Allen, et al, 2008). Moreover, fatigue can cause more hazardous impacts on the shipping industry than elsewhere because of the specific characteristic of seafaring.Industry participants such as maritime regulators, ship-owners, trade unions and P & I clubs have reached the consensus that fatigue on board is common in the marine industry and it is necessary to make joint efforts to deal with the issue.Generally considered as a hotspot issue in the shipping industry, fatigue among
2 seafarers has received a growing global concern (Patraiko, 2006)and has been subject to many studies in recent years. In 1989,a review(Brown, 1989)exploring the relationship between working hours, fatigue and safety at sea was published.The author considered inadequate reporting systems as the main reason why this problem was overlooked in legislative channels as few accident cases cited fatigue as a direct causal factor. Eleven years later, a similar conclusion was made in a review focused on the British offshore oil support industry, which concluded that fatigue had been noticeably under-investigated in the maritime domain(Collins, 2000).A proactive approach in fatigue management(Reyner and Baulk, 1995)was provided in 1995 by Reyner and Baulk after their study on technical data of fatigue among seafarers. A study at the Seafarers International Research Centre (1996) also addressed the fatigue issue in terms of identifying important elements for further research and analyzing the unresolved components of fatigue itself. In 1997, a group of experts(Parker, et al., 1997)studied the health and lifestyle behaviors of seafarers,which turned into an efficient fatigue investigation. Recently, the IMO issued the foremost important document addressing fatigue issues “Guidance on Fatigue Mitigation and Management”1(IMO, 2001), which directly tackles the issue of fatigue at sea.A number of research projects are being undertaken in the UK, the US, Sweden and doubtless in other places too. A €3.78 million European Commission-funded 30-month research initiative known as Project Horizon2 was launched in 2009 to investigate and tackle the problems posed by seafarer fatigue(Warsash Maritime Academy, 2009).Developed and led by Warsash Maritime Academy, the project brought together 11 academic institutions and organizations from the shipping industry,seeking to improve safety at sea by developing a fatigue management.
3 toolkit for the industry, as well as proposing recommendations for improving work patterns at sea(Practical Boat Owner, 2009).Although many studies and research projects concerning fatigue have been undertaken in recent years, there are so far no effective or sufficient measures to deal with the problem because of sophisticated challenges,and lack of knowledge. The complexity and difficulty posed by the fatigue issue today in the shipping industry reveal the need for further research. Considering also the permanent effect and the potential hazard that fatigue factors are posing to seafarers,additional studies need to be undertaken in order to find more effective solutions to the problem.Lessons can be learned from manufacturing industries and other transport sectors, which have along history of research on human fatigue and fatigue-induced incidents(Allen, Wadsworth and Smith, 2008)
“Shipping is perhaps the most international of all the world's great industries,and also one of the most dangerous”(IMO, 2011).A range of approaches have been introduced to enhance maritime transport safety, such as developing new methods of transportation, introducing numerous technical innovations, increasing traffic surveillance and control, etc. Nevertheless, accidents with catastrophic consequences still happen,which implies that all these measures are not sufficiently effective.Fatigue has been identified as a major contributing factor in numerous maritime accidents,such as EXXON VALDEZ ( Raby and Mc Callum, 1997)and HERALD OF FREE ENTERPRISE(Wellensetal., 2005). In the competitive 24-hour industry where shift work and long working hours are common, the potential for fatigue at sea is extremely great.It is illustrated in some recent publications that seafarers’ fatigue is common and widespread (Smith, et al., 2006; Smith, 2007;Allen, et al, 2008). Moreover, fatigue can cause more hazardous impacts on the shipping industry than elsewhere because of the specific characteristic of seafaring.Industry participants such as maritime regulators, ship-owners, trade unions and P & I clubs have reached the consensus that fatigue on board is common in the marine industry and it is necessary to make joint efforts to deal with the issue.Generally considered as a hotspot issue in the shipping industry, fatigue among
2 seafarers has received a growing global concern (Patraiko, 2006)and has been subject to many studies in recent years. In 1989,a review(Brown, 1989)exploring the relationship between working hours, fatigue and safety at sea was published.The author considered inadequate reporting systems as the main reason why this problem was overlooked in legislative channels as few accident cases cited fatigue as a direct causal factor. Eleven years later, a similar conclusion was made in a review focused on the British offshore oil support industry, which concluded that fatigue had been noticeably under-investigated in the maritime domain(Collins, 2000).A proactive approach in fatigue management(Reyner and Baulk, 1995)was provided in 1995 by Reyner and Baulk after their study on technical data of fatigue among seafarers. A study at the Seafarers International Research Centre (1996) also addressed the fatigue issue in terms of identifying important elements for further research and analyzing the unresolved components of fatigue itself. In 1997, a group of experts(Parker, et al., 1997)studied the health and lifestyle behaviors of seafarers,which turned into an efficient fatigue investigation. Recently, the IMO issued the foremost important document addressing fatigue issues “Guidance on Fatigue Mitigation and Management”1(IMO, 2001), which directly tackles the issue of fatigue at sea.A number of research projects are being undertaken in the UK, the US, Sweden and doubtless in other places too. A €3.78 million European Commission-funded 30-month research initiative known as Project Horizon2 was launched in 2009 to investigate and tackle the problems posed by seafarer fatigue(Warsash Maritime Academy, 2009).Developed and led by Warsash Maritime Academy, the project brought together 11 academic institutions and organizations from the shipping industry,seeking to improve safety at sea by developing a fatigue management.
3 toolkit for the industry, as well as proposing recommendations for improving work patterns at sea(Practical Boat Owner, 2009).Although many studies and research projects concerning fatigue have been undertaken in recent years, there are so far no effective or sufficient measures to deal with the problem because of sophisticated challenges,and lack of knowledge. The complexity and difficulty posed by the fatigue issue today in the shipping industry reveal the need for further research. Considering also the permanent effect and the potential hazard that fatigue factors are posing to seafarers,additional studies need to be undertaken in order to find more effective solutions to the problem.Lessons can be learned from manufacturing industries and other transport sectors, which have along history of research on human fatigue and fatigue-induced incidents(Allen, Wadsworth and Smith, 2008)
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