Introduction: The Health, Safety and Well-Being of Seafarers – Understanding the Challenges

Abstract

Working at sea remains among the most dangerous forms of employment. According to official statistics in the British merchant fleet, for example, the relative risk of mortality caused by accidents at work is 26 times greater than for all workers in the UK (Roberts and Marloe, 2005), while in the Danish merchant fleet the fatal accident rate was 11 times higher than for shore-based industries (Hansen, 1996). Less is understood about the extent of work-related ill health at sea but what little is known suggests similar comparatively poor outcomes. When it is borne in mind that official figures are acknowledged to grossly under-represent the true extent of injury and ill health experienced at sea and that European fleets are probably among those delivering best practice in terms of the protection of workers, the scale of the problem becomes apparent.

O hear us when we cry to thee, for those in peril on the sea*.

(For Those in Peril on the Sea—William Whiting 1860)