The maritime industry is a high-risk environment. Critical incidents onboard can be distressing and sometimes traumatic for seafarers and any shoreside staff involved, as well as disruptive to operations. Stephanie Sjöblad, Loss Prevention Executive at Alandia explains what trauma-informed means and why it is important for the maritime industry.
In a survey designed and conducted by marine insurance entrepreneurs, Alandia, and in collaboration with Seaways Psychology Services, 50% of seafarer respondents reported having experienced at least one event at sea which was shocking, distressing, or frightening. Of those who had experienced such an incident, 82% said that their job performance had been negatively affected.
These statistics alone indicate the need for the maritime industry to be more trauma-informed, which means:
- Being aware of human reactions to stressful events.
- Understanding and reducing the risk of exposure to psychological harm from incidents.
- Knowing how to help crew and shoreside personnel who have been impacted to recover and return to safe and efficient operations in the shortest time.
To not have post incident trauma procedures in place means that the risk of human distress, further secondary incidents, and unnecessary costs and delays are all high.
Being trauma-informed is not the same as being mental health aware: Though there is naturally a certain amount of cross over between mental health and trauma, trauma is much more clearly linked to specific incidents. Incidents of concern in the maritime sector are often considered to be major events such as fire, collision, or death. However, it is important to recognise that more personal or localised events such as bullying, sexual harassment/assault, or receiving bad news from home can also be traumatic enough to negatively impact a person’s ability to function in their role. Near misses also carry a high risk of causing trauma, as people can be distressed and distracted by what could have been.
Recognising trauma is not always straightforward and without awareness and knowledge it is easy to miss the signs and hard to know how to respond. Marine insurers, Alandia, have collaborated with Seaways Psychology Services to provide their customers with an evidence-based workshop led by professionally registered clinical psychologists who specialise in maritime trauma.
“It is important that we do our part as marine insurers to encourage a more trauma-informed maritime industry. To have a good procedure for post incident trauma response means we will be enabling ourselves to avoid losses in many respects – protecting people, the environment, and economic investments by stopping a negative cycle of damage before it spirals and avoiding further occurrence of incidents. Everyone wins.” says Martti Simojoki, Alandia’s Senior Loss Prevention Manager.
Other industries with a high risk for experiencing trauma are far ahead of maritime: The rail industry started implementing trauma informed policy to minimise the negative psychological effects of railway suicides on train drivers back in 1986. The aviation industry also has policies for minimising and managing trauma, so why is the maritime sector dragging behind? Is it simply a case of lack of awareness and knowledge? Or could it be that the priorities are wrong? Doing nothing is unlikely to be beneficial in any capacity, economically or otherwise.
Maritime organisations that attend readily and appropriately to trauma and the human reactions to stress amongst crew following an incident onboard may be lowering the chances of further incidents occurring. The attitude of key stakeholders really matters. Logically, the retention of crew/employees, safety, performance, morale, and business continuity will be better when the welfare of crews and shoreside personnel involved in critical incidents is made a priority.
Developing trauma-informed policy and practice – where to start!
The important thing to remember is that you should be guided by a qualified professional. Post incident management of trauma is not something you can afford to do wrong as there is a risk that it could create more damage.
Developing and implementing trauma informed policy takes commitment and doesn’t happen overnight, but there are some good places to get started that will make a difference. The five golden rules can be followed as a way of providing basic support after an incident:
• Assess the risk of incidents occurring on their vessels using knowledge of the varied human impacts of traumatic events.
• Have strategies and policies in place for the aftermath of small and large critical events to ensure that professional support is available for those involved. Such strategies may include the use of a Critical Incident Stress Management Team (CISM), confidential access to psychological support and access to faith-based assistance.
• Integrate the strategies and policies within the company ISM/SMS.
• Train shore and vessel organisations.
• Remain aware of the potential for on-going and additional stress brought on by any post incident investigation processes.
The views presented are only those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of SAFETY4SEA and are for information sharing and discussion purposes only.
