We are excited to introduce our new special column, titled ‘Wellness Corner’ that hosts industry experts’ feedback, presenting briefly an overview of their lifestyle to motivate us with wellness tips and suggestions.
Mrs. Sandra Welch, CEO, Seafarers Hospital Society notes that the pandemic made everyone re-evaluate their lives and prioritise taking better care of themselves. In this context, she has now adopted a healthier lifestyle trying to exercise more, watch her diet and spend quality time with family and friends. When it comes to maritime industry, she encourages more stakeholders to actively support health promotion activities for seafarers and suggests key actions to support crew physical and mental health.
SAFETY4SEA: What does ‘wellness’ mean to you? What do you do in your everyday life to embrace wellness?
Sandra Welch: Wellness for me is about developing and practicing healthy habits on a daily basis to achieve better physical and mental health. This ensures that instead of just surviving, I’m thriving. I think wellness is also very much about what makes you as a person happy, such as finding the career where you have job satisfaction or seeking out available activities that are rewarding.
S4S: What are the two things to do that can make you feel happy after a challenging day?
S.W.: For me there is nothing better taking my basset hound, Bella for a long walk in the fields near my home, followed by sitting down to a meal with my family, which is always very sociable and full of conversation and laughter.
S4S: What do you do to keep balance between your personal and business life?
S.W.: I’ve learnt the importance of developing and maintaining a strong work-life balance because it is critical to staying happy and productive. And instituting this and modelling this wherever possible is just as important for the well-being of my family and staff too. I try to stay on top of my schedule by being as organised as I can be. I also make an effort not to let my work creep into my home life too much, as it is easy to answer one email and then end up doing loads of work. Over time I’ve realised that you are never going to get your best work done if you’re not satisfied with all aspects of your life. Devoting too many hours to your job can actually reduce the quality of your work and affect other aspects of your life as well.
S4S: In the last five years, what new belief, behaviour, or habit has most improved your personal life?
S.W.: I think Covid-19 and the lockdown made everyone re-evaluate their lives and prioritise taking better care of themselves. This was certainly the case for me. I lead a much healthier lifestyle now — exercising more, watching my diet and, most of all, ensuring that I spend quality time with my family and friends.
S4S: What would you like to change in the current maritime landscape with regards to wellbeing?
S.W.: I would like to see the maritime industry put real weight behind the recognition that this industry is powered by seafarers — and therefore the quality of life we offer prospective and current crew members will have a significant impact on industry operations. Doing so would ensure that we are able to compete effectively with other industries for expertise, and incorporate forward-thinking Social policy for effective Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategies. We are already doing our best to enable this shift towards prioritising wellbeing. In 2022, SHS launched a discussion paper, ‘On Course for a Culture of Care,’ which offers clear, measurable and pragmatic changes to create a culture of care in shipping. The feedback we gather from seafarers in 2023 will offer practical changes that ship owners and operators seeking to improve the physical and psychological health of staff working onboard their vessels can incorporate into their existing systems. This will help to advance international requirements for securing seafarer health and maritime safety.
S4S: What wellness-promoting initiatives would you like to see in the workplace?
S.W.: I would like to see more shipping companies, owners and charterers actively supporting health promotion activities for seafarers. There are many options available for mental health, such as ensuring regular sleep schedules where possible and shared social activities onboard, which create conditions for seafarers that minimise psychological distress and ill-health.
Ship owners, operators and charterers can also support crew physical health by providing:
- Education for seafarers to prevent occupational injuries and ill-health.
- Possibilities for physical fitness and mobility, such as facilities, individual recommendations, targets and competitions.
- Appropriate and acceptable nutritious food choices, general and individual advice on healthy weights, access to weighing facilities, and targets and competitions on weight management.
- Targeted disease prevention, such as dental health and by raising awareness of diabetes, high blood pressure and cancers.
The views presented hereabove are only those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of SAFETY4SEA and are for information sharing and discussion purposes only.
