The Shipowners P&I Club offers guidance and practical tips to seafarers to help them maintain a mental wellbeing given the challenges of their working lives. The Club notes that seafarers are more likely to suffer from mental health problems than the general population, especially depression and anxiety. In extreme cases, this can result in seafarers taking their own lives. According to research comparing different industries’ suicide rates, only coal mining fares worse.
Mental health continues to be a cause of Club claims and because mental health problems are under reported, especially among contractual workers, Club data is unlikely to paint an accurate picture of the extent to which mental health is an issue among our particular tonnage of smaller and more specialist vessels. It is also likely that some claims relating to pain, such as back, or stomach pain, may mask accompanying mental health concerns.
The causes of mental health problems among seafarers often relate to their social isolation. For many, being socially isolated is unproblematic but for others, we need to think about how it can be lessened – through measures that improve the cohesion of crew and through improved communications with loved one back home.
Guidance booklets have been developed as part of the Seafarers’ Health Information Programme (SHIP), with a focus on assisting crew Members to identify the risks to mental health on board including stress, harassment and fatigue with suggested coping measures that can be put in place. Whatever the cause, mental illness must be taken extremely seriously to protect all crew members.
Tips for successful implementation of a Mental Care campaign
- Encourage and stimulate the crew members to prevent mental problems. Draw attention to the prevention of mental problems in meetings, at medical check-ups etc.
- Use a broad approach to inform and motivate the seafarers onboard. Offer information and protection.
- The whole ship’s company has to be behind the programme: captain and of¿ cers have to show their commitment.
- It is not only a matter of good policy development but also of good policy implementation. It takes time to implement a prevention programme onboard. Make sure it gets where it is needed. Behavioural changes take several months and benefits ts may take even longer to become measurable.
- Make a systematic plan of what you want to achieve with respect to the prevention of mental problems onboard and over what period of time. Involve key persons and link to a company policy on health.
- Budget the programme, make sure the activities adopted are evaluated and be prepared to adapt the plan if some initiatives are not as successful as others.
- Announce the planning and changes, organise an event to celebrate the start of the plan.
- Provide information (posters or leaÀ ets) on prevention of mental problems all over the ship.
- Ask crew members to participate and comment on the campaign, and complete questionnaires. Give seafarers the opportunity to make suggestions on prevention activities.
Please click at the following booklets issued by the Shipowners’ P&I Club for more information
Source: The Shipowners’ P&I Club
