Maritime charities, the International Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN), the Mission to Seafarers, and Sailors’ Society have endorsed Diversity Study Group’s (DSG) benchmarking initiative that tracks crew demographics and year-on-year trends in seafarer psychological and physical safety and wellbeing.
In particular, DSG will collaborate with maritime charities and participating ship operators — Anglo-Eastern Ship Management, Ardmore Shipping and Dorian LPG — to identify key impact points and utilise their DEI expertise to recommend sustainable solutions that will facilitate improved workplace culture and seafarer welfare.
While DSG’s benchmarking initiative offers participating ship operators a means by which to nurture an effective working culture at sea — where everyone feels encouraged, has the opportunity to thrive, and the freedom to voice their concerns — it also allows for maritime charities to benefit from granular data on which DEIB programmes are proving the most effective.
Georgia Allen, Projects and Relationships Manager at ISWAN said, “Our industry is evolving rapidly, bringing challenges and opportunities in equal measure. The last few years have seen seafarers impacted by COVID-19, economic recession, and rising geopolitical turmoil. These events, along with the everyday challenges of working at sea, have taken a toll on seafarers’ health and wellbeing, and ISWAN has supported many seafarers who have contacted our helplines when they are struggling to cope.”
DSG’s new Seafarer DEIB Data-gathering and Benchmarking initiative will take place alongside their shore-side data-gathering and benchmarking initiative, which has been running successfully for 5 years. These dual benchmarking initiatives offer nuanced insights that understand the distinct ecosystems of ship-board and shore-side operations and the interplay between them.
There is already growing recognition of this across our industry, as updates to regulations like the MLC and the STCW address concerns like harassment and bullying, new training is being introduced to focus on leadership and soft skills at sea, and there is greater uptake of wellbeing and/or DEIB initiatives onboard.
…Ben Bailey, Director of Programme at the Mission to Seafarers, said.
Acting as an independent third party, DSG has designed and shared an anonymised online survey with seafarers from participating organisations. The information collected will be analysed in order to share relevant insights with participating members through a secure online business intelligence dashboard. This will allow organisations to measure the anonymised data specific to their onboard personnel against the aggregated industry responses available.
Sara Baade, CEO of Sailors’ Society, said, “Seafarers understand the value of good leadership, often because they are in the position of leading and advocating for themselves and other members of their crew. They are well aware of the benefits of positive workplace culture at sea and how this can offer a strong foundation from which to tackle key issues impacting themselves and their colleagues onboard. Ensuring that they are centred and recognised as a key stakeholder in any process seeking to improve their workplace conditions is vital to successful outcomes on any crew welfare initiative.”
