Seafarer wellbeing has always been a focal topic for Standard Club and this year we join the maritime industry in celebrating the annual Day of the Seafarer (DotS) for the twelfth time on 25 June, says Mr. Min Jie Lee, Club’s Loss Prevention Executive.
The IMO has aptly themed this year’s campaign ‘Your voyage – then and now, share your journey’. This spotlights each seafarer’s voyage, examining how it has evolved over time and what remains at the heart of seafarers’ reality. #SeafarerJourney is the new hashtag for this campaign and participating seafarers will be posting two photos – one from their first voyage and another from their latest/ most recent voyage – sharing changes that they have experienced/ learned. Anyone paying tribute to seafarers is also encouraged to use this hashtag to be a part of the campaign on social media.
A welfare organisation that has been making seafarers’ voices heard is Mission to Seafarers. The Seafarers Happiness Index, of which the club are proud sponsors, started in 2015 and was designed to monitor and benchmark seafarer satisfaction levels by asking 10 key questions over a range of issues, from mental health and wellbeing, to working life and family contact. The latest results from Q1 2022 were then shared with industry and key decision makers who have the power to shape positive changes and make life at sea better.
Another international maritime charity doing its part to improve the lives of seafarers and their families is the International Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN). ISWAN’s latest project takes a deep dive in researching the ways shipping and ship management companies can improve seafarers’ social interaction on board. Results of the Social Interaction Matters (SIM) project Phase One was released in January 2021 and Phase Two’s results was recently published in June 2022.
Standard Club also recognises the importance of seafarer wellbeing and is a signatory to the Global Maritime Forum’s 2021 Neptune Declaration on Seafarer Wellbeing and Crew Change – which focuses on overcoming the current seafarer crisis, enabling crew changes, and repatriation. The club also works extensively with international organisations to generate awareness to the seafarer condition in hopes of improving their life at sea. Last year, we worked with Sailors’ Society on their Wellness at Sea programme – where we shared useful resources from short readings, videos, podcasts on a variety of wellbeing topics – over a course of 27 weeks.
Over the pandemic, we conducted webinars in collaboration with major welfare organisations such as ISWAN, Mission to Seafarers, and Stella Maris to address concerns that seafarers may have and point them to resources that they may require. This year, we will be refreshing our seafarer wellbeing publication to include latest resources and helplines as well as guidance on how seafarers can improve their wellbeing at sea.
As IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim says in this year’s video message, “This noble profession is something that I hold close to my heart and for many of us, our voyages are the start of a lifelong maritime journey.”. It is a sentiment Standard Club echoes and as you sail; we will be by your side.
Furthermore, in a recent webinar, Captain Yves Vandenborn, Director of Loss Prevention at Standard Club, together with Idwal’s Senior Marine Surveyor / Crew Welfare Advocate, Thom Herbert, and Steven Jones, Founder of The Seafarer’s Happiness Index, covered the importance of wellbeing in relation to risk, explaining the link between ship condition and seafarer wellbeing.
You may watch it herebelow
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.
