Tag: maritime health

Healthy food and physical exercise onboard should become a part of every seafarer's life as maintaining good health at sea is challenging and most crew members spend more time onboard than at home. The cornerstone of a long career at sea is to ensure a healthy lifestyle and to reduce the risk for lifestyle diseases.

North P&I Club has presented its new ‘Mind Matters’ campaign, which includes a confidential helpline for crew. The helpline is provided in partnership with the International Seafarer’s Welfare and Assistance Network. The new campaign targets to raise awareness of mental health and wellbeing at sea.

Regarding eye injuries, the first step in dealing with these is to record a full account of the circumstances of its occurrence followed by a careful eye examination. In order to prevent eye injuries, appropriate goggles or protective equipment should be worn while carrying shipboard jobs which pose great danger to the eyes of ship personnel (eg. welding, chipping, painting, and working with hazardous material such as oil, chemicals etc.).

Danish health and safety company CONOVAH will conduct a new project, focusing on loneliness at sea and how changes such as the role of managers and new technologies affect it. It will also try to identify the factors that lead to loneliness at sea. The project is running from 1 October 2018 until 31 March 2020.

Dr. Phil Sharples, Senior Medical Director, UnitedHealthcare Global Medical, discussed how mainstream healthcare is embracing technology to deliver higher quality medical care and how some of these initiatives could apply to the maritime industry.

The World Health Organisation recognizes World Mental Health Day on October 10th to remind us the importance of awareness in a growing topic for the business world globally. In an era where most working people have less time and more stress, mental health is a big topic and the maritime could not stay unaffected.

Marshall Islands Maritime Administrator published a notice to ensure shipboard occupational health and safety programs. It also presents work restrictions that are considered as hazardous for seafarers under 18 years, according to the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006.

Ships are considered to be high-risk environments for legionellosis. The term legionellosis is a general one that describes infections with Legionella and that lead to a range of pneumonic (affecting the lungs) and non-pneumonic diseases. Legionella is a pathogenic group of Gram-negative bacteria that includes the species L. pneumophila, causing legionellosis including a pneumonia-type illness called Legionnaires' disease and a mild flu-like illness called Pontiac fever.

Oil major Shell has revealed plans to reverse the working rotas for its offshore operations in the UK North Sea. Starting from May 2019, the company will move to two weeks offshore and three weeks onshore (2/3) rotas, following a campaign by Scotland’s largest offshore union.

As part of its crew health scheme series, the UK Club informed that it has observed a recent number of heart disease cases involving young seafarers. Healthy lifestyle choices can positively reduce the risk of getting heart disease or prevent deterioration of the condition.