Safety and working conditions in international merchant shipping

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Safety and working conditions in international
merchant shipping

• A study of fatal occupational accidents and a
  survey of world-wide fatality statistics of
  merchant seafarers

Detlef Nielsen
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SeafaringA dangerous occupation

• 1894 BoT reports fatality rate of 113 per 10,000
  seafarers
• 9 times the rate of railway workers and 146 times
  the rate of factory and shop operatives
• Sweden (1945-54) 7 times higher mortality rate
  than shore based workers

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Seafaring A dangerous occupation

• UK (1970-72) merchant navy ratings had highest
  mortality rate among 218 British occupations
• Denmark (1986-93) incidence rate for fatal
  accidents 11.5 times higher than for the Danish
  male workforce
• Poland (1985-94) fatal accident rate of 13.4 per
  10,000 employees (higher than building industry)

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Statistics on Loss of Life At Sea

• technical literaturefocuses on accidents to the
  ship (maritime casualties)
• Lloyds Register and London Underwriting Agency
  (formerly ILU)collate data on lives lost at
  sea in connection with actual or constructive
  total losses of merchant ships

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Statistics on loss of life at sea

• It is impossible to establish specific risks
  (ship type/ occupation/ etc.).
• Cannot be used to establish a general trend.
• High fatality rates from passenger ships tend to
  obscure the picture as passenger and crew
  fatalities are compounded into a single annual
  figure.

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Hypothesis different causes of death

• maritime casualties (fire, collision, etc.)
• occupational accidents
• natural causes (illnesses)
• individual persons missing at sea
• suicides
• homicides
• off-duty
• unclear causes

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The Study Three Parts

• Fatalities among the world's merchant seafarers
  based on official flag state data1990 - 94,
• identify possible case study locations
• Case study Hong Kong based on records held in
  the Marine Department (1985 - 94)
• Case study Singapore based on records held in
  the MPA (1985 - 94)

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A survey of nationally compiled statistics

• 46 countries contacted (all OECD countries, all
  major open registries, selected other flag
  states)
• 19 replies received with data
• 13 OECD countries
• 6 non-OECD countries
• 2 open registers but no useful data

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Survey Results

• survey captured
• 28.4 of world gross tonnage
• 22.3 of world seafarer population
• deaths due to casualties 19 states
• occupational accidents 15 states
• deaths due to illnesses 10 states
• individual persons missing 16 states
• suicides/ homicides 9 states
• off-duty 3
  states

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Survey Results (2)

• all results were compared to ILU data
• identified under-reporting of seafarer deaths due
  to maritime casualties for most countries (up to
  9 times)
• over-reporting for 4 countries
• average under-reporting factor of ILU
  1.7

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A World Estimate of Lives Lost at Sea
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Summary

• high number of OECD states do not keep statistics
• mortality due to casualties is significantly
  higher on non-OECD flag ships
• no significant differences for other causes of
  death
• study enabled to estimate the degree of
  under-reporting of available statistics of loss
  of life at sea

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Case Study Singapore

• study covered
• deaths of seafarers signed on Singapore ships
• deaths reported to Singapore Mercantile Marine
  Office
• files of marine inquiries not made available
• additional shipping casualties identified from
  other sources
• study does not cover
• deaths of Singapore seafarers on ships of other
  flags
• deaths of Singapore seafarers while not signed-on

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Categorisation of Deaths

• 8 different categories
• maritime casualties
• occupational accidents
• illnesses
• individual persons missing at sea
• homicides
• suicides
• off-duty deaths
• unclear causes

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Causes of Death (Singapore)
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Deaths due to casualties of the ship (per ship
per year)
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Deaths due to occupational accidents per ship per
year
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Case Study Hong Kong

• study covered
• deaths of seafarers signed on Hong Kong ships
• deaths reported to the Mercantile Marine Office
• files of marine inquiries available
• study does not cover
• deaths of HK seafarers on ships of other flags
• deaths of HK seafarers while not signed-on

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Categorisation of Deaths

• 8 different categories
• maritime casualties
• occupational accidents
• illnesses
• individual persons missing at sea
• homicides
• suicides
• off-duty deaths
• unclear causes

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Causes of Death (Hong Kong)
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Fatalities per ship-year at risk
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Summary of Case Studies

• both studies examine only sudden deaths due to
  accidents and illnesses
• follow-up studies not possible
• seafarers working on deck have a higher risk of
  an occupational accident
• senior officers and petty officers
  over-represented

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Results of Singapore study

• occupational accidents were not investigated by
  the flag state
• several casualties involving total loss of the
  ship were not investigated by the flag state

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I swam through oceans and sailed through
libraries.

• Herman MelvilleMoby Dick

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Policy Implications

• estimated 2,500 seafarers die annually, abt. 50
  in casualties
• fundamental change in attitude towards collection
  of statistics needed
• regulators should target prevention of other
  causes of death instead of solely focussing on
  maritime casualties
• Occupational Health and Safety is a neglected
  area of regulation in shipping

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Traditional shipping countries look better after
their seafarers !

• Probably not !

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Limitations

• exploratory study, but such data were previously
  not available
• over reliance on OECD flag data
• no access to data during the collection stage