Seafarer Health and Shipping Safety: A Critical Review of Occupational Health and Maritime Safety Studies

The job characteristics of seafarers, including rotation and shift design, high-temperature and noisy environments, long-time motions of yawing, rolling, and pitching, and a blurred line between working and resting space, are distinct from those of other professions. All of these characteristics are potential stressors to seafarers, and may exert undesired effects on safety and work performance. On August 20, 2013, the Maritime Labour Convention 2006, the most comprehensive convention for protecting the workplace health of seafarers in their careers, entered into force. It has been ratified by more than 60 states, representing 80% of the global shipping industry, in less than 1 year. This convention marks a milestone in seafarer health protection, specifically onboard ships. Investigating the degree to which seafarer health problems have been resolved, particularly from the perspective of shipping safety, and determining future research directions are appealing. To achieve this, the authors reviewed recent research progress to identify critical seafarer health problems and their causal effects on shipping safety. Specifically, both occupational health and maritime management studies were incorporated to provide a comprehensive review. The authors propose a framework in which seafarer health safety factors were categorized in a stressor–strain framework, and safety culture and personnel factors were included as moderators between stressors and strains. Critical theoretical and practical concerns on the theme of seafarer health and shipping safety are discussed.