Safety and working conditions in international merchant shipping

1. 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

3. Seafaring:A 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

4. 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)

5. Statistics on Loss of Life At Sea • technical literature:focuses on accidents to the ship (maritime casualties) • Lloyd’s 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

7. 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.

8. 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

9. 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)

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. A World Estimate of Lives Lost at Sea

14. 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

15. 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

16. Categorisation of Deaths • 8 different categories: • maritime casualties • occupational accidents • illnesses • individual persons missing at sea • homicides • suicides • off-duty deaths • unclear causes

17. Causes of Death (Singapore)

18. Deaths due to casualties of the ship (per ship per year)

19. Deaths due to occupational accidents per ship per year

20. 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

21. Categorisation of Deaths • 8 different categories: • maritime casualties • occupational accidents • illnesses • individual persons missing at sea • homicides • suicides • off-duty deaths • unclear causes

22. Causes of Death (Hong Kong)

23. Fatalities per ship-year at risk

24. 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

25. 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

26. I swam through oceans and sailed through libraries. Herman MelvilleMoby Dick

27. 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

28. Traditional shipping countries look better after their seafarers ! Probably not !

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