Maritime Charity Column: building a culture of psychological safety onboard, by Simon Grainge, ISWAN chief executive

Simon Grainge, chief executive at the International Seafarers' Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN), highlights the importance of the right to feel safe onboard both physically and psychologically and the charity's Safe at Sea campaign

MARITIME CHARITY COLUMN

Safety is paramount in the maritime sector – everyone has a duty to protect those working on board from harm. If there is a threat to physical safety onboard this is treated as a priority and an immediate response is required, but what about psychological safety? Why don’t we treat this with equal importance?

Seafarers have the right to feel safe at work – not just from physical injury, but to voice their concerns, report incidents, ask for help or suggest improvements without fear of negative repercussions. In a psychologically safe environment, there is a culture of trust. Open, honest communication is encouraged and people feel safe to speak up and know they will be heard without judgement or negative consequences. There are benefits for the overall safety culture and productivity on board, but psychological safety also affects crew wellbeing.

If a seafarer feels psychologically unsafe and unable to speak up, they can feel isolated and powerless and their health and wellbeing might start to suffer. We regularly hear from seafarers contacting our helplines, SeafarerHelp and YachtCrewHelp, who have experienced abuse, bullying, harassment, discrimination or violence on board or witnessed it happening to others. If seafarers feel secure, supported and respected in their workplace, not only are they more likely to report incidents of this nature, but these harmful behaviours are less likely to happen in the first place. Psychological safety builds a culture where people feel accepted and have a sense of belonging. This helps to prevent toxic and harmful behaviours building and any conflict can be resolved constructively before it escalates.

As we are highlighting with our Safe at Sea: it takes all of us! campaign, everyone has a part to play in making life at sea a safer place by listening to others, challenging inappropriate behaviour and supporting each other. Further guidance can be found in our campaign resources.

The Maritime Charity Column is a regular feature in the Nautilus Telegraph. Submissions are invited from a range of organisations by the Telegraph editor.