What working onboard means: Seafarers’ POV

What working onboard means: Seafarers’ POV
The Editorial Team December 12, 2022 https://safety4sea.com/cm-what-working-onboard-means-seafarers-pov/

(Download open access book The World of the Seafarer:Qualitative Accounts of Working in the Global Shipping Industry, 2021 https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-3-030-49825-2.pdf?pdf=...)

In this book, Victor Oyaro Gekara, RMIT University, School of Business IT and Logistics, Faculty Member, and Professor Helen Sampson, Cardiff University’s Seafarers International Research Centre (SIRC), analyze contemporary issues relating to the life and work of seafarers, as well as to the modern shipping industry.

More specifically, the book covers issues that have to do with career decisions and recruitment, gender, life and work on board multinational vessels.

The book also refers to seafarers’ health and safety issues, shipboard roles and role conflict and industry’s regulatory landscape. The authors attempt to present moments of seafarers’ everyday lives onboard, using rich details in order to depict as accurately as possible the difficulties and the bright side of being a seafarer, at the same time.

The collection is based upon observations and interviews of researchers in multiple disciplines. It is woven together to offer a detailed insight into the ways in which a complex global industry operates internationally, by creating an ethnographic mosaic to better analyze the characteristics, and therefore seafarers’ behavior onboard ships.

Global students studying to achieve professional seafaring qualifications, will find that “The World of the Seafarer” will certainly open to them a new door to the seafaring reality. However, students are not the only ones benefiting. Virtually every maritime stakeholder, from welfare professionals to policy makers, will be provided with a fresh look into the maritime industry.

Finally, the book can especially help those who delve into human element issues in the shipping industry and can serve as a perfect example in this area.

According to SIRC, almost two thirds of seafarers are being disturbed by both noise and vibration in their cabins. Noisy environments have a negative impact on sleep quality, causing fatigue which has been reported as a crucial problem on board cargo ships. In that regard, industry should focus on providing proper recreational facilities on board.

Description:
This open access book constitutes an ethnographic mosaic which depicts the contextual complexities of the life and work of seafarers who are employed in the international merchant cargo fleet. The collection is based upon the observations and interviews of researchers in multiple disciplines. It is woven together to offer a richly detailed insight into the ways in which a complex global industry operates internationally. The book covers issues to do with career decisions and recruitment, gender, life and work on board multinational vessels, health and safety issues, the regulation of the industry, shipboard roles and role conflict, and the representation of workers. It will be of considerable interest to all students globally who are studying for professional seafaring qualifications, to graduate students studying for masters courses in ship and port management, and to welfare professionals and policy makers. It is of special interest to those connected to the shipping industry who specialize in issues relating to 'the human element' and will serve as a paradigm defining text in this area.