Bullying and Harassment at Sea
Studies have shown that from 8% to 25% of all seafarers have gone through some form of bullying and harassment, 50% among those are female seafarers. In this article, we will go into further detail and discuss the issue of bullying and harassment plus its effects on seafarers who are victims of such acts, and what the industry is doing to try and combat the issue. (Österman & Boström, 2021)
There is an unfortunate and substantially large ongoing problem of harassment and bullying that is occurring in the maritime industry. The term of bullying and harassment can be defined as acts, activities, processes, or behaviors that affect a victim of such occurrences in a negative way. Seafarers can be working out at sea for long periods of time, with various groups and ethnicities that are always together, doing their tasks on board and eating and sleeping together. As a consequence, ships can be a hotbed for workplace bullying cases, especially among minorities and women.
To further elaborate, there are several types of harassment that can be seen in the workplace. Verbal harassment is one of the most common acts of harassment that is seen. Verbal harassment can include making hurtful comments, as well as shaming someone for their appearance, as well as taunts. This can have a severe effect on the victim’s mental health and morale. Verbal abuse can segway into psychological harassment, which although similar to verbal harassment, can be worse and cause mental breakdowns and emotional damage to a victim. Making a victim do tasks that are outside of their scope, deadlines that are impossible to achieve, unfair demands, and socially exclude them for long periods of time are other examples of psychological harassment that has occurred on board ships and are some examples of psychological harassment. Also, unwanted physical advances, vulgar gestures and obscene videos are examples of sexual harassment. (Gayan, 2022)
The fact of the matter is that seafaring is a pre-dominantly male oriented profession. Women make up about 2% of the 1.2 million seafarers working globally. No matter what sector they work for in the industry, women seafarers face a lot of discrimination when they seek out training and maritime education. There have also been cases of trainers being opposed to their presence during training and nautical courses. There is also an overall reluctance from employers to employ female seafarers and cadets, due to their own prejudices. The Maritime Industry is fully aware of the issue but see difficulty in finding an appropriate solution. The International Labor Organization prepared an international treaty in June 2021. It states that it is the right of everyone to be able to work free of any kind of harassment and violence. If any governments decide to ratify the treaty, they will need to implement the policies and laws that will help prevent work place violence, bullying and harassment. (Safety4Sea, 2021)
The International Maritime Organization’s Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) discussed the situation in a meeting recently. They understand that it is the highest priority for seafarers to have a safer work environment. In April of this year, the MSC approved a proposal to amend model Course 1.21 on Personal Safety and Social Responsibility. In it, the inclusion of elements regarding psychological safety and it gives an explanation on how to deal with trauma situations. Standards of training, certification and watchkeeping provisions are set up to address problems of bullying and harassment in the maritime sector. (The Cope, 2022)
Hopefully, the measures that are implemented in the future will improve substantially the quality of life for seafarers working on ships that have been victims of harassment and bullying. It is important to understand where the problems lie on each individual ship and work hard on making sure harassment and bullying are a thing of the past.
References
Gayan, G. (2022, August 10). Workplace Harassment- Its Types and Ways to Report. Retrieved from Vantage Circle: https://blog.vantagecircle.com/workplace-harassment/
Österman, C., & Boström, M. (2021). Workplace bullying and harassment at sea: A structured literature review. Retrieved from Science Direct: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X21005212
Safety4Sea. (2021, December 24). How the industry deals with harassment cases onboard. Retrieved from Safety4Sea: https://safety4sea.com/cm-how-the-industry-deals-with-harassment-cases-onboard/
The Cope. (2022, May 18). IMO Prioritizes STCW training provisions addressing bullying and harassment in the maritime sector. Retrieved from TheCope.Org: https://thecope.org/imo-prioritizes-stcw-training-provisions-addressing-bullying-and-harassment-in-the-maritime-sector/