With hundreds of thousands of seafarers unable to return home because of the pandemic, crew mental health has become one of the top loss prevention priorities for protection and indemnity insurers over the past year.
Poor health and well-being of crew not only potentially results in illness claims but also could affect ship safety.
The UK P&I Club’s crew health programme director, Sophia Bullard, has been closely involved with the issue.
This story is part of a forthcoming special report on the protection and indemnity sector. Stay tuned for the full report in our weekly edition on 22 January.
“The pandemic has definitely put seafarers more into focus, and I’m really buoyed by the fact there is so much going on in all sorts of areas. But in my mind we’ve always had their interest at heart, feeling well makes people perform better,” she said.
She pointed out that P&I clubs are primarily insurance providers but have also taken on a role in finding ways to help seafarers through the crisis in good physical and mental health.
Bullard believes the clubs can play an important part in helping members find solutions to issues related to seafarer well-being. “We recognise that as an insurer we are not a counselling service, but we see our role more like that of a GP [medical general practitioner] passing out enquiries to the right specialist,” she said.
Increasing significance
As part of that role, the UK P&I Club has developed close links with seafarer charities, which have direct interaction with crew, such as The Mission to Seafarers and the Sailors’ Society, or associations such as International Seafarers' Welfare and Assistance Network (Iswan).
In 2019, the UK P&I Club backed the Sailors’ Society WeCare project that sought to support seafarers’ mental health, relationships and well-being. The initiative has gained even more significance since the beginning of the pandemic.
There are a number of similar initiatives provided by other P&I clubs for seafarers. The North P&I Club has worked with Iswan on Mind Call, a service to provide seafarers with 24-hour mental health support while at sea.
Similarly, Steamship Mutual is working through the company Mental Health Support Solutions to give seafarers immediate access to professional help at any time.
Bullard notes that despite the virus crisis there has not yet been a noticeable upturn in suicide or mental health-related claims. Seafarers, she pointed out, are often stoic and not given to complaining. “They are often strong minded, used to hardship and separation,” she said.
But she suggested that those characteristics may cause many to hide the real impact the crisis is having on their mental health. Physical illnesses among seafarers may often also have their roots in mental health issues.
Bullard said that many of the UK P&I Club's shipowner members have their own programmes in place to improve crew mental well-being and health, which can be shared with other members.
Many of those initiatives involve getting crew to interact and to avoid the isolation that life at sea and social media can encourage.
“We’ve been talking to members about ideas for getting crew to work together as a team and finding something that creates bonds between crew,” she said.
Other initiatives involve improving diet and exercise, which can be encouraged by activities such as cooking competitions.
Online services also offer a potential resource for seafarers on maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Tapiit Maritime, for one, provides online health and well-being resources for seafarers that can be accessed while at sea.
Vaccination role
Eventually, P&I clubs may even have a role to play in promoting the vaccination of crew, which will allow seafarers to leave ships and improve their general well-being.
The UK P&I Club has a network of clinics that it uses for its pre-employment medical examination programme. The clinics work closely with the maritime industry and could provide a site for the vaccination to be applied to seafarers, Bullard believes.
“Theoretically, with travel and quarantine constraints removed, it should mean the end to difficulties surrounding repatriation and crew changes, which became a humanitarian crisis in 2020. This in turn would lessen the load on seafarers from a mental health perspective, and bring a return to much needed normality in 2021,” she said.
