For further information and support:
Email: mca@tso.co.uk
Tel: +44 (0) 333 202 5070
Background
It has become increasingly clear over recent years that seafarer mental health and wellbeing needs to be made a high priority for employers. Through discussion with stakeholders, the MCA identified the requirement for a tool to support organisations understand and manage seafarer wellbeing onboard.
Accidents and near misses often occur because of a poor safety culture. A culture in which distraction was tolerated, slips and lapses covered up, work-rest hours fabricated, and near misses not reported. A just culture, where individuals feel collectively responsible for maintaining safety and empowered to speak up contributes to seafarer self-esteem, feelings of autonomy and overall safety. A true just culture means a fair place to work and an understanding of how seafarer fatigue, stress and mental health contribute to the culture on board.
Consequently, the MCA’s Human Element’s (HE) team developed the concept of the Wellbeing at Sea Tool.
In 2020, the MCA HE team launched two publications:
- Wellbeing at Sea: A guide for Organisations
- Wellbeing at Sea: A pocket guide for Seafarers.
These publications provide pragmatic advice to empower Shipping Companies and Seafarers to improve wellbeing on board.
The HE team has also:
- Collaborated with merchant navy training board (MNTB) to include mental awareness in personal safety and social responsibility (PSSR)
- Worked with Maritime Charities Group to produce Standards for Seafarer Mental Awareness and Wellbeing Training.
Wellbeing at Sea Tool
The Wellbeing at Sea Tool is a digital survey that is completed by seafarers and on completion provides personalised advice on how to improve wellbeing at sea. The anonymised data it collects is then sent to managers to help them identify priority areas for improvement and highlight best practice.
The questions in the tool were initially developed by asking 197 seafarers 70 questions about their wellbeing, mental state, physical state, working conditions and organisational culture. Factor analysis was then conducted to identify the questions with the strongest correlation to overall wellbeing. The shortlist of questions were then separated into the following categories:
- General wellbeing
- Bullying, harassment & discrimination
- Diversity & inclusion
- Physical health
- Tiredness & fatigue
- Organisational support.
Primary benefits of the Wellbeing at Sea Tool
- Gain a baseline of organisational wellbeing and help prioritise interventions
- Provides pragmatic tailored advice for organisations from the “Wellbeing at Sea: A guide for Organisations” publication
- Seafarers will receive instant and tailored, pragmatic advice and signposting to services to improve wellbeing onboard from the “Wellbeing at Sea: A pocket guide for Seafarers” publication
- Works on multiple levels of intervention to help create a culture of wellbeing throughout all levels of an organisation
- An evidence-based approach for organisations to develop and test the efficacy of wellbeing interventions
- Generates a summary report of the results and provides recommendations to address identified issues
- Functionality to focus and compare results against departments, job roles, locations, age etc.
- Provides the MCA with fully anonymised data that can help direct future areas of work.
With the current buzz around seafarer wellbeing, now is industry’s chance to address the issue. Overwhelmingly, research has shown that safety and wellbeing are inherently linked. Poor employee wellbeing is consistently linked to a greater accident and error rate, reduced productivity, and increased absenteeism at work.
Seafarers work in unique environments that can be immensely rewarding and at times challenging. As understanding of health, wellbeing and safety increases, the industry is aware that some characteristics inherent to the environment onboard (e.g. prolonged periods away from loved ones, noise and vibration) may have a negative effect on the wellbeing of Seafarers.
Licence pricing
These prices allow administrative and user rights to the Wellbeing at Sea Tool (all prices are excluding VAT). Licence permits use of the tool according to the appropriate number of people employed by the organisation. Should the number of employees increase, or you wish to expand the licence to cover other parts of the organisation, you will be required to upgrade to the next band.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
| No. of workers | First year licence fee (excluding VAT) | Actual cost per seafarer (excluding VAT) | Annual renewal charges (excluding VAT) | Actual cost per seafarer (excluding VAT) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 - 50 | £300 + VAT | £6.00 | £150 + VAT | £3.00 |
| 51 - 100 | £550 + VAT | £5.50 | £250 + VAT | £2.50 |
| 101 - 250 | £1,200 + VAT | £4.80 | £500 + VAT | £2.00 |
| 251 - 500 | £1,450 + VAT | £2.90 | £750 + VAT | £1.50 |
| 501 - 1,000 | £2.500 + VAT | £2.50 | £1,250 + VAT | £1.25 |
| 1,001 - 2,500 | £5,000 + VAT | £2.00 | £2,500 + VAT | £1.00 |
| Each additional 100 seafarers over 2,500 | £200 + VAT | £2.00 | £100 + VAT | £1.00 |
What is the Wellbeing at Sea Tool?
The Wellbeing at Sea Tool is a digital survey that is completed by seafarers and on completion provides personalised advice on how to improve wellbeing at sea. The anonymised data it collects is then sent to managers to help them identify priority areas and highlight best practice for continual improvement.
How will seafarers/employees complete the survey?
It is an online survey that employees complete via a dedicated URL. There is also a bespoke mobile app that organisations can use if internet connection is an issue.
What results does the Wellbeing at Sea Tool provide?
The anonymised data it collects is sent to managers to help them identify priority areas for improvement and highlight best practice for the organisation.
The tool provides results for the following six factors:
- General wellbeing
- Bullying, harassment & discrimination
- Diversity & inclusion
- Physical health
- Tiredness & fatigue
- Organisational support.
Are the responses to the survey anonymous and guarantee data security?
All responses to the survey are kept anonymous and do not include personal data, so participants can answer truthfully without feeling pressured. All responses to the survey are stored on a secure server, which is maintained in the UK.
Where is the Wellbeing at Sea Tool hosted?
The survey and the data it records are hosted on a dedicated server in the UK, with ANS Group Ltd managed by Snap Surveys, who are fully ISO 27001 accredited.
More details can be found here:
Visit Snap Surveys - security accessibility and professional outline
Visit ANS Group Ltd - data security
What internet browsers are supported and does the survey work on mobiles and tablet devices?
The survey is fully tablet/mobile optimised and is supported on all internet browsers. The administration portal requires an internet browser on a desktop PC. There is also a dedicated application that can be downloaded from the app stores.
Do the MCA and TSO have access to user accounts and the results?
TSO has full administration rights of the system, meaning they can access user accounts and results should the need arise. However, will only routinely process the anonymised data for account issues, research purposes and the creation of benchmarking datasets. Any results obtained will not be shared with, or used for enforcement action by the MCA. Use of the tool and proactively managing risks would be seen as positive action by the MCA.
What is the process for handling enquiries and SLA around response times?
TSO will be the main point of contact for all enquiries and will work with the MCA and Snap Surveys as and when required. TSO will automatically record any support requests in a customer care database and respond accordingly to enquiries.
How can users give feedback to TSO on potential improvements to the system?
TSO are continually improving their products/systems and actively encourage feedback from users. If you have any suggestions, please email mca@tso.co.uk
Related Products
Wellbeing at sea:
pocket guide for seafarers
Wellbeing at sea:
guide for organisations
Maritime seafarer posters: three pack
Introduction
"Safety at sea and seafarer' wellbeing has always been a focus for our organisation. The Wellbeing at Sea Tool is one of its first kinds to look at multiple facets of seafarer wellbeing. As a digitised tool with ease of customisation, it gave us a bird’s eye view of seafarer wellbeing. It highlighted not only emotional and social wellbeing areas, but also seafarer’s opinions towards the organisation, and allowed them to express their views under the security of anonymity."
Capt. Randhir S Mahadik (Head of FLEET care - Fleet Management Ltd.)
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) has worked with their official publisher TSO, software developer Snap Surveys and industry to create the Wellbeing at Sea Tool. A digital survey that is completed by seafarers and provides practical advice on how to manage/improve wellbeing at sea. The anonymised data it collects is sent to managers to help them identify priority areas for improvement and highlight best practice.