Joint campaign to educate, inform and safeguard seafarers’ health and wellbeing whilst on board
Posted on: 27 June 2016
The Shipowners’ Club, the leading mutual P&I insurer in the smaller and specialist vessel sector, today announced that it has entered into a partnership with the International Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN), an international charity that aims to improve conditions and the lifestyle of ships crews by providing a 24-7 advice line, health guidance and general support for seafarers.
As a partner, the Club will contribute towards ISWAN’s Seafarers Health Information Project (SHIP), an initiative that promotes and distributes health information materials to shipping companies, seafarers’ centres, and direct to seafarers. The project consists of 10 core health considerations: food safety, on-board fitness, safe travel, healthy food, malaria, weight control, STI – HIV & Aids, mental care, dental care and skin care.
The Club’s loss prevention specialists, as part of a communications campaign to reduce crew-illness related claims, will include each of the SHIP’s core health considerations within guidance that will be distributed to Club Members.
Louise Hall, Head of Loss Prevention at the Shipowners’ Club commented: “We are excited to be partnering with ISWAN, whose ethos sits naturally alongside the Club in aiming to assist Members with all aspects of risk mitigation. As a Club, we see many crew related illnesses especially concerning heart problems, stomach issues and illnesses related to blood pressure. ISWAN, through their own research, have produced excellent materials that address the areas of concerns we see from incident notifications, but also those reported by the industry as a whole.”
Roger Harris, Executive Director at ISWAN said: “We look forward to partnering with the Shipowners’ Club on our Seafarers Health Information Project to raise awareness of the importance of health and wellbeing to seafarers around the world. With the Club’s insights on illnesses experienced by Members and their employed crews, we will continue to educate and safeguard the health of seafarers, who remain among the most isolated working groups in relation to access to medical care, both in emergency situations and for primary health care.”
