SAN’s new course is designed for everybody who is involved with the work environment at sea.

Now it is possible to do a web-based course in the work environment that the SAN council has developed. The course is free and is aimed primarily at crew-members. It will also be launched in English before the end of 2011, and a version for foreign flagged ships is under development.
The interactive course, called “A better work environment at sea”, takes a wide look at the subject. The first chapter is about the national and international regulations governing work while remaining parts go into more specific work environment issues and conditions in different departments. The course is aimed mainly at seafarers, but students and anyone engaged in work environment and safety issues at shipping offices can also do it.
“I find it hard to think of anyone in the shipping company that would not find the course useful and the best thing would be if everyone took it,” says Cecilia Österman, doctoral student at Chalmers University of Technology and SAN representative. It is well illustrated and gives a good picture of working conditions onboard.
According to Cecilia, who trains aspiring ship officers in work environment issues at Chalmers, the course suits both recent graduates and those who have already spent some years in the profession.
“Certainly, we teach some of this in colleges, but I am not sure that students are so receptive to all the information when there are so many other things to think about. On the other hand, if they have worked for a while it may be easier to relate to the contents of the course – and it is always a good thing to take a refresher course.”
The course is based on the contents of the Work environment manual for shipping, and anyone who is familiar with the file will certainly recognize the contents of the course. The course can be carried out at one time or on different occasions. Each chapter ends with a number of questions that must be answered before you can continue, but the course is not certified.
”The most important aspect of the work environment is not complying with a certain paragraph, but actually reducing ill health and accidents at sea,” says Cecilia Österman.
Better work environment at sea has been developed in cooperation with Shipgaz training. It can be found at san-nytt.se and training.shipgaz.com. In 2012 there will be a work environment course that is adapted to ships under foreign flags.
Linda Sundgren

”I’m an incurable optimist”. Johan Högdén believes in Swedish shipping. Photo by Linda Sundgren.

Johan Högdén is the Bohus boy who dreamed of becoming a politician but went to sea instead. He now works with safety and work environment issues at Transatlantic and he does not regret his choice of profession.

Anyone who has met Johan Högdén, DP (designated person) at Transatlantic does not forget him easily. Knowledgeable, engaging and with a constant twinkle in his eye, he likes to share his views on everything from the future of the Swedish flag to the work environment and safety onboard.
”I am an incurable optimist and I believe in Swedish shipping,” he says in his broad Skärhamn dialect. ”We are ahead in work environment and safety, but we perhaps need to use our elbows more and get better at showing the world around us the high quality we really do have. ”
Johan thinks that most aspects are already good onboard, but adds that everything can be improved. His recipe for success is dialogue and cooperation; to take advantage of existing knowledge, both onboard and at shipping offices, and to find joint solutions that both trade unions and ship owners can agree on.
”We try to re-invent the wheel so many times, but we have already learned many lessons and we have the knowledge - that is not where things are lacking. What we must do now is reach consensus between owners, officers and crewmembers on what measures we should implement.”
”But it doesn’t have to be very complicated,” he continues. ”It may be sufficient that the Swedish Shipowners’ Association are given one hour to talk about their issues when Seko Seafarers hold courses for safety officers, and that Seko is invited when the Shipowners have their meetings. The important thing is not to close the conference doors, but to welcome each other instead. ”

Early interest in the work environment
He bases his views about shipping and life onboard on many years of experience and studies. At the age of 16 Johan went to sea as a galley boy. His sights were set on politics and shipping was going to be just one step in that direction.
Although Johan later became both chairman of a local youth association and had other political commissions, he enjoyed being at sea far too much to leave it. But even as fresh deckhand, he had a nose for the work environment and safety issues.
”Rune Ljungström was the world’s kindest bosun. He pushed a pair of ear defenders over my ears and said, ”You’re not going to make the same mistake as I did.” Rune was big and strong and kind as a bear, and you wouldn’t want to argue with him. But it’s the same thing today, too. The young crewmembers listen to the more experienced hands, and if the older ones are halfway smart, they can have a big influence on the new lads coming on to the ships. This applies to both students and new employees.”
The bosun’s attitude, and the fact that Johan witnessed a couple of serious accidents, meant that he became more careful about using safety equipment.
”To begin with people wondered what sort of UFO I was, running around dressed up in all the gear on deck. But then they also realized that it was not a bad thing to protect themselves and it became almost a contest to see who could put on the most and best stuff,” he explains.

Often at sea
For the last four years he has been working with safety and work environment issues at the shipping office. ”But my 20 years at sea have been invaluable in my current job,” he says, adding that he is often out on the ships and talking with the crews.
”In one and a half weeks I have visited two ships, and for a landed sailor like me these visits are worth gold. It also means that I don’t drown in the documents and forms and that I keep up with what is happening onboard,” he says.
After noting the shortcomings and complaints during his visits to the ships, he returns to the office and tries to solve them.
”Seafarers are often good at explaining why they have this or that opinion and if there’s one thing I like, it’s constructive criticism.”
Linda Sundgren

Preventive work with alcohol and drugs
In the publication, Abuse at the workplace – how to work preventively with alcohol and drugs (Missbruk i arbetslivet – hur du arbetar förebyggande med alkohol och droger) there is practical advice on what to do if you suspect a colleague has abuse problems. It can be ordered from the Swedish Work Environment Authority, www.av.se, order number H420 and costs SEK 120.

Military measures inadequate
But how are we to put an end to East African piracy? According to military sources, the problems cannot be solved by purely military means. The area is too large to monitor and there are simply not enough resources to secure the entire region. In addition, military presence now seems to be on the wane due to reassignment of vessels to Libya and reduced financial resources due to the global economic crisis.
A Swedish researcher, Karl Sörensson at the National Defence College, has written reports about the Somali pirates. According to him, there are only two routes away from piracy: either ships must stop travelling on these waters or there must be extensive operations inside the country. The headmaster of a Muslim school in Vällingby, who gave a speech at the World Maritime Day, touched on the same topic. Somalia needs a
stable political leadership, better education and increased trade with the outside world before piracy can be stopped. But pending a solution, the world’s sailors continue to expose themselves to the risks involved in working on ships in the waters off Somalia.
Linda Sundgren

Elisabeth Barkarmo, personnel and security officer at Charterfrakt Baltic Carrier AB
”We work a lot with risk assessments using ISM, SAM, SMS and employee calls. Before a shipyard visit or major changes, we always perform an analysis of possible risks. Minutes from meetings and other documentation are always reported to the office. As the SMS receiver, I try to be onboard about one week every year to work with these issues, as well as to gain an insight into the daily lives of the crew and the
psychosocial work environment.”

Tobias Chronéer, captain of Viking Cinderella
”We have recently made an update of all our risk analyses onboard. We had a steering group consisting of personnel from offices and ships that was responsible for the work. The update was made to obtain a more uniform view of what a risk is. Previously there was a great difference between evaluations. In an engine room, for example, some had assessed that there were no risks at all, while working at the cash till in the tax-free shop almost involved mortal danger.”
Linda Sundgren

Costly mistakes. The container ship Rena grounded off New Zealand in October.

Today there are great insights into risks in the work environment onboard, but people are not as good at translating this knowledge into real improvements. That was one of the conclusions at this autumn’s SAN conference.

This year’s theme, “Effective risk management - the key to safe shipping” had attracted an audience of about 80 to ”Läppstiftet” in Gothenburg. First to the rostrum was the SAN chairman Lars Andersson, who talked about human factors in accidents and the importance of preventive safety work. He then gave the word to Jörgen Zachau from the Swedish Transport Agency’s maritime division. Jörgen Zachau gave the Agency’s views on the subject of risk assessments and stated self-critically that ”We at the Swedish Transport Agency are far too poor at focusing on this during our inspections.” But at the same time he promised an im-provement.
Lena Kecklund from MTO Safety AB explained how to translate experience and lessons on safety and the work environment into real improvements. She said that we are often good at analyzing situations and finding shortcomings, but worse when it comes to making use of the knowledge and correcting problems.
Risk assessment of the psychosocial environment is something that many see as particularly difficult. But Anders Pousette from Occupational and Environmental Medicine at the Sahlgrenska Academy showed that it is quite possible. He also stated that a poor psychosocial work environment can lead to cardiovascular diseases and disorders of the locomotive organs. Elinor Gerle and Bo Lindgren, both from Stena Line, were also there to talk about how they work with these issues at their shipping company.

Entertaining and engaging
Johan Högdén, designated person from Rederi AB Transatlantic, gave an entertaining and interesting speech about everyone’s right to a good, safe work environment (read more about Johan on page 7).
Martin Hernqvist came from the Swedish Club Academy. He explained that the insurance company is carrying out an extensive survey among seafarers about the work environment at sea.
Last to speak was Cecilia Österman, doctoral student at Chalmers University of Technology and SAN representative, and Tomas Lindberg from Shipgaz. Together they presented SAN’s new work environment course, which is available from 24 October at san-nytt.se (read more on page 8).
At around five o’clock the audience and speakers gathered for a mingle buffet in the ”Läppstiftet” restaurant to round off the day together.
Linda Sundgren