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. 2022 Jun 2;161(2):267–287. doi: 10.1111/ilr.12220

Occupational safety and health challenges for maritime key workers in the global COVID‐19 pandemic

Desai SHAN 1,✉
PMCID: PMC8444828  PMID: 34548682

Abstract

The COVID‐19 pandemic has changed the world of work. But global trade is still recognized as an essential area of business, and maritime transport, being an engine of globalization, cannot be paused. Since the onset of the pandemic, few governments have allowed seafarers – who transport more than 90 per cent of global commodities – to leave their ships and return home. The travel restrictions related to COVID‐19 have led to a crisis of occupational safety and health (OSH) at sea. Drawing on 29 interviews, this article explores the OSH challenges faced by international seafarers during the pandemic.

Keywords: occupational safety and health, OSH, COVID‐19, seafarer, essential workers

 

This research is funded by Seed, Bridge and Multidisciplinary Fund Grant (File No. 20210387), COVID‐19 Quick Start Funds of the Office of Public Engagement, and Faculty of Medicine and the Office of the Vice‐President (Research) Startup Support (File No. 20211883), Memorial University of Newfoundland. The author thanks Professor Katherine Lippel,† Professor Barb Neis and anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments. The author wishes to dedicate this article to the participants in the study, in particular to the seafarers, who are the unsung heroes of the global pandemic.

Responsibility for opinions expressed in signed articles rests solely with their authors, and publication does not constitute an endorsement by the ILO.

This article is also available in French, in Revue internationale du Travail 161 (2), and Spanish, in Revista Internacional del Trabajo 141 (2).

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