Marine Insurer Gard’s Recent Report Shows Increasing Suicides Among Seafarers At Sea

Norwegian Marine Insurer Gard has published a recent report; the Gard Crew Claims Report 2024, after analysing 5 years of relevant data from more than 20,000 cases.

It sheds light on issues like seafarers’ health, safety, injuries and illnesses. 

However, the most worrying aspect of the report was that 11% of crew fatalities on its insured fleet from 2019 to 2023 were a result of suicide. The actual percentage might be much higher, given the underreporting of such cases, Gard mentioned. 

Seafaring has higher rates of suicide than other careers, given it is mentally and physically challenging, however, there are no official statistics nor studies on how serious it is and what can be done about it, despite many firms calling for greater transparency on this issue.

There is not a single unanimously agreed framework to record suicides at sea which has led many to argue that suicides at sea are underreported. 

Steven Jones, founder of the Seafarers Happiness Index, said that many studies place seafarer suicides at 5 to 12%. There is an indication that these figures are more than the ones recorded onshore.

Jones added that there was a lack of truthfulness over the issue and most data regarding the same is not completely reliable.

A 2022 UK Government Report stated that suicides at sea are underreported due to the difficulty in confirming if it was a suicide or not. 

Additionally perceptions of how insurance works regarding suicide lead sailors to do everything they can to ensure their families survive financially and get the payouts.

The report noted that suicide and mental health issues leading to it are poorly understood in the shipping industry, mainly due to the ‘macho’ culture promoted among the workforce onboard.

Also, there are cultural misgivings or a certain taboo around suicide in certain nationalities, particularly in Asia, with seafarers from China and the Philippines being very uncomfortable in engaging with the issue, which also makes shipowners reluctant to raise the issue among the crew themselves, the report added.

Research by Yale which began in 2020 by the ITF Seafarers’ Trust, found that around 20% of the seafarers surveyed had thought of suicide at least once.

Though data is limited, analysis shows that seafarers in general, suffer from higher rates of depression than those engaged in other careers. This calls for appropriate mental health policies and further research to understand the issue and its causes better.

There are other cultural implications which need to be addressed as well such as the criminalisation of suicide in some countries. 

Reference: Gard

Marine Insurer Gard’s Recent Report Shows Increasing Suicides Among Seafarers At Sea appeared first on Marine Insight – The Maritime Industry Guide

Source: Maritime Shipping News