Rising tide lifts all boats

By Satu Lipponen, COO PsyFyi

“Rising tide lifts all boats” is a saying we find ourselves quite often repeating in meetings, and I really believe in it: Collecting data and using the findings for the benefit of the entire industry is our goal. 

The power of data does not come only from the amount or quality of data, but also the extent of it. As we collect daily feedback from seafarers across fleets via our data collection platform SeaQ, we accumulate quickly a lot of information on many topics. For the shipping companies, these questions revolve often around safety, effective communication and sufficient rest, which are very important topics as enablers of seafarer welfare. These topics are tied to companies’ strategic goals and reporting requirements, and while that is of critical importance, we also branch out to other organisations for collaborative studies to expand the view on onboard life of the crew.  

What is important in these studies is the different perspectives they take  - hence different data collected. In addition to different themes for data collection (DEI, social interaction, incidents), combining seafarer feedback data with different data sets (physiological data, claims records etc) can lead to new exciting insights.  

Although many reports by P&I Clubs show that human factors affect the majority of the claims, there’s very little data on the impact leading up to an incident. CHIRP approached PsyFyi for the PROJECT CREW study to combine feedback data with actual incident and near-miss data, to create a unique data set to – hopefully – proactively detect potential incidents.  

With ISWAN on the other hand, PsyFyi supported the Social Interaction Matters by combining feedback data with physiological data via smartwatches, to understand the relationship between social life onboard, rest and recovery, and seafarer wellbeing. 

Unique data sets can also just come from seafarers themselves: With the Global Maritime Forum, the data collection for All Aboard Alliance focused on diversity and inclusiveness, with a lot of focus on employment conditions as well as onboard facilities. The study requirements included a minimum number of female seafarers onboard, which has allowed us to collect a unique data set on the views of female seafarers onboard vessels.  

While these topics may not be in the day-to-day focus of shipping companies, they benefit from the wealth of knowledge PsyFyi has amassed through the data, and from the increase in industry understanding of topics that impact seafarer wellbeing, beyond questions of internet access or shore leave. 

We are always looking out for new collaborations and projects – if you feel this resonates and you have a project in mind, don’t hesitate to reach out to me on LinkedIn.