Over the last decade, there has been an increasing focus on improving the working conditions and the health and safety of crews on commercial fishing, cargo and passenger vessels, both in Norway and globally. To achieve these goals, creating a good social work environment on board is essential.
This project focuses on two core aspects of the social work environment: psychological safety and social support. Their beneficial effects on, among other things, physical and mental health, inclusiveness, and retention are well-established. Nevertheless, we know little about the factors that promote or hinder their development or how they interact. By improving our understanding of the antecedents and consequences of psychological safety and social support, this project seeks to contribute to our knowledge of how to improve working lives.
Starting from the insight that psychological safety and social support reflect social norms, we investigate two potential pathways for the development of such norms: through maritime education and training (MET), and through company policies related to HR and working conditions. In addition, the project examines how psychological safety and social support influence each other and how they interact in their effects on outcomes such as stress and fatigue, mental health, inclusiveness, bullying and harassment, resilience and safety on board.
Bringing together an interdisciplinary team of researchers, the project combines multiple methods: (1) ethnographic case studies on board commercial vessels, (2) case studies of MET programmes, and (3) a longitudinal survey of crews on commercial vessels to collect multilevel social network data. Based on the empirical findings, policy recommendations will be developed collaboratively with stakeholders. In this way, the project seeks to develop tools to improve conditions that enable an inclusive and sustainable working life.
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