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UK P&I Club continues to invest in seafarer welfare

20 Jun, 2017

Leading P&I insurance provider renews its support of Sailors’ Society’s Wellness at Sea programme for a further year.

The UK P&I Club has confirmed its commitment to making a positive impact on seafarer welfare by extending its support of Sailors’ Society’s Emotional Wellness module.

One of five sections in the global maritime charity’s Wellness at Sea coaching programme, the Emotional Wellness training aims to improve emotional well-being through early identification of mental health issues and to enable seafarers to handle challenging situations at sea.

Well-being of crew is a priority for UK P&I Club, who recently revealed that a career seafaring is the second most at risk of suicide with 15 per cent of deaths at sea caused as result. While it is rare to see crew fail their medical test due to mental health issues, UK P&I Club has seen an increase in mental health and suicide cases in the claims presented by members.

Sophia Bullard, PEME Director, UK P&I Club said: “We are pleased to continue our support of Sailors’ Society in this very important programme. Mental health issues affect crew of all ages, nationalities and ranks and sadly can lead to an incident. In some severe cases, they even led to the death of the seafarer.

“Wellness at Sea equips crews to identify and manage the challenges of life at sea and this can help prevent deterioration of their health while on board. The programme could lead to a decline in incidents and potentially save a life. We encourage all our members to consider the Wellness at Sea programme for their crew.”

Wellness at Sea was launched in 2015 to combat issues by addressing wellness as a holistic concept made up of five areas of well-being: social, emotional, physical, intellectual and spiritual. Since its inception more than 1,000 seafarers have completed the coaching programme.

Sandra Welch, Sailors’ Society’s deputy CEO and director of programme, said: “We are really pleased to have UK P&I Club’s backing and recognition of the value of Sailors’ Society’s Wellness at Sea programme.

“Seafarers who undertake Wellness at Sea coaching will be equipped to better meet their social, emotional, physical, intellectual and spiritual needs, thereby helping to prevent and minimise poor health or incidents at sea. By focusing on people rather than problems, we seek to support the centre point around which our industry revolves.”

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