International regulations on labour health and safety applied to fishing and maritime transport sectors. Are maritime workers under-protected?

Abstract

[Abstract] The work activity developed on board is of great importance in our nearby environment, and it has a series of peculiarities that determine the service rendering of sea workers. On the other hand, work at sea is developed on an international basis. Nowadays such work becomes a completely globalised industrial sector in relation to the elements that make up the ship’s operation, including manpower. For that reason several relevant international organisations have paid attention to this industrial sector and have adopted a broad regulation on this matter. In the case of the European Union, the Community procedure emphasises enormous interest in providing specific and comprehensive training to seafarers, as well as in regulating working time on board with the aim of minimising the safety problems caused by fatigue. In the present article a schematic presentation of regulations on workers’ health and occupational safety protection derived from the European Union, the International Maritime Organisation, and the International Labour Organisation has been done. Also it shows what parts of these regulations are not applicable to the work on board, and it reveals how the workers of fishing and maritime transport sectors are under-protected with regard to the guarantee of their health and occupational safety compared to workers in other sectors.