Maritime safety culture and safety behaviours in Greece and Norway: Comparing professional seafarers and private leisure boat users

The present study compares professional seafarers and private leisure boat users in Norway and Greece. The aims of the present study are to examine the safety behaviours related to personal injuries and accidents among these groups and to study the factors influencing these behaviours. This will serve as a backdrop to a general discussion of why the level of fatalities is higher among private boat users than among professional seafarers and what the former may learn from the latter. The study is based on surveys to crew members on Norwegian and Greek cargo and passenger vessels and leisure boat users in Norway and Greece. Our study indicates that while unsafe behaviours related to work pressure and risk taking are important among professional seafarers (i.e. risk acceptance and violations), unsafe behaviours related to the leisure/holiday situation was important for the leisure boat users (i.e. alcohol use while driving a boat). Additionally, we discuss how the situation of private leisure boat users is less regulated than that of professional seafarers. Our study indicates that both in the professional and the private setting, norms for interaction and conduct seem to be influenced by norms and expectations rooted in different socio-cultural groups, e.g. the national culture, the specific sector in question, the organisations and in peer groups. (e.g. safety, mobility, respect, politeness) (Nævestad & Bjørnskau, 2012). An important aspect of our approach is that overall TSC is a composite of overlapping safety cultures associated with different types of sociocultural unit. Thus, we apply the safety culture concept to the national level, to organisations and to peer groups in the present study. 1.3 Previous research There seem to be few studies examining the relationship between safety behaviours and work accidents in the maritime sector, although there are some exceptions (cf. Håvold and Nesset, 2009). The existing studies within this area do, however, indicate that demographic factors (age, nationality, position, line of work) influence work accident risk, and we should assume that this relationship is mediated by some kind of unsafe behaviour (e.g. risk taking, violations), resulting in injuries. Younger seafarers have a higher risk (Hansen et al 2002; Jensen et al 2004). Foreigners have a considerably lower accident risk than local (in the specific study, Danish) citizens (Hansen et al 2002). Previous research also indicates that alcohol consumption may be an important risk factor in the maritime sector (Akhtar & Bouwer Utne 2014, Hetherington et al 2014), and that alcohol and drug abuse are greater for seafarers compared to workers ashore (Nitka 1990; Kariris 2012 in Zhang & Zhao 2017), partly because of their working situation (e.g. social isolation). However, given the relatively unregulated character of private boat use, we may perhaps assume that alcohol consumption “boating while under the influence”, is an even more important risk factor in this sector. Likewise, me may perhaps also assume that the other risky behaviours related to boating accidents (e.g. over speeding close to shore) are more prevalent among the less regulated private boat users. Based on a review of previous foreign studies of recreational boating accidents in Norway, Amundsen (2016) asserts that questions about alcohol use and lifejacket use are common in almost all of the international surveys. We may infer from this that alcohol use and life jacket use are key safety behaviours influencing the risk of accidents among private leisure boat users. Amundsen (2016) reports that the questions used in the different countries are adapted to the specific use of leisure boat in that country, and the accident situation. Based on a review of studies relevant to Norway, Amundsen and Bjørnskau (2017) point to the following safety behaviours as likely to influence the safety of private boat users: Drive faster than the permitted speed close to shore, Carry more passengers than the boat is licensed for, Drink a beer or a glass of wine before going boating, Drive in the dark without using the lantern/lights, Wearing a life jacket, Carrying enough lifejackets for everybody onboard the boat. The questions are partly based on the findings from a review of the safety situation for the recreational boaters performed by the Norwegian Maritime Authority in 2012. Moreover, it is also important to ask whether the difference between the two groups are due to differences in private and professional maritime safety culture in Norway and Greece. The professional maritime safety culture is closely related to the safety regulation (e.g. the ISM-code) in professional maritime transport. The International Safety Management (ISM) code of the International Maritime Organisation requires shipping companies to implement Safety Managemen Systems (SMS) on board their vessels, including describing safety roles, goals, procedures, monitoring, reporting, follow up etc. (Thomas 2012). Studies indicate that the SMS requirements of the ISM code foster a positive safety culture on board vessels (Lappalainen et al 2014). Additionally, shipping companies also often work to implement a positive organizational safety culture, including policies for seafarer behavior. Based on previous research, we may hypothesize first that organizational safety culture influences safety behaviours among professional seafarers (cf. Håvold & Nesset 2009, Lu & Tsai 2010). Also, professional seafarers have undergone an IMO approved training in their respective home countries. Thus, this training, the SMS and safety culture are elements which are likely to influence the professional maritime safety culture. Additionally, it is important to remember that professional seafarer culture also is likely to be influenced by the working conditions of professional seafaring, which may include a high work pressure, demanding working conditions, fatigue etc. (cf. Nævestad 2017). Størkersen et al (2011) found that a third of the respondents in the Norwegian coastal cargo sector reported that they put themselves in danger to get the job done, while about 40% violate procedures to get the job done, especially because of efficiency demands (Størkersen et al 2011). Moreover, research has also highlighted the importance of national safety culture for the safety behaviours of professional seafarers (Håvold 2005). We compare two countries (Norway and Greece), and we therefore, also compare the influence of national safety culture. The theoretical link between safety culture and safety behaviours is often omitted in research (Ward et al 2010). In the present study, we conceptualise this relationship as both direct social pressures and more subtle social mechanisms, producing important normative influences on behaviour (Cialidini et al., 1990). Individuals’ perceptions of peers’ opinions about a given behaviour are often defined as injunctive norms, while individuals’ perceptions of what peers actually do often are defined as descriptive norms (Ajzen 1991; Rivis & Sheeran 2003; Ward et al 2010). Since injunctive norms are normative they can be expected to directly influence peoples’ behaviour (Cialidini et al. 1990). In the present study national culture is measured as descriptive norms. Descriptive norms may influence behaviour by providing information about what is normal, but they can also influence behaviour through the false consensus bias, in which individuals overestimate the prevalence of risky behaviour among their peers in order to justify their own behaviour. The focus on normative influences on behaviour is important in the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) (Ajzen, 1991, 2006), and in the critique of it (Rivis & Sheeran 2003). In short, TPB predicts that our behaviour is the result of our intention to carry out the behaviour, and that our intention to carry out a particular behaviour is influenced by our attitudes towards the behaviour, injunctive norms and our perceived control over our behaviour (Ajzen 1991, 2006). Additionally, research on maritime safety has found that the framework conditions and safety level varies considerably between (sub)sectors (Størkersen 2017; Hansen et al 2002; Jensen et al 2004). The influence of sector and sector safety culture is examined for professional seafarers. Studies of private transport operators have found that other sociocultural groups, e.g. peer groups (Nævestad et al 2014) and region (e.g. urban vs. rural) (Rakauskas et al 2009) are important when it comes to influencing safety behaviours Thus, we also seek to examine the influence of peer-groups and regional maritime safety culture. Boat type and background variables are examined for leisure boat users.