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My field work in the two companies was completed within the planned time frame. A preliminary impression of the shore interviewees’ accounts was that their communication with ship’s crew was good. However, as stated in the introductory chapter, the major focus of this research lies in examining how communication affects shipboard OHSM practices.

Thus, the data collected from crew onboard ships is crucial to my account.

3.4.2 Field Work onboard Ships

A ship will be sailing at sea most of the time, hence careful planning is necessary to board a ship. To avoid a long-wait, I gave the contact persons in both companies early notice – three to four weeks before planning to board their ships. I left matters to the companies to identify an appropriate vessel for me. The contact for boarding each next ship was made as soon as the time for boarding one ship was fixed. In so doing so, my waiting times for ships were shortened. I began my first voyage not long after my field work in C2. Proposed days for sailing on each of the four ships were about 7-14 days; however it was impossible to guarantee a ship’s sailing schedules in practice. Although there were some external disturbances such as berth queuing, (bad) weather conditions and machinery failures (all noted in my field notes), the planned sailing schedules were not much affected – my four voyages are summarised in the table below (Table 1). Particulars of the ships I sailed on in both companies are also illustrated (see Table 2). The cargoes carried on the four ships during my sailing voyages were all either toxic, corrosive or/and explosive [indicated on the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS^iv) provided by cargo importers/exporters/owners].

Cargo Carried Phenylethylene P-Xlene Dichloroethane

Port of Destination Shanghai, Date of Disembarkment 12 February 7 March 26 March 24 April

Total Days onboard 13 8 7 17

316L Steel Epoxy Resin Zinc Silicate Zinc Silicate

Main Sailing

Year Built Mid 2000s Late 1990s Late 2000s Mid 2000s Ship’s

Nationality

Chinese Chinese Chinese Flag of

Convenience Crew’s

Nationality

Chinese Chinese Chinese Chinese

Number of Crew About 15 About 20 About 16 About 18

I understood that collecting quality data while at sea was most important. I also understood that I should not neglect my relationships with the crew aboard. During the first two to three days, I did nothing about data collection, a suggestion from my supervisors; instead, I asked for a set of overalls and a safety helmet from the bosun to participate with the crew at their labouring activities whenever appropriate. Meanwhile, I tried to meet and familiarise with all people onboard and memorised their names. The purpose was simple - to establish a good rapport with them. My previous pilot study experience told me that I could not collect quality data without the crew’s recognition and cooperation. Later, this practice was confirmed by many of the crew. They were kind to me and willing to talk with me; some even praised me.

My main mission onboard was to interview crew. The planned sample number of crew for the interview on each ship was between 10 and 12 crew members. When I started locating the crew for interviews, each individual’s background was considered. For example, cadets were not considered for interviews. Also, when a rating/motorman was available for interview, the most experienced persons were prioritised. One senior engineer (2nd engineer) on one of the ships was not interviewed, since he had been onboard for less than a month and knew little about the company.

Interviews onboard ships were conducted in either the crew cabin or sometimes in my cabin during their off-duty time. Before an interview, I showed the interviewee an information sheet, the content of which was mainly the same as that used in shore interview.

My previous interview experience (from both the pilot study and shore visits) helped me improve the quality of interview data. In total I conducted 47 interviews on board four ships. The interview guide for crew is given in Appendix 3; crew interviewees’ information is listed in Appendix 5.

Apart from interviewing, I also observed some OHSM-related activities onboard. Since I was not assigned to scheduled work tasks, I was free to move between different departments and locations on the ships. This freedom gave me opportunities to visit wherever I thought useful, to sense data intentionally and unintentionally. For convenience of observation, I sometimes participated in the crew’s work. I helped with mooring and unmooring; partial cargo operations; cargo hold washing; cargo floor mopping; and keeping watch on the bridge. I needed to see the way of doing things and understand the congruence and departure between what was notionally required and what actually happened. Moreover, I tried to establish connections between observed data of sailor behaviours and shore-ship communication. Generally speaking, my participation in crew’s work indicated that my stay onboard was not only ‘eating and playing’, but actually sharing their work and experiences.

When I joined them as a green hand on their chemical tankers, I had many questions to ask.

Although they often called me ‘teacher’, I modestly called them ‘master’. Shared work and mutual respect allowed me to get into the scene in a natural way without disturbance to their daily working habits/practices.

Since my study is related to communication and its relation with shipboard OHSM practice, I paid special attention to crew’s OHSM practices onboard. As a result, I observed some of the OHSM consequences on each of the ships. For examples, onboard Ship 1, the strong ink-like toxic smell of phenol was pervasive in the ship’s accommodation area [this almost made me faint on S1 C1 (Field Notes, 8 February 2010)]. I was told by the crew that similar situations occurred from time to time, and were unavoidable. Onboard Ship 2, the ratings conducted risky operations without effective OHS protection in place during the process of cargo (p-xylene) sample-taking on the main deck for the purpose of conducting a cargo survey (Field Notes, 4 March 2010). Onboard Ship 3 in the cold early spring the bosun only wore a cotton hat rather than the proscribed safety helmet during the ship’s mooring work (Field Notes, 24 March 2010). Onboard Ship 4, I participated in the cargo tank washing process and observed that ratings and bosuns were all under-protected with anti-chemical gloves and safety helmets (Field Notes, 9 April 2010). There were other examples recorded in my long field notes and not all are listed here in detail. In general, my impression on the outcome of OHSM practice on the four ships was discouraging. More evidence will be presented in the data chapters.

Informal talks with crew also contributed to my data set. The long stay in the onboard

community gave me many opportunities to chat with whomever I met at their leisure time in either the crew’s cabin or in the lounge room. Sometimes, it made contact during the crew’s working hours, for example, at officers' watch keeping duty on the bridge. Another good occasion for informal talks was right after a formal interview. As soon as the interview was finished and the recording stopped, interviewees often added a bit more to their previous answers or made general comments about my research questions.

While onboard ship, I kept a field diary on a daily basis and noted whatever I saw, heard, and felt during the day. The longer I stayed on one ship, the longer the field diary would run.

The field diary was organised in chronological order and was easily retrieved. My field notes amounted to 21,000 words. Information from my field observations and data that emerged from informal talks with the crew provided a major contribution to this thesis.

Last but not least, I read some of the OHSM documents onboard and copied some of them for potential future use. Written documents related to the practices I had observed were prioritised.

To sum up, the research methods used onboard ships were multifaceted. They included interviews, observations, informal talks and document collection and analysis. My field diary was an important resource for reflecting on the data collected from observation and informal talks.

During my field work, email was the major channel for communication with my supervisors. Before each time of sailing, the supervisors were informed and I prepared a brief introduction to the sailing voyage. At the end of each voyage when I sent a fieldwork report which usually included a general description of the voyage, a transcription sample, a full set of field notes (field diary), and a few personal/fieldwork pictures. By doing so, my supervisors had a clear picture about what happened and what I had done on that particular ship. The two weeks after my last ship voyage I returned to Cardiff, which signified that my work had moved to the next step. In total the time span for my fieldwork was four months plus three weeks. I spent 45 days onboard 4 chemical tankers sailing in the western Asian Pacific region (also see table 2).