Corrupción en la Contratación Pública

Unlike many other industries seafarers work in a unique environment and encounter conditions not usually found in what is traditionally considered a work place. For instance, they have to live with the people they work with, which in this case is on a ship. This closeness, as will be

demonstrated, does have an influence on a seafarer’s state of mind (Barnes, 1984). Studies show that the physical and emotional state of seafarers (Hart, Bea & Roberts, 1994), inadequate hiring policies of a shipping company and poor equipment design (Moore & Bea, 1992) were factors that induced seafarers to commit errors. Table 5 summarises the factors that accident investigations identified as the causes of maritime accidents. The two areas that were cited most frequency were ‘poor

ergonomics’ and ‘fatigue’, followed by ‘Alcoholism’. Table 6 is a summary of the studies conducted in cognate areas on the factors that impacted on accidents. A perusal of Table 6 revealed that ‘time of day’ was cited the most frequently as a cause of accident followed by ‘task monotony’, ‘sleep deprivation’ and ‘Alcoholism’. The causes of maritime accidents and those that occurred in the other cognate studies differed in that ‘Poor Ergonomics’ was not seen as an accident causing factor in the cognate areas while `Fatigue’ did not feature as prominently as it did in maritime accidents.

Table 6. Factors contributing to accidents reported in cognate studies.

Study Year Contributing Factors

Feyer, Williamson, Jenkin, Higgins

1993 Time of day (circadian rhythms) Williamson, Feyer,

Coumarelos, Jenkins

1992 Time of day (circadian rhythms) Van Ouwerkerk 1987 Time of day (circadian rhythms)

Green 1985 Sleep deprivation

Davies, Schackleton, Parasuraman

1983 Task monotony

Rodahl 1977 Task monotony

‘Poor Ergonomics’ and ‘Fatigue’ were factors that caused Skill-based errors (Williamson & Feyer, 1990; Salminen & Tallberg, 1996; Hobbs & Williamson, 2002), and they tended to precede fatalities (Salminen & Tallberg, 1996; Hobbs & Williamson, 2002).

The appearance of ‘Poor Ergonomics’ is significant as it indicates that the design of the work spaces and the siting of instruments on board a ship make a significant contribution to maritime accidents. The design of workspaces and the siting of equipment on board a ship were done without consulting the seafarers who have to work in these spaces and operate this equipment (Card, 1995). It highlights Sergiovanni’s (1987) statement of the need for people to feel they had reasonable control over their work activities. The importance of this variable is acknowledged here to highlight its possible impact on the safety climate of a ship.

Understanding the conditions in which seafarers lived would perhaps give the study some clues on how seafarers reacted to their physical

environment and how this in turn impacted on the safety culture of a ship. The presence of fatigue had been detected in many maritime accidents though not as its main causal factor (Finland, 1997). It was observed also as the cause for higher than normal seafarer injury hospitalisation rates (Helmkamp & Bone, 1986).

Factors that increased the level of fatigue in a person included the amount of time spent on task (Sanquist, Raby, Maloney, & Carvalhais. 1996), the time of day when the task is performed (Feyer, Williamson, Jenkin, & Higgins. 1993; Van Ouwerkerk, 1987; Williamson, A., Feyer, Coumarelos, & Jenkins.1992), and the level of task monotony associated with the

performance of that task (Davies, Schackleton & Parasuraman. 1983; Monk & Folkard, 1985; Rodahl, 1977). Other factors that appeared to impact mainly on seafarers were experienced weather conditions and vibration of the ship (Sanquist et al., 1996), reduced total sleep time per 24 hour period (Nitka, 1990), fragmented sleep, sleep at physiologically inappropriate times of day; insufficient time between shifts, reduced quality main sleep;

(Sanquist et al., 1996; Feyer et al., 1993; Williamson et al., 1992), the age and medical condition of the seafarer (Cantwell, 1997).

However, as they are variables that have been considered elsewhere and their importance acknowledged here, the focus of the thesis will be upon an examination of other variables and possible contributory factors integral to the safety culture of a ship.

The impact of alcohol on the safety climate of a ship had been considerable in the past (Hope, 1990). Studies on the impact of alcohol show that

seafarers had a higher than normal rate of contracting cirrhosis (Brandt, Kirk, Jensen & Hansen. 1994; Filikowski, 1989; Olkinuora, 1984) and that alcohol responsible for the occurrence of accidents (Von Wiegand, 1972; Hope, 1990; Wagenaar, 1990).

A trend study between 1971 and 1992 indicated that the rate of occurrence of cirrhosis amongst seafarers had declined significantly (see Appendix 3, Table 35) (Filikowski, Renke & Rzepiak.1992). This study however may have limited applicability as it sampled only Polish seafarers, at a time when the country was moving to a new democratic system of governance. Another study on Danish seafarers listed cirrhosis of the liver as the tenth highest cause of death (Brandt et al., 1994), it however did not have a trend analysis to confirm Filikowski et al’s., (1992) findings. Wagenaar’s (1990) study did cite high levels of alcohol consumption as affecting the safety culture of a ship but did not quantify its effect (see Appendix 3, Table 36). There have been no other published studies to establish the extent to which alcoholism currently affected the industry.

Clearly alcohol abuse and alcoholism among personnel are important matters and these findings fit with earlier research (see for example, Filikowski, 1989; Brandt et al., 1994). However, as they are variables that have been considered elsewhere and their importance acknowledged here the focus of the thesis will be upon an examination of other variables and possible contributory factors integral to the safety culture of a ship.

Apart from factors that affect a seafarer’s physical health, the marine environment also appeared to impact on the mental health of seafarers. Filikowski (1989) reported that seafarers seemed to be more affected by mental illnesses than any other ailment, with officers being more prone than Ratings (Nitka, 1990).

Psychiatric illnesses resulted in a decreased ability of the seafarer to cope with job expectations and had an impact on the safety culture of a ship (Barnes, 1984; Green, 1985). Studies showed that emotional disturbances, psychoses (Levy, 1972; Filikowski, 1989), psychoneuroses (Nitka, 1990; Barnes, 1983), psychosomatic diseases (Barss, 1990) and emotional problems ashore (Levy, 1971) were among the most important causes of seafarer mental illnesses (See Table 7).

Table 7. Studies on the non-physical factors that affect seafarers.

Study Year Contributing factors

Levy 1971 Psychiatric illnesses

Barnes 1984 Mental health

Filikowski 1989 Neuroses, arterial hypertension, ulcers, renal calculi, alcohol addiction

Wagenaar 1989 High stress situations, social pressure Barss 1990 Low back injuries, psychiatric illnesses

Nitka 1990 Psychiatric illnesses

Filikowski et al 1992 Neuroses, arterial hypertension, ulcers, renal calculi, alcohol addiction

Wagenaar (1990) identified high stress situations as well as social pressure as the two main factors that degraded the information processing systems of seafarers. Wagenaar (1990) also reported that the decision-making capability of a seafarer was affected by that person’s personality, which appeared to promote error generation behaviour and was linked with high levels of neuroticism (Hagart & Crawshaw, 1981).

The above studies were important as they identified some of the main mental afflictions suffered by seafarers, which in turn highlighted the impact that they had on the safety culture of a ship. These studies were

additionally important as they identified many of the underlying causes of the described afflictions, which the current study examined to assess the impact they had on the organisational climate of a ship. Understanding conditions that impact on the safety climate of a ship is one of the main foci of this study.

2.1.4.2.1 Summary of the Organisational Climate of a ship

Poor ergonomics, fatigue, alcohol and poor training appeared to be the main issues that affected the well being of seafarers on a ship. They were identified also as causal factors for maritime accidents. The organisational climate aboard ship created many pressures that appeared to contribute to the deterioration of the mental health of seafarers. The focus on these issues was important as they assisted in facilitating understanding of many of the factors that were underlying causes associated with the safety culture of a ship.