Accidents on ships in the Danish International Ship register

Safety has been in the focus of seafaring during the past decade that observed a gradual reduction of reported work injuries in Danish ships. The injuries are, however, unevenly distributed in the maritime workforce, depending on various factors, the nationality of seafarer among them. The aim of our study is to describe trend of accidents and their contributing factors, with special focus on nationality, occurring in ships under Danish flag in the period 2010-2012.
The study used two independent data sources, the Danish Maritime Authority and the Danish Radio Medical. It is mandatory to report accidents causing at least one day off work beyond the day of accident but the first source contains several accidents not fulfilling this criterion, too. Radio Medical is an independent service where all Danish ships may seek medical advice. The data sets were merged by identification number to create a single database that has been studied by descriptive statistics and regression analysis.
Findings show a stabilised number of accidents in the analysed period. The occurrence of accidents is influenced by nationality. There is a higher frequency of reported injuries found among Danish and other Western European seafarers compared to South East Asian (mostly Filipino) employees.
The results highlight a favourable level of reported injuries in the Danish maritime sector but also point out detectable differences between groups of employees. The identification of factors that determine the occurrence as well as the reporting of accidents is crucial to construct effective preventive measures for risk management.