Professional Documents
Culture Documents
J.Rengamani
Dr.M.Sakthivel Murugan
Abstract
The study examines the factors that are influencing the seafarers occupational stress based on the
occupational stress indicators. The study investigates the work-related stress factors, physical stress
factors and psychosocial stress factors in the process of assessing the stress levels of the seafarers who
work on-board the ships. The occupational stress has been documented as one of the most important
workplace health hazards for employees in developed and developing countries (Paul E. Spector, 2002[18];
Danna & Griffin, 2002[8]). Stress or Stressor refers to any environmental, social, or internal demand which
requires the individual to readjust his/her usual behaviour patterns (Holmes & Rahe, 1967) [10]. Stress
rarely has a single source point, rather stress has been found to have many different sources. Stress can
be caused by acute or chronic physical stressors, or by psychological and social stressors (Sapolsky,
1994) [19]. The majority of stressors tend to be those associated with psychological and social issues that
are related to both personal and work lives. The study had analysed the work-related stress using
students t-test and also had classified the stressors into five manageable factors by using Factor analysis.
The stresses incurred by the seafarers were then compared by testing the hypotheses by using one way
ANOVA.
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Factors Influencing Seafarers Stress J.Rengamani & Dr.M.Sakthivel Murugan
condition, excessive work load, shift work, long Job-related psychosocial stressors are often
hours of work, role ambiguity, role conflicts, attributable to high job demands, shift work,
poor relationships, with the boss, colleagues or external work controls and the limited scope for
subordinate officers, risk and danger, to mention decision-making. The effort-reward model is
a few. Certain responses indicate the presence increasingly used to assess job-related stress,
of job stress in an individual, or group. It may mainly with regard to cardio-vascular diseases.
manifest by the presence of headache, sleep Seafaring is associated with special mental,
disturbances, difficulty in concentration, short psychosocial and physical stressors and cannot
temper, upset stomach, job dissatisfaction and be compared with jobs ashore. The working and
low morale. living conditions in seafaring are characterized
by long-time separation from family and home
Cartwright and Cooper (1997)[5] further pointed for months, growing economic pressure as well
out that in the short term, stress can lead the as considerable and partly extreme psychosocial
employees to stomach disorder, headaches, problems.
sleeplessness, emotional distress and loss of
energy/motivation, and in the long term, it can Crimmins and Hayward[6] observed that work
give to serious illness and even early death, disability was associated with stressful jobs, lack
most likely due to cardiovascular disease (heart of job control, and environment hazards for
diseases). humans. Seamen are often faced with time-
pressure and hectic activity during their voyage.
There are a number of workplace factors, called The likely stress level depends on the rank and
job stressors that make jobs stressful and the job tasks on board. It is assumed that
difficult for number of employees in services as officers have to endure high stress due to their
well as manufacturing industries. Additional comprehensive responsibilities for personnel and
stressors concern interpersonal relationships at material.
work, such as conflicts with the behaviour of
supervisors, conflicts with colleagues, conflicts Watch-keeping and acute operational failures
with subordinates and conflicts with require increased activities with long and
management policies (Paul Spector, 2002)[18]. irregular working hours. The International
Kahn and Byosiere, (1992)[13] and Taylor, Labour Organization (ILO, 2006)[11] determined
(1999)[22] further pointed out that there are the maximum working times of seafarers to be
some other stressors in the organizational 14 hours per day. In seafaring, this time span is
context, such as having insufficient resources to often considerably exceeded, especially on ships
do the job (e.g., defective equipment or with frequent port clearances.
inadequate supplies), or low salaries structure.
Research has clearly demonstrated that all of The working conditions on board cargo or
these job stressors are connected with passenger ships are different. The crew of cargo
employees health and well-being. ships consists of about 10 to 20 seafarers.
These crews have a physically stressful job,
As is characteristically found in various studies, especially on container ships (i.e. lashing of
higher levels of stressors (e.g., heavy workload containers in a storm).
and uncertainty about supervisors expectations)
were associated with physical symptoms, such Additionally, seafarers on cargo ships or tankers
as headaches, and poor job attitudes. are possibly exposed to dangerous goods (i.e.
toxic gases and fumes, explosive substances,
chemicals). On passenger liners the physical
AMET International Journal of Management 45 ISSN: 2231 6779 / July Dec 2012
Factors Influencing Seafarers Stress J.Rengamani & Dr.M.Sakthivel Murugan
stress is less when compared with the stress on various levels/job categories on the deck side
cargo ships. and the engine side of foreign going merchant
vessels. The total sample size considered for the
Besides the type of ships, their size also study was 385.
influences the working situation: the stress
increases in smaller vessels, with more reduced The study consists of two parts. In the first part
crews, shorter stays at ports and through of the study, the work-related stressors of the
insufficient recreation. seafarers such as Mental strain of accomplishing
the set-task, Lack of rewards for
On the other hand, large container ships accomplishment, Lack of self-confidence to
operating worldwide are regarded as stressful work, Social relations, Feeling of threat, Physical
due to monotony and isolation during long-term oppressiveness, Unpleasant work conditions,
voyage. Systematic investigations of the Lack of support & Sense of responsibility, were
seafarers stress have as yet scarcely been measured on a five-point scale from 1 (strongly
performed. disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The
questionnaire designed for the evaluation of
Objectives subjective perception of work and the individual
feeling of work-related stress, allows the
The objectives of the study were to analyze the individual estimation of the feeling of stress.
factors (stressors) influencing the seafarers
stress: In the second part of the study, the survey
elicited the demographic and job-related data,
To investigate the mean differences of the usual shipping routes, shipboard working hours,
work-related stressors through the students type and size of the ships and average number
t-test. of crew members on board. To assess the stress
due to long continuous working days, the
To examine the physical & psychosocial occurrence of extremely long working times was
stressors of the seafarers through Factor registered. Furthermore, the most stressful job
analysis and ANOVA. activities such as watch-keeping at sea (officer
on watch on the bridge), district route of a
In order to achieve the objectives, this article is seagoing vessel (navigation through highly
organized around the following working frequented routes), port clearance (loading and
hypotheses: unloading, safety techniques and hygiene
control measures), port manoeuvres (arrival and
H1: There is a significant difference in the departure), administrative tasks, and routine
mean values of individual work-related activities during the voyage.
stress factors of seafarers.
To assess the stress load, the seafarers were
H2: There is a significant difference in the asked to respond based on a scale from 1 (very
mean values of the physical & Psychosocial weak) to 5 (very strong), the individual
stressors of the seafarers. relevance of each factor was recorded to
determine the respective stress level. By means
Methodology of a subsequent factor analysis, the loading of
each stressor to the above mentioned stress
The target population was considered as categories were explored.
seafarers of Indian origin who were working at
AMET International Journal of Management 46 ISSN: 2231 6779 / July Dec 2012
Factors Influencing Seafarers Stress J.Rengamani & Dr.M.Sakthivel Murugan
The questionnaire which included both the parts accomplishment, lack of self-confidence to work,
of the study was administered to 550 seafarer feeling of threat, unpleasant working conditions
respondents and the completed responses were and the lack of support from their peers or
obtained from 416 respondents, of which 385 superiors. The stress level on ships travelling
respondents were considered for further study worldwide was considered higher due to the
after scrutiny. separation from their family. This is probably
caused by the long distance from home as well
Measure of Seafarers Stress as by missing social contacts due to the fact that
these ships only stop a few times in ports.
In the first part of the study, it is evident from
Table-1 that the cronbachs[7] alpha values are In spite of the levels of stress incurred by the
reasonably high and hence it can be inferred seafarers on-board, the seafarers with long
that the scales are consistent and reliable. period of service at sea subjectively estimated
their work as less burdening and stressing as
Table 1: Cronbachs Alpha Values compared to the new entrants.
Cronbachs
Factors
Alpha The seafarers were aware of their own abilities
Mental strain of of meeting job requirements, the seafarers work
0.72
accomplishing the set-task experience at sea reduced uncertainty while
Lack of rewards for solving problems, the seafarers were aware of
0.71
accomplishment the safety and health related rules of work on
Lack of self-confidence to vessels, the seafarers had gained and
0.78 consolidated theoretical and practical knowledge
work
and skills of coping with difficult situations.
Social relations 0.71
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Factors Influencing Seafarers Stress J.Rengamani & Dr.M.Sakthivel Murugan
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Factors Influencing Seafarers Stress J.Rengamani & Dr.M.Sakthivel Murugan
High work demand 3.189 0.001 This study reveals that the long working days,
heat in work places, separation from their
High management tasks 3.136 0.024
family, time pressure/ hectic activities, and
insufficient qualifications of subordinate crew
One way ANOVA was conducted on the selected members are the most important stressors on
factors of stress. The comprehensive results of board. The seafarers with higher stress due to
one way ANOVA are given in Table-4. It is heat in shipboard operations had shorter job
evident that the p-values for all the stressors duration at sea. The stressors of heat and noise
are less than 0.05. To study in detail, the show that physical stressors on ships currently
stressors are considered individually: are still very important in spite of the increasing
mechanization in seafaring.
The Physical stressors such as heat in
workplaces, noise, ship movement, sea sickness, In the study, the separation from the family is
hard physical work, lifting, carrying, lack of regarded as a further important stressor on
exercise and climatic changes during the voyage ships. The associations between professional
are considered as the most vital factors in group and shipboard stressors were not
influencing the seafarers stress when they are significant except for heat in workplaces.
on-board. Especially the engine room personnel,
permanently being close to the heat-producing
The Psychosocial stressors such as irregular engines, stated a higher stress level due to heat
shift, long working times per day, irregular in their workplaces.
working times & the lack of sleep would actually
put the seafarers in great stress. The Additionally, the time pressure aboard was
psychosocial stressors of the seafarers may even regarded as more stressful by less-than one
lead to accidents. third of the engine personnel, but by half of the
deck-side seafarers. A higher stress level due to
The Social stressors / problems due to migration insufficient qualification of subordinate crew
such as separation from the family, long stay on members was slightly more frequently
board, conflicts between crew members & complained about by deck than by engine room
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Factors Influencing Seafarers Stress J.Rengamani & Dr.M.Sakthivel Murugan
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Factors Influencing Seafarers Stress J.Rengamani & Dr.M.Sakthivel Murugan
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