Psychological factors and safety at work :  the case of shipping

Keivani, Amanta

Master Thesis

Author

Keivani, Amanta

Date

2025-11

Abstract

The research uses survey data from 226 seafarers who represent different nationalities to study how psychological strain affects safety practices in commercial shipping operations. The survey results show that safety culture ratings together with leadership commitment and training assessments cluster around a middle to upper neutral range (M≈4.00) which indicates organizations follow safety protocols but these practices seem insufficient when workers perform their daily tasks. The survey results show that occupational stress (M=4.02) and fatigue (M=4.05) and burnout (M=4.08) ratings exceed the midpoint of the scale. The most consistent survey results show that workers experience fatigue and experience concentration problems and report work-related exhaustion. The organizational and psychological measurements show weak and inconsistent relationships which indicates that official safety protocols and actual workplace strain exist independently from each other. The ANOVA results show that different groups based on gender and nationality blocks and rank seniority and sea-time and ship type and flag state show significant differences in specific dimensions. The groups show different levels of fatigue intensity while their leaders maintain visibility but remain unobtrusive. The training programs receive positive theoretical assessments but workers find them ineffective for real-world deck operations which hinders knowledge transfer. The research findings show that workers from different countries face ongoing fatigue problems and developing burnout symptoms while their leaders show varying levels of visibility between ports and their training programs focus on minimum requirements. The absence of feedback mechanisms between ships and shores creates problems with maintaining alertness. The research findings lead to specific recommendations for organizations. Organizations need to enhance their leadership visibility through active leadership behaviors while establishing quick communication links between ships and shores and they should switch from single training sessions to ongoing scenario-based education with operational tempo-based drills. A structured fatigue risk management system needs to be implemented which includes sleep opportunity controls and watch rotation audits and near-miss analysis with fatigue precursor identification and onboard recovery 5 protocols. The study faces three main limitations because it uses a cross-sectional design and self-reported data and because it lacks reverse coding for negative items which reduced measurement reliability. Future research needs to combine unit-level aggregation with repeated measures and objective indicator triangulation to show how climate protects against strain through time-based mechanisms.

Postgraduate Studies Programme

Shipping Management

Department

Σχολή Ναυτιλίας και Βιομηχανίας. Τμήμα Ναυτιλιακών Σπουδών

Number of pages

111

Language

English

URI

https://dione.lib.unipi.gr/xmlui/handle/unipi/18640

Collections

Τμήμα Ναυτιλιακών Σπουδών

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Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as
Αναφορά Δημιουργού-Μη Εμπορική Χρήση-Όχι Παράγωγα Έργα 3.0 Ελλάδα