Maritime UK has partnered with Safer Highways for the mental health benchmark survey, an early initiative from a recently launched Mental Health in Maritime Network.
The Mental Health in Maritime Network, in turn, is part of the Diversity in Maritime programme, launched in direct response to the government’s Maritime 2050 strategy.
Ben Murray, director of Maritime UK, said: “We know that coronavirus has had a huge impact on the economy, and what’s crucial to remember is that individuals have been affected too. As we move through the crisis, we must do all we can to support our people. That’s why it’s important to understand where we are as a sector on mental health so that we can focus our collective work on the areas that will make most different to all of us. I urge all employers to participate in the survey.”
At its first meeting in June, the network discussed the need to set a benchmark to understand how mental health is managed across the sector, and to identify areas where the programme will need to focus its efforts to engender positive change.
“One of the aims of our Mental Health Network is to provide a collaborative platform to share information among all maritime organisations, in support of aiding others to achieve and develop mental health management practices. By benchmarking the sector against mental health standards, we will be able to meet this aim,” said Stuart Pollard, chair of Mental Health in Maritime Network.
Safer Highways have been running a ‘Thriving at Work’ survey for two years for a range of sectors including roads, rail, water and construction. The survey questions outline what employers can do to better support all employees – including those with mental health problems – to remain in and to thrive through work.
Debbie Cavaldoro and Sue Terpilowski, co-chairs of the Diversity in Maritime Taskforce, jointly said: “A healthy and happy workforce has synergistic benefits for workplaces, productivity and the economy and a key focus for our Diversity in Maritime programme is to support our sector to thrive at work. We are grateful to Safer Highways for partnering with us to benchmark us against ourselves but also against other sectors including aviation rail, utilities, construction, fleet and logistics.”
Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited.
Add Seatrade Maritime News to your Google News feed.  |
