Page 63: of Maritime Logistics Professional Magazine (Q1 2014)

62 64

Read the Report on the Web: www.Futurecareinc.com

Fine Tuning the Data: and fi nding more: The study, owing to the lack of complete numbers for all crew, before and after they boarded the vessel, had its limitations. For example, assuming that 50 percent (a fi ctitious number) of the mariners who experience medical alerts are Filipino, the study could not determine whether that number or percentage represents the workforce. That’s because if a ship or fl eet is populated to 70 percent of all mariners being Filipino, and only 50 percent of injuries / illnesses are Filipino, then they are probably do- ing better than other groups. On the other hand, if Filipinos represent just 30 percent of the total crew but account for 50 percent of injuries, then perhaps we have a problematic trend that we can point to. So far, the preliminary studies haven’t been able to fi nd signifi cant differences between the nationali- ties in terms of illness or injury. In terms of job types, certain job descriptions experienced more bodily injuries and clearly, different kinds and levels of risk are associated with different kinds of on board jobs. With more study, and incorporating an occupational background and preventative medicine ap- proach, both Future Care and Yale believe that they will be able to prevent some of these things from happening.

The study’s release preceded last year’s ratifi cation of the 2006 Maritime Labour Convention (MLC). The report, as good as it was, was only the fi rst step. That’s because while it included a treasure trove of data taken from a wide cross-sec- tion of mariners, it lacked underlying data typically only avail- able to shipowners and P&I Clubs that would provide clues about pre-employment health and predictors of future events.

Recently, Future Care and Yale were fortunate to obtain ad- ditional medical statistics covering 10,000 Filipino seafarers to add to the data. Once collated and analyzed, new conclusions will be released to industry.

MP Q1 2014 50-63.indd 63 2/28/2014 9:56:34 AM