Occupational Health and Safety Challenges From Employment-Related Geographical Mobility Among Canadian Seafarers on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway

Abstract

Seafaring involves multiple patterns of mobility. Ships are mobile workplaces that connect and disconnect from land. Many move within and between national boundaries. Maritime labor forces are recruited from multiple locations engaging in varying commutes to and from homeports—international commutes for international labor forces and internal commutes for national labor forces. Mobilities expose seafarers to a range of occupational health and safety hazards, which can be exacerbated by mobility-related constraints on regulatory protections. Based on legal analysis and twenty-five semi-structured interviews with Canadian seafarers, managers, and key informants, this exploratory study examines how employment-related geographical mobility may create occupational health and safety challenges for Canadian seafarers working on the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway. Findings show that few legal instruments are available to protect seafarers from commuting-related occupational hazards and that occupational health and safety challenges are numerous. Seafarers’ occupational health and safety rights on board are restricted and they are systemically discouraged from raising safety concerns.