Two US Coast Guard (USCG) marine inspectors recently sailed on board the Wallem-managed 2005-built Aframax ‘Tofteviken’.
This formed part of the USCG’s Ship Rider Programme, which is aimed at ensuring and enhancing safety and security at sea by enabling USCG inspectors to experience operations on tankers first hand.
Wallem claimed that it is one of the few ship management companies to have offered this learning experience for the USCG marine inspectors.
During their three-day voyage, the inspectors learned about various operations on board, including discharging, loading and STS/lightering operations. They shadowed the crew on board, occupying their work spaces and asking them questions about the work involved.
According to Wallem, the inspectors were grateful for the opportunity and to the crew for sharing their expertise, stating that they learned an immeasurable amount of information, which will only aid in building better marine inspectors.
Elsewhere in the Group, clinical psychologist and author of Wallem’s Wellness@Sea guide, Kevin Menon, has been working with Wallem Ship Management for over two years, helping to conduct wellness workshops at regular Wallem fleet officers’ meetings held worldwide.
Menon said wellness is particularly important when it comes to life at sea, due to the unique conditions seafarers face, which can place seafarers under a lot more stress than someone working on land. When left unaddressed, these can result in lowered moral, conflict, mental health issues, increased human error, accidents, lifestyle illnesses, lowered productivity, burnout, and even suicide.
He stressed, “Seafarers need to be adequately equipped to manage their personal wellness.”
One aspect of wellness that Menon believed is critical to address both by mitigating and responding to is mental health. “All shipping companies should ideally have a wellness management system so that a comprehensive approach is taken to provide proactive programs that help build awareness, resilience and wellness in all seafarers as well as remedial support that is provided to identify and help seafarers who may be struggling with mental health issues.”
“Wallem is breaking down the stigma and helping normalise the fact that a mental health issue is just like any other health issue, as everything contributes to our overall wellness. Wallem is also helping support seafarers in understanding how they can take proactive measure to manage their wellness while at sea, as well as understand that they can come forward if they at any time need support in this area,” he said.
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Source: Wallem
