A study of factors relating to work accidents among seamen.

In Japan, the accident rate for seamen is 5 times higher than that for all other industries. Many maritime work accidents are related to the poor ergonomic conditions of the working environment. It is particularly important to examine seamen safety in terms of vessel type and seamen age, as these factors are related to various sorts of accidents. In this paper, maritime work accidents were analyzed according to fundamental factors including vessel type, seamen age, and seamen rank. It is suggested that safety education should be provided according specifically to seamen age and vessel type, as they are revealed to be strong factors relating to maritime work accidents. Such education and further research may also lead to improvements in maritime equipment in relation to worker safety.