A few weeks ago I had the honour of attending a ceremony organised by the International Maritime Organisation to honour all seafarers. On that occasion I remember thinking of Plato’s famous quote, that there “there are three types of men: those that live, those that die and those that go to sea “. This phrase captures fully the uniqueness of jobs at sea.

Still today, maritime jobs are by far among the most dangerous in the world. Their workplaces are often hard, noisy and without any comfort. People are sometimes separated from their relatives for long periods of time. The sailors are probably among the last Europeans that live and work every day in a very perilous natural environment that humankind has not yet mastered, despite the many progresses in shipbuilding, oceanography or meteorology. Ships sinking, disappearances at sea and accidents are, still too often, the reality of these professions.

Yet because of the particularities of their working environment, they have been left out of legislation that intended to protect all workers. Read the full entry

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