Supply chain leverage and regulating health and safety management in shipping

Seafaring is a hazardous occupation and the industry’s complexity and
globalization make its governance and regulation challenging. One way in
which such challenges might be addressed is through an increased focus
on the effects of business processes such as those within supply chain
relations. This paper seeks to understand the role and significance of
supply chain leverage in promoting health and safety management at sea,
the institutional contexts in which such leverage occurs and under which
circumstances it is effective. It draws on findings from a research project
examining the views of seafarers and their managers on what drives the
implementation of occupational health and safety (OHS) management
arrangements in two shipping sectors. Essentially, these findings show
that under certain conditions, supply chain relations are useful in helping
to support the implementation of arrangements for OHS management on
merchant vessels. However, such leverage is most likely to be effective when
it operates within a wider institutional framework in which public regulation
and its surveillance by regulatory authorities remain a key element.