Abstract:
Shipping is an industry consisting of highly challenging and unpredictable
environments which demanded an efficient operating system to ensure the
economic benefits for companies and nation, in general. Seafarers play an
important role to meet the needs of this industry as they are the operators of the
shipping operation. Nevertheless, seafarers are endangered by the existence of
distraction factors which continuously affect their well-being on-board, for
instance, influence of working conditions, living conditions, human interaction,
individual factors, physical environment, and food/nutrition provided, where they
may cause bad consequences in forms of occupational errors, casualties, ill-
health and even death, if overlooked. This research is vital because most of the
maritime accident occurrences are still associated with human erroneous
actions in shipboard operations. This research aims; 1) To examine the factors
that potentially influence the seafarers’ conditions and contribute to an adverse
effect in shipboard operations; 2) To rank the main factors that are listed as
potential factors; and 3) To select the most affected Malaysian seafarers’ group due to distraction factors involved. The methods used include; 1) A Cause and
Effect Analysis method using Ishikawa model; 2) An Average Rating Value
Technique incorporated with Likert scale; and 3) A TOPSIS method. The results
of this research show that; 1) Six major factors followed by thirty-six sub-factors
were examined to have the potential in affecting Malaysian seafarers’
conditions; 2) "Food and Nutrition" is ranked as the most influencing major
factor that affect Malaysian seafarers’ conditions based on influence of cultural
practices of different nationalities in providing demanded food and nutrition in
which have create uncomfortable situations among Malaysian seafarers; and 3)
The groups of "Senior Deck Cadets" and "Junior Engine Officers" has been
selected as the most affected Malaysian seafarers’ groups to the deck and
engine department, respectively, based on the distraction they experienced
while serving on a ship. This research can be beneficial to the academic sector
and maritime industry based on their theoretical and managerial contributions
for improving the safety culture and seafarers’ performances on-board, also,
highlight the importance of assessing and overcoming the distraction issue
before it become more severe and affects the overall system.
