REDO 2.0: Preventive work for a sustainable social work environment

Purpose - To give employees on board tools to work systematically with the social work environment.

Objectives - To create further insights and increased understanding of what promotes social sustainability at sea and offer concrete tools and methods that can be used onboard to create a good social work environment.

The overall goals and purpose of the project can be broken down into the following sub-goals:

• Describe the connection between gender equality, psychological safety and maritime safety and offer leaders the training and tools they need to support psychological safety on board
• Develop a training material adapted to shipping that is based on methods for violence prevention (Mentors in violence prevention, MVP) and train people who can hold training / workshops (‘train the trainer’)
• Continued development and evaluation of systematic work environment work for an inclusive workplace with elements of norm-creative methods (e.g. gamification)
• Create and implement support structures (eg networks and mentoring programs) to increase diversity
• Develop and test solutions for increased flexibility linked to family life

Method - The project will be conducted in the form of an action research project with interventions between research, development, and testing.

Work packages:

Psychological safety
Those who do not feel safe do not dare to question or speak out, which affects a systematic safety work. It is about the personal security you are entitled to in a workplace and not having to find strategies for your own safety. It is also about the ship's safety where you need to utilize all the skills and all the information to make shipping as safe as possible. More research is needed on the connection between gender equality, psychological safety and maritime safety. The work is focused on training managers in support functions for increasing psychological safety on board.

Violence prevention
We can not just react when something has happened. In order for today's shipping to be able to offer everyone a safe social work environment, more preventive work is required. Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) is built on behavioral change based on a broad definition of violence and a strategy for active spectators. The work is focused on producing and testing educational material based on methods for violence prevention and training people who can hold training and workshops.

Systematic work on social and organizational work environment 
Based on the Swedish Work Environment Authority's regulation 2015: 4, Sweship has produced work material to be able to work systematically with organizational and social work environment. We want to provide the industry with a toolbox of different methods and tools adapted to shipping and those who work onboard. The work is focused on developing and testing new forms of learning enabled by gamification and digital tools. We will follow pilot groups and evaluate change and benefits on board.

Support tools and functions for women in shipping
Women at sea are a minority which makes it critical that every woman who chooses shipping can feel that support exists along the way. To explore what support can look like, we will work with Design Thinking. Through the women's network WISTA, a mentoring program is developed as part of a support structure. The work is focused on role models, mentors and networks to assist in finding viable paths in the industry and in managing challenges.

Policylab to support family life
Family reasons are a common reason why women leave their career in shipping. Now more and more men are also starting to think that it is important that the puzzle of life goes together. How can we make it easier for parents and get more young people to stay in shipping? The work is focused on identifying obstacles in current legislation to find solutions and propose changes at policy level.