The Coast Guard has 11 statutory missions, including regulatory oversight of the commercial maritime industry. Traditional challenges include credentialing process efficiency, inspections and documentation communication, and handling of unique maritime scenarios. One issue that the maritime industry is currently facing, along with many industries, is sexual harassment and sexual assault. These workplace problems receive minimal oversight from the Coast Guard at the moment, and present a fantastic opportunity for the Coast Guard to engage today to build stronger partnerships for a safer, more effective marine transportation system tomorrow.
Mariners are used to reporting traditional violations and marine casualties to the Coast Guard. The are reports of pollution, or vessel allisions and collisions. Currently, mariners receive no guidance on how or to whom to report sexual harassment or sexual assault. In addition, the Coast Guard has a lot of room to improve transparency for reception, management, and follow up on reports of improper behavior by credentialed mariners. Currently, there is no standard procedure to report mariners for various types of misconduct among crew members, which include: intimidation, harassment, and outright bullying.
The Coast Guard can be more effective tomorrow by addressing the elephant in the room head on. The Coast Guard prevention community has the opportunity to be the vanguard in fighting sexual assault and sexual harassment in the commercial maritime industry. The Coast Guard Office of Investigations and Casualty Analysis (CG-INV) should add standard verbiage to the CG-2692 form, Navigation and Vessel Inspection Circular (NVIC) 01-15, and the Marine Safety Manual (MSM), to clarify that sexual assault and sexual harassment is reportable to the Coast Guard under the requirements of 46 CFR 5.101 and 46 CFR 5.27. There also should be an internal process to receive reports of problem mariners, investigate the complaints without bias, and follow through with actions against the mariner’s credential, as necessary. This system must include a way of identifying mariners with repeated actionable complaints so that they cannot repeat their offenses elsewhere in the fleet.
One argument against this type of reporting is that the Coast Guard does not get involved in labor disputes. Another challenge is that there might not be enough resources to handle these types of reports. Reports of harassment and assault are not simply labor disputes since these negative interactions among mariners quite literally compromise the safety of people and vessels. Many maritime employers are large enough to have human resources (HR) departments, but not all HR departments are impartial or created equal. What if the perpetrator in question is the master of the vessel? Or the chief engineer? What if it is the pilot? What if the target of the assault or harassment is in one of these leadership positions? How can mariners report these instances with comfort knowing that they will be addressed?
In many circumstances, captains and other offenders who were reported for misconduct through internal processes simply have been moved to another vessel, while the victim may be kept on the same ship, given a less desirable schedule, or removed from the vessel. These actions not only punish the victim but sends the message to the offender that their behavior is allowable. Furthermore, these mariners, even if they are dismissed from the company, still have valid credentials. They can and will go to another vessel, likely to repeat the process. They are rarely held accountable for their unprofessional behavior. What are crew members to do when they work on a small commercial fishing vessel; or any other vessel that is independently owned and operated?
New third mates and third assistant engineers, or junior “unlicensed” crew members should always feel comfortable calling the captain, chief engineer, chief mate, first engineer, or Bosun when there are questions or concerns surrounding a task. If the new/junior crew members were harassed by a senior leader, or the senior person dismissed the concerns with another crew member, that environment can hardly be called safe. The ability to stand a proper watch, receive guidance and information, and respond to emergencies are significantly impaired when harassment or assault is tolerated. In general, the physical and psychological safety of mariners is the primary driver for trust on board a vessel. When this trust amongst shipmates is broken, it puts the overall safety of the vessel at risk.
Working as a harbor pilot, I had exhausted all means of reporting harassment within my organization. As a trainee in their program, I had no other means to report inappropriate behavior by credentialed and licensed mariners. The behaviors I was exposed to included, but were not limited to: sexual harassment, emotional abuse, psychological abuse, and discrimination. These events occurred on several different vessels while underway in constricted waters, where complete concentration while navigating is essential. The actions of my coworkers created an unsafe and hostile workplace by any standard. Because these events occurred in U.S. waters while maneuvering vessels and these actions were carried out by Coast Guard–credentialed and licensed mariners, there should have been an available resource to report their conduct through the Coast Guard.
Unfortunately, I am not the only one to have faced this treatment. Several ship’s captains, and their crews were, verbally assaulted and demeaned by some of those in the organization, thus creating a dangerous bridge-team dynamic. These mariners created an unsafe condition for every occurrence, thus, putting each vessel at risk for a potential marine casualty.
According to NVIC 01-15: “The term ‘marine casualty or accident’ applies to events caused by or involving a vessel are, ‘Failures or occurrences, regardless of cause, which impair any aspect of a vessel’s operation, components, or cargo,’ or, ‘Any other circumstance that might affect or impair a vessel’s seaworthiness, efficiency, or fitness for service or route.'” Harassment and/or assault of mariners clearly impacts the vessel’s operation and fitness for service or route. Negative leadership climate and crew interactions have been cited as causal factors in Marine Boards of Investigation, as recently as the El Faro accident.
Our contention is that the maritime industry can and should be reporting sexual assault and sexual harassment as a hazardous condition and/or potential marine casualty via the CG-2692 form. The Coast Guard should take action today and investigate these reports to be a more effective regulatory partner tomorrow. The Coast Guard conducts all personnel investigations under the multiple law enforcement authorities granted to the agency. Mariners who have jeopardized the safety of any vessel because of their own misconduct should receive appropriate penalties or administrative action against their credential, to ensure the safety of the marine transportation system. The Coast Guard is proud to facilitate $4.6 billion in trade and 23 million jobs as part of our marine transportation system, but it is hard to say that the waterways are truly safe and secure when mariners and crew members are being harassed while performing their duties.
There is a clear goal of preventing sexual assault and sexual harassment within the Coast Guard. A quick internet search brings users to a page with numerous resources for Coast Guard members, employees, and dependents, including reporting numbers and response tools. None of this information is helpful to a mariner on a vessel under Coast Guard jurisdiction. The Coast Guard has a clear role in preventing and responding to sexual assault and sexual harassment out at sea. Response and enforcement actions as a result of reports will improve Coast Guard interactions with mariners, build trust with mariners and the maritime industry; fulfilling the Coast Guard missions. Ancillary benefits will likely include increased retention of diverse mariners, and stronger partnerships with maritime stakeholders.
The Coast Guard should absolutely do this today—publish a Marine Safety Information Bulletin (MSIB) from CG-INV outlining the course of action to take if someone has been affected by unprofessional behavior by a mariner. There is space to add a few more sentences to the casualty reporting website maintained by CG-INV to give more detail for reporting misconduct by mariners. Further opportunities for the Coast Guard to spread the message can be publishing fleet alerts, lessons learned, articles in Proceedings magazine, and other channels of communication. This simple change today can make a tremendous difference tomorrow. It is time to create a safer maritime industry, a more effective industry and an overall better work environment for our mariners and ourselves.
