Interprofessional training in the maritime environment: A worker training program to decrease injury

There are over 817,000 shipments of hazardous materials into the U.S. every day, totaling over 2.1 billion tons entering this country annually. Approximately 24%, or 1.3 million tons, enters the U.S. through a waterway. The majority of serious incidents with hazardous cargos involve bulk shipments which are transported by vessels and into the U.S. ports. This puts maritime personnel at higher risk for injury or even death. In 2010, Nova Southeastern University's Institute for Disaster and Emergency Preparedness (IDEP) received a grant from the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences to train individuals in this area. SEAMIST (Southeast Area Maritime Industry Safety Training) aims to provide safety training to workers in the maritime industry, including law enforcement, maritime shipping and cruise industry workers, and port/dock workers who may encounter hazardous materials with the overarching goals of decreasing injuries, occupational illnesses, unsafe practices, and incidents of environmental harm for those working in maritime-specific environments. Unique to SEAMIST is the provision of training simultaneously to first responders and maritime workers; the interprofessional design of the training encourages the sharing of respective ideas, experiences, and perspectives through mutual participation in tabletop and group activities, including an enhanced awareness of each other's roles and responsibilities in such incidents. This project is of particular importance to the offshore oil industry. Since 2010, SEAMIST has trained 334 maritime-related workers. Outcomes are focused upon content-specific knowledge, recognition of hazardous materials safety issues in the workplace, and likelihood of workers addressing concerns to supervisors in the workplace.