Supply chain leverage and regulating health and safety management in shipping

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