OneCare Group will bring together crewing, safety, insurance and wellbeing specialists for a World Maritime Day webinar examining how shipping can turn policies into meaningful outcomes for seafarers

The 60-minute online panel session: From Policy to Practice: Putting People at the Centre of Maritime Excellence, will take place on Wednesday 23 September at 11:00am Cyprus time. Aligned with the IMO’s 2026–2027 World Maritime Day theme, “From Policy to Practice: Powering Maritime Excellence,” the discussion will focus on the human side of implementation and the gap that can emerge between corporate policies and procedures and the realities experienced by seafarers at sea.

The webinar will recognise the substantial progress already made across the maritime industry. Many shipping companies have invested significantly in areas such as mental health, wellbeing, crew welfare, safety culture and reporting mechanisms, while awareness of the importance of seafarer welfare has increased markedly in recent years. The focus of the discussion is therefore not on suggesting that existing efforts have failed, but on examining how the industry can build on that progress and ensure that policies, procedures and support systems consistently deliver the intended outcomes onboard.

Rather than approaching regulation and compliance in isolation, panellists will examine areas where effective implementation depends heavily on leadership, organisational culture, communication and trust. Topics are expected to include fatigue and hours of rest, bullying and harassment, psychological safety, mental health and wellbeing, and safety culture. The discussion will consider whether shipping companies are measuring the existence of policies or their effectiveness, and how operators can gain a clearer understanding of what seafarers actually experience onboard.

Fatigue will form one of the key areas of discussion. Despite established hours-of-rest requirements, the panel will explore why fatigue remains an operational concern and what companies should monitor beyond compliance records to understand the true level of fatigue risk onboard. The webinar will also examine psychological safety and the barriers that may prevent seafarers from raising concerns even where formal reporting procedures exist. Panellists will discuss the role of Masters, senior officers and shore-based management in creating environments in which crew feel able to speak openly and seek support.

The webinar will be moderated by Gisa Paredes, Managing Director, WellAtSea, part of OneCare Group, and panellists include:

•    Olga Pavlova, Global Crewing Operations Manager, NSB GROUP
•    Gueven Kale, Manager of Clinical Training & Special Programmes, OneCare Group
•    Captain Siva Shanmugam, Senior Manager, Inspections, Asia Operations, RightShip
•    Stuart Edmonston, Director of Loss Prevention, Steamship Mutual P&I Club
•    Pablo Torres, Head of Crew Departments, C Transport Maritime S.A.M.

Marinos Kokkinis,CEO at One Care Group, comments:

“Shipping has made considerable progress in developing policies around safety, welfare and wellbeing, and many companies have put considerable effort into strengthening the support available to seafarers. At the same time, there is still more to do. The next challenge is to monitor what happens once those policies reach the vessel. A procedure can demonstrate compliance on paper, but its value ultimately depends on whether seafarers experience the intended benefit in their working lives. Putting people at the centre of maritime excellence means listening to the experience onboard and using that feedback to improve the way policies are implemented.”

A central theme to be discussed will be how shipping companies can measure whether policies are producing meaningful outcomes rather than simply demonstrating procedural compliance, including the potential role of seafarer feedback, audits, assessments and culture surveys. The discussion will conclude by considering what maritime organisations need to do differently to close the gap between policy and practice, how seafarers can be more closely involved in policy development and review, and the role of leadership, trust and accountability in achieving lasting change onboard.