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Center for Maritime Safety and Health Studies

man tying a boat to the dock

Dock worker secures mooring line to pile. Image by C. Lagereek

Program Description

Since its founding in November 2015, the Center for Maritime Safety and Health Studies has been working to identify worker populations and workplace hazards in maritime industries. This virtual center brings industry, academia, labor, and safety organizations together with researchers from across NIOSH to form partnerships to improve the safety and health of maritime workers.

The Center for Maritime Safety and Health Studies builds on the success of the NIOSH Commercial Fishing Safety Research and Design Project which has established a national surveillance program for commercial fishing fatalities in order to identify high risk fisheries and regional hazards. The Project’s activities have also focused on the prevention of vessel disasters and falls overboard, which are the leading causes of fatalities among fishermen. Research from this project has influenced regional, national, and international fishing safety policies. The success of the Commercial Fishing Safety Research and Design Project serves as a foundation for the Center for Maritime Safety and Health Studies to expand to other maritime industries.

The Center for Maritime Safety and Health Studies has identified seven maritime industries with safety and health research priorities: commercial fishing, aquaculture, seafood processing, shipyards, marine transportation, marine terminals and port operations, and commercial diving. These industries and occupations have injury and fatality rates higher than others in the U.S. They also pose unique challenges for occupational safety and health outreach, as many of these industries are made up of small businesses with few or seasonal employees, or are in remote locations. Additionally in some of these settings, employees live and work aboard the vessel.

Average Annual US Maritime Employment and Fatal/Nonfatal Injury and Illness Rates, 2011–20141

NAICS or SOC2 US Employment3: US Fatality rate per 100,000 workers4: US Nonfatal injury/illness rate per 100,000 workers5:
Commercial Fishing SOC 45-3011 30,885 105.4 755
Aquaculture 1125 6,327 11.9 5,481
Seafood product preparation and packaging 3117 37,380 3.3 6,289
Ship and boat building 3366 160,020 4.9 5,855
Water transportation 483 67,476 18.6 2,334
Marine terminals and port operations 4883 97,990 17.2 5,311
Commercial Diving SOC 49-9092 3,615 172.9 1,936
1. Fatal and nonfatal injury and illness rates may be inflated due to undercounting of total workers in some industries. Workers in the maritime industries have been traditionally undercounted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics due to the remoteness of job location, part-time or temporary nature of the work, overlap with other industries/occupations, and other factors.
2. NAICS is the North American Industry Classification System and SOC is the Standard Occupational Classification.
3. Worker counts are based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics four year average of workers, 2011–2014. Commercial fishing counts are from the Current Population Survey, commercial diving counts are from Occupational Employment and Wages tables, and all others are from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages.
4. Fatality rates are based on four year averages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, 2011–2014.
5. Nonfatal injury and illness rates are based on four year averages of Bureau of Labor Statistics Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, 2011–2014.

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  • Page last reviewed: May 31, 2017
  • Page last updated: July 18, 2017
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