The COVID-19 pandemic and the measures implemented to curb its transmission have altered workplaces and challenged occupational health and safety in unprecedented ways, with high levels of mental distress reported across several industries. In the maritime industry, occupational health and safety risks, including psychosocial risks, were a concern already before the COVID-19 pandemic. However, knowledge about the prevalence of mental health problems and the factors associated with them is still limited. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the effects of respondent and work-related characteristics on seafarers’ self-reported symptoms of depression and anxiety. Data came from two cross-sectional convenience samples of seafarers on international commercial vessels, surveyed before (N_pre-pandemic = 793) and during the pandemic (N_pandemic = 504). Matching the two samples on respondent and work-related characteristics using propensity scores, we found that the pandemic contributed to significantly higher levels of depression and anxiety. Further analyses showed that seafarers with longer work periods, those who had been on board longer than expected, and those working on vessels registered with “Flags of Convenience” reported significantly higher levels of both depression and anxiety during the pandemic, but not prior to the pandemic. Taken together, these findings suggest that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic led to a deterioration of working conditions and increased mental health risks for seafarers. Practical implications for safe-guarding occupational health and safety during this and future crises are discussed.

Workers in safety critical and 24-hour operating environments face sustained exposure to many stressful situations, ranging from long periods of monotony and boredom, to sudden periods of intense time pressure. This study examines how the combination of overload and underload contributes to fatigue and wellbeing in 943 seafarers. Using latent moderated structural equation modelling, we found that underload showed a stronger association with chronic fatigue and impaired wellbeing, compared to overload. An interaction between overload and underload was also significantly related to psychological wellbeing, with increasing levels of overload weakening the negative relationship between underload and psychological wellbeing. Our research highlights that underload, despite previously not receiving much attention, is an important area of concern. Our findings also underscore the importance of unpacking the joint effects of concurrent job demands, and to consider how certain job demands may help to reduce the negative effects caused by other demands. Where current and future jobs may be subject to a reduction in demands (e.g. automation), it is important to consider how underload may impact worker fatigue and wellbeing.

Purpose: This paper aims to take stock and to increase understanding of the opportunities and threats for policing in ten European countries in the Political, Economic, Social, Technological and Legal (PESTL) environment.Design/methodology/approach: This study is part of the large EU‐funded COMPOSITE project into organisational change. A PESTL analysis was executed to produce the environmental scan that will serve as a platform for further research into change management within the police. The findings are based on structured interviews with police officers of 17 different police forces and knowledgeable externals in ten European countries. The sampling strategy was optimized for representativeness under the binding capacity constraints defined by the COMPOSITE research budget.Findings: European police forces face a long list of environmental changes that can be grouped in the five PESTL clusters with a common denominator. There is also quite some overlap as to both the importance and nature of the key PESTL trends across the ten countries, suggesting convergence in Europe.Originality/value: A study of this magnitude has not been seen before in Europe, which brings new insights to the target population of police forces across Europe. Moreover, policing is an interesting field to study from the perspective of organisational change, featuring a high incidence of change in combination with a wide variety of change challenges, such as those related to identity and leadership.

Purpose. The Safety Behavior Scale (SBS), developed by Neal, Griffin, and Hart is one of the most widely used conceptualizations in the field of occupational safety. Previous studies have evaluated the psychometric properties of this scale in different populations. However, few validation studies have been conducted in the Latin American context. To fill these gaps in the literature, this study aimed to assess the validity, reliability, and measurement invariance of this instrument in the context of the Latin American mining industry. Materials and methods. Data were collected from 398 workers from Ecuadorian mining companies. The questionnaire was translated into Spanish following a back-translation process. The latent factorial structure of SBS was explored by estimating a series of CFA and ESEM models. Results. The analyses showed that the two correlated first-order factor CFA representations were the most appropriate models for the data. Measurement invariance by age, type of contract, and firm size was also confirmed. Conclusions. The SBS is a valid and reliable measure of safety behavior. In addition, this study determined the applicability of this instrument in the Latin American context, which enhances opportunities for future research in the region.