Maritime communication systems are among the most important infrastructure of global maritime safety and security. They consist of very high frequency (VHF) radio, the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS), contemporary satellite nets, Automatic Identification System (AIS) networks, and the emerging VHF Data Exchange System (VDES). These systems are essential for distress signaling, navigational coordination, and vessel traffic management. As maritime operations are experiencing accelerated digitalisation, the safety and security dimensions of maritime communication systems have attracted substantial and growing scientific attention. This study presents a comprehensive literature review and bibliometric analysis of the safety and security of maritime communication systems. Guided by the PRISMA 2020 guidelines and Systematic Literature Review (SLR) methodology, a structured search was conducted across three major scientific databases: Scopus, Web of Science (WoS), and IEEE Xplore. Starting from a raw pool of 6648 records retrieved between 2000 and 2026, the dataset was reduced through successive filtering to a final body of 68 high-relevance publications. Bibliometric analysis reveals a significant upward publication trend from 2015 onwards, with a marked acceleration after 2019. Thematic analysis identifies seven principal research clusters: GMDSS modernisation, AIS safety and security, VDES and VHF next-generation systems, maritime cybersecurity, satellite communications, risk assessment frameworks, and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence and autonomous vessel communications. The review identifies significant research gaps, including the absence of integrated cross-system risk frameworks, insufficient attention to human factors in cybersecurity, limited studies addressing emerging regulatory, legal governance components and a brief analysis of the maritime communications market. This study provides a structured foundation for future research and policy development in maritime communication security.

Personal protective equipment, workspaces and safety systems are engineered around assumptions about the bodies and behaviour of their users. In the maritime workforce those assumptions have historically been male: women make up fewer than two per cent of the world’s 1.9 million seafarers, and the shipboard environment they work in, including its protective equipment, machinery, accommodation and emergency systems, was overwhelmingly designed for a male population. This paper treats the resulting disadvantages as an applied human-factors and occupational-safety problem, asking how a male-default design baseline translates into measurable safety, health and equipment gaps, and how engineering methods can close them. Following the PRISMA 2020 guideline, we searched Scopus, Web of Science and PubMed, screened 516 records, and synthesised 50 sources. Five engineering-relevant clusters emerged: (i) protective equipment sized to male anthropometry; (ii) workspace and accommodation design that embeds gendered reach, force and privacy penalties; (iii) a high and persistent burden of harassment, bullying and sexual misconduct, with reported prevalence exceeding 50 per cent among women; (iv) under-addressed occupational and reproductive-health exposures; and (v) weak, non-anonymous reporting and redress systems. Across clusters the evidence is dominated by qualitative and survey research with heterogeneous, non-standardised definitions and almost no engineering-grade quantification of risk. We argue that several of these gaps are tractable design problems, namely anthropometry-driven protective-equipment specification, inclusive ergonomic standards in equipment and safety-system design, and tamper-evident digital reporting tools, and we set out a structured, engineering-oriented research agenda. Framed as an applied human-factors and safety-engineering question rather than solely a policy concern, accommodating the full user population emerges as a precondition for a safe, inclusive and resilient workforce.