Background
Seafaring, fishery, working in off-shore and harbours are all very specific working environments with many challenges related to health and well-being. However, these challenges or health-related risks and other outcomes are not well documented, neither in Danish nor in other populations.
Objectives
The main objective for establishing the database BLUE, from the perspective of the industry and the employees, is to improve the health and well-being of seamen, fishermen and other target populations. The overarching aims, from a scientific perspective, is to 1) describe and quantify health-related and other work-related indicators among Danish seamen, fishermen, harbour and off-shore workers, and to 2) identify factors that are related to these indicators using Danish registries. Numerous subprojects based on BLUE will be created.
Methods
The data for BLUE is obtained from the Danish Maritime Authority, the Statistics Denmark and the Danish Cancer Registry covering all seafarers, fishermen, working population in harbours and off-shore with a Danish identity number. In addition, data on the general population is used for comparison. The data from the Danish Maritime Authority includes all seafarers with a Danish identity number, dates for signing on and signing off, and job position onboard. Other target populations are identified in databases from the Statistics Denmark. These data on target and general populations are linked with sociodemographic and work-related variables and many kinds of health-related information. BLUE covers varying periods depending on the used register and variables. BLUE will also be enriched with further datasets.
Timeline
Numerous subprojects will be based on BLUE and it will be updated regularly. The minimum project period is therefore 10 years.
Economy
BLUE is mainly financed internally, but external financing will be used for subprojects.
The researcher responsible for BLUE
Senior researcher Kimmo Herttua