open access
The status of the doctor and variations in the percentage of unfit declarations in medical examinations of shipping and offshore employees in the Netherlands
Affiliations- Baarda Medical Service / Baarda Medische Keuringen, Ruisdaelstraat 7a, 4462 AC Goes, The Netherlands
- Netherlands Shipping Inspectorate, P.O. Box 16191, | 2500 BD The Hague, The Netherlands
open access
Abstract
Background: Both shipping medical examinations in 2012–2013 and 2015 and oil and gas offshore medical examinations in 2009–2011 in the Netherlands show a decline in the percentage of declarations of unfitness as the number of examinations performed annually by each physician increases.
Materials and methods: The data from the electronic databases for shipping employees 2012–2013 and 2015 and the data collected from doctors examining offshore workers from 2009 to 2011 (based on data from a voluntary questionnaire) were subject to a statistical analysis to be able to assess which variables affect the rate of unfitness declaration.
Results: Both shipping and offshore data show a decline in the percentage of declarations of unfitness as the number of examinations performed annually by each physician increases. The shipping examination data suggests that neither the type of physician (family physician, company’s physician or other physician) nor the number of years of experience correlates with any trend in the percentage of such declarations. However shipping physicians working as employees had half the percentage of declaration of unfitness when compared to the self-employed physicians. The self-employed physicians, who performed the largest number of examinations per year, had an almost three times lower percentage of declaration of unfitness than the self-employed physicians, who performed few examinations. The percentages of declarations of medical unfitness by physicians working as employees are constant whether they perform many or few examinations per year.
Abstract
Background: Both shipping medical examinations in 2012–2013 and 2015 and oil and gas offshore medical examinations in 2009–2011 in the Netherlands show a decline in the percentage of declarations of unfitness as the number of examinations performed annually by each physician increases.
Materials and methods: The data from the electronic databases for shipping employees 2012–2013 and 2015 and the data collected from doctors examining offshore workers from 2009 to 2011 (based on data from a voluntary questionnaire) were subject to a statistical analysis to be able to assess which variables affect the rate of unfitness declaration.
Results: Both shipping and offshore data show a decline in the percentage of declarations of unfitness as the number of examinations performed annually by each physician increases. The shipping examination data suggests that neither the type of physician (family physician, company’s physician or other physician) nor the number of years of experience correlates with any trend in the percentage of such declarations. However shipping physicians working as employees had half the percentage of declaration of unfitness when compared to the self-employed physicians. The self-employed physicians, who performed the largest number of examinations per year, had an almost three times lower percentage of declaration of unfitness than the self-employed physicians, who performed few examinations. The percentages of declarations of medical unfitness by physicians working as employees are constant whether they perform many or few examinations per year.
Keywords
fitness for work, unfit declaration, medical examination, shipping, offshore
Supp./Additional Files (1)
About this articleTitle
The status of the doctor and variations in the percentage of unfit declarations in medical examinations of shipping and offshore employees in the Netherlands
Journal
Issue
Article type
Original article
Pages
8-12
Published online
2018-03-28
Page views
1342
Article views/downloads
958
DOI
Pubmed
Bibliographic record
IMH 2018;69(1):8-12.
Keywords
fitness for work
unfit declaration
medical examination
shipping
offshore
Authors
Casper Baarda
Tom Mutsaerts
References (8)- Roberts SE, Marlow PB. Traumatic work related mortality among seafarers employed in British merchant shipping, 1976-2002. Occup Environ Med. 2005; 62(3): 172–180.
- Jensen OC, Sørensen JFL, Canals ML, et al. Non-fatal occupational injuries related to slips, trips and falls in seafaring. Am J Ind Med. 2005; 47(2): 161–171.
- Zevallos J, Hulshof CT, Mutsaerts T, et al. Outcomes of seafarer work fitness qualifications in the Netherlands. Occup Med (Lond). 2014; 64(4): 267–270.
- Tuinman CP. Number of offshore medicals performed p.a. and percentages of failures. Yearly conference Nogepa examination physisians. The Netherlands 14-06-2012.
- Rustom I, Carter T. Do approved doctors and medical referees in the UK agree when assessing a seafarer's fitness? Int Marit Health. 2012; 63(2): 71–77.
- nternational Labour Organization and International Maritime Organisation 2013. Guidelines on the medical examinations of seafarers. Geneva 2013. http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_dialogue/---sector/documents/normativeinstrument/wcms_174794.pdf.
- Industry Guideline nr 15 – Guidance for Offshore Medical Examinations Version 2. https://www.onsaardgas.nl/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Guideline-15-EN-Offshore-Medical-Examination-02-2013.pdf (13-02-2013).
- Barth J, de Boer WEL, Busse JW, et al. Inter-rater agreement in evaluation of disability: systematic review of reproducibility studies. BMJ. 2017; 356: j14.
