Social security for seafarers globallyBackground: Social security protection is one of the essential elements of decent work. The issue is complex and no previous epidemiological studies of the coverage among seafarers have yet been performed. Objectives: The aim was to overcome the gap of knowledge to promote the discussion and planning of the implementation of social security for all seafarers. Methods: The seafarers completed a short questionnaire concerning their knowledge about their social security status. Results: Significant disparities of coverage of social security were pointed out among the nationalities. Especially it is worth mentioning that more than half of the respondents believe they are uncovered economically for disability from an injury on board and from a work related disease. Conclusions:The results confirm the ILO statements that a significant part of the seafarers comes from poorer countries without substantial social security systems. The solutions suggested are to implement the minimum requirements as recommended by the ILO 2006 Convention, to survey the implementation and in the long term to struggle for global social equality.Key words: Social security, insurance, seafaring, injury, health, occupational, epidemiology

The social security protection is one of the essential elements of decent work. The issue is complexand no previous epidemiological studies of the coverage among the seafarers have yet been performed. The aim was to overcome the gap of knowledge to promote the further discussion and plan the implementationof the social security for all the seafarers. The seafarers completed a short questionnaire concerning their knowledge abouttheir social security status. The significant disparities in the social security coverage were pointed out among the nationalities.Especially it is worth mentioning that more than half of the respondents believe they are economicallyuncovered for disability from an injury on board and from a work-related disease. The results confirm the ILO (Convention No. 143) statements that the significant part of theseafarers comes from the poorer countries without the substantial social security systems. The solutionssuggested are to implement the minimum requirements as recommended by the ILO 2006 Convention, tosurvey the implementation and - in the long term - to struggle for a global social equality.