The International Union of Marine Insurance has launched a Crew Wellbeing Checklist intended for Hull & Machinery insurers, a measure aimed at bringing the human element into formal marine risk appraisals. Sources indicated the launch on 25 September 2026.
IUMI’s new checklist is described as a tool to complement existing underwriting and risk assessment processes by directing attention to factors that affect crew welfare. The initiative reflects a shift in insurer practice towards acknowledging that wellbeing aboard ship can influence commercial and safety outcomes.
Purpose of the checklist
According to the report, the checklist is designed specifically for Hull & Machinery insurers and to be used alongside their standard surveys and inspections. Its stated purpose is not to replace technical assessments but to ensure that human-centred factors are considered when evaluating risk.
The move follows a growing body of research, cited by reports, showing that crew wellbeing is not solely a welfare concern but also a business risk factor. IUMI’s intervention therefore frames wellbeing as a matter with potential implications for underwriting, loss prevention and claims exposure.
Risk assessment and the human element
By integrating wellbeing into the risk conversation, the checklist aims to make human factors visible to decision-makers who classically focus on steel, machinery and cargo. The checklist is intended to prompt insurers to look beyond equipment and documentation and to assess how staffing, fatigue, morale or living conditions might bear on operational safety.
The association between human factors and marine risk has been increasingly acknowledged across the sector, and IUMI’s checklist is presented as a practical response to that convergence. For insurers, the checklist offers a means of standardising how crew-related issues are captured during surveys and assessments.
The guidance is offered as a complement to, rather than a substitute for, technical inspection regimes. That distinction was emphasised in the report, which positions the checklist as an additional layer of scrutiny to sit alongside existing Hull & Machinery practice.
Wider implications for underwriting and loss prevention
Framing crew wellbeing as a business risk may encourage underwriters and risk managers to incorporate new lines of enquiry into policy terms, premiums and loss-control programmes. The report suggests the checklist could inform choices about survey frequency, targeted loss-prevention measures and collaboration with shipowners on human-centred improvement plans.
For ship operators, the checklist may be a prompt to review crewing, seafarer support and on-board living conditions with a view to reducing exposures that can translate into damage, delay or liability. While the checklist is aimed at insurers, its practical value will depend on how readily the industry adopts the proposed measures and integrates them into routine practice.
Limitations and next steps
The report does not set out the checklist’s detailed contents nor does it describe mechanisms for enforcement or compliance. How insurers choose to act on the checklist’s findings, or to what extent owners will be asked to evidence improvements, remains a matter for the market to determine.
Adoption will also turn on how insurers, shipowners and managers interpret the relationship between welfare indicators and quantifiable risk. The real test of the initiative will be whether it leads to measurable changes in underwriting decisions, survey practice or loss outcomes over time.
reports’s coverage highlights IUMI’s framing of wellbeing as intrinsic to marine risk assessment. The association’s checklist is the latest development in a gradual reorientation towards human-centred considerations in the assessment of Hull & Machinery exposures.