Why criminal background checks are vital for yacht crew safety

There are very few professional sectors that inherently dictate that you will be living together, in close quarters with people you don’t know at all. Yachting, and seafaring in general, is one of them though. The same sector in which very flexible work contracts are used, allowing to hire and fire at very short notice. Consequently, the same sector in which recruiters are under pressure to find new hires within the shortest time possible. Especially if several crew agents are competing for the placement fee. In our industry we have to cater to people who tell us what they want when they want it, and that’s usually ‘Now!’. Recruiters are often forced to get people on board fast and they want to make the hiring process as smooth and swift as possible. 

“Not one crew agency, or management agency has reached out to me in support or favour of background checks”, this is what Jessie Frost told The Islander. 

Jessie is the initiator of the change.org petition to make criminal background checks a legal requirement to apply to seafarers internationally. 

This industry is wary of change. When the Maritime Labour Convention came around there was a sense of anxiety among recruiters and management companies. Perhaps because our industry is so small compared to the Merchant Marine industry and inevitably, rules and regulations will come down from that sector and end up to be impractical or impossible to apply to yachting. 

However, we are hiring people of different ages, both sexes, who work and live closely together, in very private environments and we also give them credit cards with big budgets and access to sensitive information of (ultra) high net worth individuals. Shouldn’t we know if they are hiding any criminal precedents? Shouldn’t we all desperately desire a practical and simple way to obtain that information. Or at the very least, shouldn’t we start demanding crew to present a clean record from their country of residence and country of citizenship? It won’t be a bulletproof solution but it’s a start. We should, at the very least, send a signal to ex-offenders that they can’t just waltz up to the passerelle and join the team.

It’s not just about protecting young women like Paige Bell, it’s about protecting all crew from going to sea with potentially malicious, violent and mentally disturbed people that could have been unveiled before ever stepping on board. 

Sign the petition

Go to change.org (put link:  https://www.change.org/p/make-criminal-background-checks-a-legal-requirement-to-apply-to-seafarers-internationally to sign the petition.

Consider the first steps you can take:

• As a recruiter: Place a note on your website that you require crew to present a clean record. Use it as a selling point for your agency. 
• As a manager or charter C.A.: Ask the crews already employed on your yachts to present a clean criminal record from their country of residence and/or citizenship.  
• As crew: Present your criminal record voluntarily to the yacht’s management so you can demand the same from your fellow crew members. 

The change starts with you.