The construction of a remote health management system for ships

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K19798
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Society medicine, Nursing, and related fields
• Research Institution: Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology
• Principal Investigator: Fukuda Naoko 東京海洋大学, 学術研究院, 教授 (40313382)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 庄司 るり 東京海洋大学, 学術研究院, 教授 (50272729)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-06-30 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 健康管理 / 船員 / 船舶 / 外航 / 遠隔 / モニタリング / 通信 / 衛星通信

Outline of Final Research Achievements

As the Japanese seafarers are aging, the prevention of lifestyle diseases has become an important issue, but it is difficult to improve their lifestyle with the many restrictions of life on board.In this study, we have developed a remote health management system for monitoring the health of seafarers on board an ocean-going vessel by satellite communication and tested it on an ocean-going vessel for 1.5 to 2 months.The system has been improved by allowing crew members to complete operations on the ship's onboard server without connecting to the onshore server, simplifying operations and enhancing the ability to create personal reports that summarize the health information during the voyage.The monitoring of seafarers' health information on board ocean-going vessels is achieved, and it is suggested that this system could be used to monitor seafarers' health status and provide health guidance.

Free Research Field

社会医学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

海上貨物量が日本の貿易量の99％以上を占める海運は重要な物流である。そして海運は船員の健康があって支えられている。従来船員は危険業務であり災害発生率は高いがそれに加えて近年は船員の高齢化が進み安全衛生上のリスクが高まっている。また船舶運航の機械化、自動化も進み、低コストが求められる現状もあって船員人数も少なくなり余裕もなくなっている。一方で質の高い日本人船員の持続的育成も望まれており、若者が安心して船員を志向できる労働環境を作ることも課題である。職住一体の船上生活においても陸上と同様な健康管理を実現することは船員の職場環境を改善し安全な海運業を維持することに寄与するものと思われる。