Crew wellbeing is a critical component of safe operations at sea regardless of the sector. According to new LR research, there may be opportunities for safer operations and improved crew wellbeing from the ways in which owners operate their yachts.
Engel-Jan de Boer, LR's Global Yacht Segment Director said, "As this sector continues to reflect on recent incidents, the importance of strengthening Safety Culture has never been clearer. Safety goes beyond regulatory compliance—it is driven by behaviours, mindsets, leadership, training, and overall wellbeing."
Yachts are often privately owned and therefore run more like domestic enterprises or exclusive resorts. For crew, this can blur the lines between operational responsibilities and personal obligations such as conducting errands or requests onboard. This blurring makes it critical to maintain high professional standards and to prioritise safety critical duties.
LR’s Yacht Safety Culture and Wellbeing Survey gathered opinions from crew and shore-based professionals working on yachts of more than 24m in length.
The survey shows that while basic safety risk awareness is in place, safety management varies across the yacht industry. Even where safety-critical rules, checklists, and safety meetings exist, they are not always applied consistently in practice, often due to financial, guest-driven and operational pressures, including crewing levels and workloads.
For example, 40% of respondents believe rules and procedures are not consistently followed, suggesting a gap between formal safety systems in place and day-to-day behaviour.
Of all aspects of life onboard, engagement elicited the lowest positive results, indicating that crew may not always feel empowered to participate in safety improvements or raise concerns.
A baseline for safety culture and wellbeing at sea
LR and the International Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN) recently announced a new Joint Development Project designed to address evolving safety and wellbeing challenges faced by yacht crews, and how welfare influences safety-related behaviours onboard.
This new survey reflects the opinions of those working at sea, with 76% sea-based, based in private, commercial and hybrid operations, largely assembled from experienced industry professionals.
According to these respondents, the fundamentals are in place, and many areas score well for the yacht sector.
For example, more than three quarters (76.6%) were positive about process and procedures, communication (75.3%) and leadership (71.7%). These scores are a good basis for further improvement.
Opportunities for improvement
Other areas show moderate positivity from respondents. Two-thirds (67.7%) of respondents were positive about learning from experience (e.g., incident investigation findings and safety improvements), with a similar score (68.6% positive) for the commitment of management towards safety.
A central conclusion from this research shows that wellbeing and safety are interconnected. While wellbeing received a 68.9% positive response rate, confidence in support varies across the yacht industry.
Engagement scored the lowest at 62% making this as a key area to strengthen. Improving engagement will help to build trust, encourage reporting and enhance safety performance. Engagement scores were lower on yachts under 500 GT and among more experienced crew, making this a larger priority for improvement in those contexts.
According to Stephanie McLay, LR Advisory’s Human Factors lead, “The link between wellbeing, engagement, and safety is clear. Wellbeing is a powerful way to elevate safety performance. When people feel seen and supported they engage more and safety naturally improves.”
“Leadership really matters here, taking time to connect with people, build trust, and understand and address challenges makes a real difference. The industry needs better support structures for leaders, with targeted training, and the tools necessary to lead in a way that promotes safety behaviours and positive wellbeing onboard,” she says.
Experience and size of organisation matter
The survey shows that perceptions of safety and wellbeing vary depending on the size of yacht, operational model and experience of crew.
Crew working on yachts of more than 500GT reported more positive perceptions of access to safety information, risk management systems and the availability of personal protective equipment. This reflects more formal organisational structures and resources typically available on larger vessels.
By contrast, those on smaller yachts were more likely to report challenges relating to reporting culture, training consistency and workload pressures. Fatigue and overtime are recurring concerns.
The data also suggests that safety culture perceptions change relative to experience.
Crew with fewer than five years of industry experience tended to express more positive views on safety. Conversely, those with more than ten years’ service reported lower confidence in reporting systems, greater concern about fatigue and more scepticism about whether lessons from incidents lead to meaningful change.
These trends point to long-term pressures that could influence both safety performance and crew retention.
Feedback
Qualitative feedback shows factors such as mental health support, adequate rest, and open communication with leadership play significant roles in shaping how crew perceive risk and behave in safety-critical situations.
The research shows a polarisation of safety attitudes depending on the amount of support onboard.
One the one hand, crew with supported welfare needs were more willing to speak up, had stronger engagement with safety systems, and increased trust in leadership decisions.
On the other hand, when fatigue, stress or poor support structures become normalised, reporting behaviour declined and operational risks increased.
This reinforces a broader maritime principle, that procedures and compliance influence the safety culture but so does the psychological and social environment onboard.
Building a proactive safety culture
Yachts have effective procedures and systems for safe operations. The challenge is in translating those frameworks into consistent working behaviours.
Leadership that sets clear expectations and prioritises safety, improved psychological safety and environments where crew feel comfortable raising concerns will all play a role. Without addressing these cultural elements, the industry risks increased latent safety risks, declining operational effectiveness and the erosion of crew wellbeing over time.
The survey also uncovered a regular exit point from the industry at 6 – 10 years of experience. Understanding why crew leave at this stage is important to prevent loss of expertise and support retention.
LR’s expertise in safety frameworks, combined with ISWAN’s deep understanding of seafarer welfare, gives the industry practical insights into how wellbeing and safety interact in real operational environments. This collaborative partnership will help the yacht industry to reduce risk, strengthen culture, and support sustainable crewing strategies.
LR’s Safety Culture Assessments help organisations evaluate their safety culture maturity, highlighting strengths and areas for improvement, to drive behavioural change.
Using questionnaires and observations, each assessment evaluates eight key characteristics across five cultural lenses to provide a fast, benchmarked view of organisational perceptions.
The results of this survey were discussed with key stakeholders during the recent LR Yacht Safety Forum held in Monaco, on the 5th of March 2026.
