Issuing agency: Lloyd's Register
Column: research report
source: https://www.lr.org/en/knowledge/research-reports/2026/yacht-safety-culture-and-wellbeing-survey/
It is widely recognised that many safety incidents within maritime are influenced by behaviours and decisions made in the operational environment. Factors such as poorly designed equipment, inefficient operational practices, inadequate systems, and challenging working and living conditions can increase the likelihood of unsafe behaviours; however, these outcomes are not inevitable.
LR’s yacht survey reveals an average safety awareness across the industry, where there is a strong belief that rules should be followed, however 40% of crew feel rules aren't necessarily followed in practice.
Better engagement and incident reporting are critical to overcoming safety barriers, improving crew wellbeing, and strengthening leadership across the industry.
The results reflect a workforce of committed professionals who want a safer, more wellbeing focused yacht industry.
Values, leadership behaviours, and shared beliefs about safety, wellbeing, and professionalism play a critical role in shaping how work is carried out on board. These cultural influences directly affect how risks are identified, communicated, managed, and responded to across all levels of a yacht operation.
This growing understanding has reinforced the importance of assessing organisational safety culture within the yacht industry. LR launched an online survey across seagoing yachts and shoreside management companies to capture perceptions, lived experience and explore strength areas and identify opportunities for improvement.
Lloyd’s Register (LR) developed a yacht specific survey, based upon LR’s safety culture model, characterising culture within the following categories:Management Commitment, Leadership, Communication, Learning, Processes and Procedures, Engagement, Competence, Risk Management and Wellbeing.
A question set of yacht industry specific questions was used to explore topics of particular interest and importance from a yachting perspective.The findings contained in this report provide a baseline for future evaluations and discussions in the yacht industry exploring key trends and areas for targeted improvements. Further organisational safety culture assessments can support the monitoring of progress and the evaluation of the effectiveness of current or future interventions.