SOCP Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Prevention

Best Practices Guide (BPG) on prevention of sexual assault, sexual harassment, retaliation, bystander intervention, bullying, hazing, coercion, stalking, and other prohibited behaviors in the U.S. Merchant Marine. This BPG is designed to identify and share the best practices used by maritime companies of all sizes to implement prevention-and-response policies for such prohibited behaviors in the workplace. SOCP developed the BPG under a cooperative agreement with the Maritime Administration (MARAD) to address issues affecting the shipboard climate in the U.S. maritime industry. 

The BPG contains five separate sections for reference and guidance for the Employee and the Company. The Employee section is designed to provide U.S. merchant mariners and shore-based personnel with meeting their responsibility to be respectful and actively participate in a work environment free of sexual assault, sexual harassment and other prohibited behaviors. The Company section provides six best practices which should be part of every company’s policy on such behaviors in the workplace, whether onshore or at sea. Existing best practices, policies and procedures are emphasized within each section, with examples in the Annexes.