Elijah Morales
MS Applied, Environmental Health Sciences
Hometown
Shoreline, WA
Internship with
Holland America
Editor’s note: This summer, DEOHS students have been getting hands-on experience as interns with health agencies, nonprofits and private companies. In our occasional “On the Job” series, we feature some of their stories.
To keep a cruise ship’s passengers and crew safe at sea and in port, a lot of things have to go right. This summer, Elijah Morales is helping strengthen that safety culture as an intern at the Holland America cruise line.
Morales, an MS Applied student in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS), was drawn to interning with the cruise line because of his commitment to ensuring safety in industry and his interest in connecting with people from all over the world.
So far, he’s been busy with both enterprises. In the company’s Seattle headquarters, he’s contributing to a chemical management program to help cruise employees understand best practices and personal protective equipment for working with chemicals from cleaning supplies to paint, wood filler, and lead acid batteries.
He’s translating the information into accessible language and images for the ship’s global workforce. Meanwhile, he’s getting to know both crew members during shipboard visits and office coworkers from the Czech Republic, Ireland, Italy, the United Kingdom and beyond.
“I come from a similar socioeconomic background as the workers, and it’s very easy to relate to them and see their impact,” he said. Among his coworkers, he said, “there’s a lot of people from different backgrounds and cultures. You learn about how they handle things in terms of safety and their way of approaching people.”
Refreshing safety culture
Employee culture at cruise lines was challenged by the COVID pandemic, when many long-term staff left the industry. Now Morales, along with his fellow interns, is helping envision a new approach for the company’s Employee of the Month program that champions safety.
“They want fresh eyes on how we can recognize employees throughout the company’s fleet of ships globally,” he said. “That’s kind of a daunting task, but it’s pretty fun.”
He’s also writing a proposal for a new safety training video for employees, and helping develop protocols to ensure the safety of lithium batteries when electric scooters or other mobility aids are used on ships.
“I want to make sure that these programs are not just another procedure in the book, but something that helps people work safe and have the motivation to go above and beyond what they are usually told,” he said.
Pursuing an MS Applied
While earning his bachelor’s at Central Washington University in safety and health management, Morales first became passionate about safety culture through an internship in the construction industry.
He’s expanded on that experience during his MS Applied in Environmental Health Sciences. He has appreciated learning about occupational exposures firsthand through DEOHS Teaching Professor Martin Cohen’s class Recognition of Health and Safety Problems in Industry (ENV H 564), which offers field trips to many different workplaces.
When he graduates next spring, he hopes to pursue a career in industrial hygiene, perhaps by continuing in the maritime industry or in construction, manufacturing or agriculture.
“The faculty is very supportive in everyone’s careers,” he said. “They're lifelong resources that you can always refer back to.”
