Safety and Maritime Environment Protection with Special References to Human Factors II – Learning from Accidents

Abstract

The International Safety Management Code is delivered through a quality assurance (procedures) manual which is continuously improved through seeking feedback as well as through internal audits and regular reviews. 
In this first the focus is on the deficiencies observed by port state control officers and non-conformities noted by classification societies. The paper also considers the role the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers plays in making the crews and ships safe with special emphasis on crew related mistakes and company related errors and how these can be minimized. In the second paper, several accident investigation reports are reviewed not only to identify company-related Errors and crew-related mistakes but also specifically to identify management faults and manning issues. 
Some 60 accidents were selected from 200 accident report reviews since 2010, and many in more recent years. The accidents included a range of ship types covering collisions, grounding, capsizing, falling from heights, fire, poisoning from fumes in enclosed spaces and so forth. These accidents are broken down into several columns giving information including the accident number (1), vessel’s name (2), type of vessel (3), type of accident e.g., collision or fire (4), actual description (5), cause of the accident (6), casualty (7), actions taken/recommendations (8) and stating if the accident will recur (9). In almost all cases the ISM element/sub-element causing or contributing to the accident is identified (10).
The paper recommends more support for shipping companies to cope with rules and regulations and to learn from accidents and incidents. It advises that the companies could improve safety by regularly reviewing their quality assurance system in light of the learning that has taken place from accidents and incidents. This is specifically important when identifying the root causes of and/or the main contributing factors to the accidents including management faults and manning issues.
The paper identified three common main contributing factors to accidents viz., ineffective communications, inappropriate decision-making and ignorance of human vulnerabilities.