Subscribe to our Mailing Lists (It's free!)
Wednesday, July 9, 2025
SAFETY4SEA
  • Home
  • Safety
    • All
    • Accidents
    • Alerts
    • Loss Prevention
    • Maritime Health
    • Regulation
    • Safety
    • Seafarers
    • Security
    Lessons learned

    Lessons learned: Ensure there are compatible adapters onboard

    Panama IMO

    Panama reaffirms commitment to protection of seafarers’ rights

    IMB piracy

    IMB: 50% increase in piracy incidents in first six months of 2025

    Norway

    Norwegian Maritime Authority: 589 incidents in first half of 2025

  • SEAFiT
    • All
    • Intellectual
    • Mental
    • Physical
    • Social
    • Spiritual
    friendship

    Exploring the human need for friendship: A lifeline at sea and on shore

    neck pain

    Neck pain: A growing health concern for maritime workers

    Book Review: Building leaders the MMMA way

    Book Review: Feel grounded and think positive in 10 simple steps

    time

    Stay SEAFiT: Time is non-renewable – invest it wisely

  • Green
    • All
    • Arctic
    • Ballast
    • Emissions
    • Fuels
    • Green Shipping
    • Pollution
    • Ship Recycling
    • Technology
    Trafigura, ZeroNorth join forces to advance decarbonization solutions

    Trafigura, ZeroNorth join forces to advance decarbonization solutions

    COSCO

    COSCO boxship receives first bunkering of domestic green methanol

    AMSA fine

    NorthStandard: Tips to avoid pollution fines in Turkey

    IACS

    IACS reports progress on decarbonisation & digital transformation

  • Smart
    • All
    • Connectivity
    • Cyber Security
    • E-navigation
    • Energy Efficiency
    • Maritime Software
    • Smart
    Trafigura, ZeroNorth join forces to advance decarbonization solutions

    Trafigura, ZeroNorth join forces to advance decarbonization solutions

    floating data centres

    New partnership to develop floating data center on retrofitted vessel

    connectivity

    Innovating ocean safety: Intellian’s unified vision for connectivity and GMDSS

    autonomous navigation

    New deal aims to advance autonomous navigation technology

  • Risk
    • All
    • CIC
    • Detentions
    • Fines
    • PSC Focus
    • Vetting
    AMSA fine

    NorthStandard: Tips to avoid pollution fines in Turkey

    OCIMF

    OCIMF Annual Report 2025: SIRE 2.0 a welcome change for the industry

    USCG

    ABS PSC Report Q1 2025: 526 total vessels detained

    paris mou lists

    Paris MoU 2024 Performance lists

  • Others
    • All
    • Diversity in shipping
    • Maritime Knowledge
    • Offshore
    • Ports
    • Shipping
    • Sustainability
    • Videos
    newbuildings xclusiv shipbrokers

    Xclusiv Shipbrokers: Newbuilding momentum slows sharply in 2025

    Watch: Avoid the risk of electrocution for shipboard welding

    Watch: Avoid the risk of electrocution for shipboard welding

    charcoal

    BIMCO: Renewable electricity sources lower coal shipments

    carriers

    Sea-Intelligence: Global schedule reliability reaches 18-month high

  • Columns
    GSR Services: The Hong Kong Convention sets the rules for total ship lifecycle responsibility

    NorthStandard: Data sharing to drive technology and improve crew wellbeing

    GSR Services: The Hong Kong Convention sets the rules for total ship lifecycle responsibility

    GSR Services: The Hong Kong Convention sets the rules for total ship lifecycle responsibility

    AMPI: Seafarers face critical risks in pilot transfer rigging

    AMPI: Seafarers face critical risks in pilot transfer rigging

    Trending Tags

    • Anchor Your Health
    • Book Review
    • Career Paths
    • Human Performance
    • Industry Voices
    • Interviews
    • Maripedia
    • Maritime History
    • Regulatory Update
    • Resilience
    • Seafarers Stories
    • SeaSense
    • Training & Development
    • Wellness Corner
    • Wellness Tips
  • Events
  • Plus
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Safety
    • All
    • Accidents
    • Alerts
    • Loss Prevention
    • Maritime Health
    • Regulation
    • Safety
    • Seafarers
    • Security
    Lessons learned

    Lessons learned: Ensure there are compatible adapters onboard

    Panama IMO

    Panama reaffirms commitment to protection of seafarers’ rights

    IMB piracy

    IMB: 50% increase in piracy incidents in first six months of 2025

    Norway

    Norwegian Maritime Authority: 589 incidents in first half of 2025

  • SEAFiT
    • All
    • Intellectual
    • Mental
    • Physical
    • Social
    • Spiritual
    friendship

    Exploring the human need for friendship: A lifeline at sea and on shore

    neck pain

    Neck pain: A growing health concern for maritime workers

    Book Review: Building leaders the MMMA way

    Book Review: Feel grounded and think positive in 10 simple steps

    time

    Stay SEAFiT: Time is non-renewable – invest it wisely

  • Green
    • All
    • Arctic
    • Ballast
    • Emissions
    • Fuels
    • Green Shipping
    • Pollution
    • Ship Recycling
    • Technology
    Trafigura, ZeroNorth join forces to advance decarbonization solutions

    Trafigura, ZeroNorth join forces to advance decarbonization solutions

    COSCO

    COSCO boxship receives first bunkering of domestic green methanol

    AMSA fine

    NorthStandard: Tips to avoid pollution fines in Turkey

    IACS

    IACS reports progress on decarbonisation & digital transformation

  • Smart
    • All
    • Connectivity
    • Cyber Security
    • E-navigation
    • Energy Efficiency
    • Maritime Software
    • Smart
    Trafigura, ZeroNorth join forces to advance decarbonization solutions

    Trafigura, ZeroNorth join forces to advance decarbonization solutions

    floating data centres

    New partnership to develop floating data center on retrofitted vessel

    connectivity

    Innovating ocean safety: Intellian’s unified vision for connectivity and GMDSS

    autonomous navigation

    New deal aims to advance autonomous navigation technology

  • Risk
    • All
    • CIC
    • Detentions
    • Fines
    • PSC Focus
    • Vetting
    AMSA fine

    NorthStandard: Tips to avoid pollution fines in Turkey

    OCIMF

    OCIMF Annual Report 2025: SIRE 2.0 a welcome change for the industry

    USCG

    ABS PSC Report Q1 2025: 526 total vessels detained

    paris mou lists

    Paris MoU 2024 Performance lists

  • Others
    • All
    • Diversity in shipping
    • Maritime Knowledge
    • Offshore
    • Ports
    • Shipping
    • Sustainability
    • Videos
    newbuildings xclusiv shipbrokers

    Xclusiv Shipbrokers: Newbuilding momentum slows sharply in 2025

    Watch: Avoid the risk of electrocution for shipboard welding

    Watch: Avoid the risk of electrocution for shipboard welding

    charcoal

    BIMCO: Renewable electricity sources lower coal shipments

    carriers

    Sea-Intelligence: Global schedule reliability reaches 18-month high

  • Columns
    GSR Services: The Hong Kong Convention sets the rules for total ship lifecycle responsibility

    NorthStandard: Data sharing to drive technology and improve crew wellbeing

    GSR Services: The Hong Kong Convention sets the rules for total ship lifecycle responsibility

    GSR Services: The Hong Kong Convention sets the rules for total ship lifecycle responsibility

    AMPI: Seafarers face critical risks in pilot transfer rigging

    AMPI: Seafarers face critical risks in pilot transfer rigging

    Trending Tags

    • Anchor Your Health
    • Book Review
    • Career Paths
    • Human Performance
    • Industry Voices
    • Interviews
    • Maripedia
    • Maritime History
    • Regulatory Update
    • Resilience
    • Seafarers Stories
    • SeaSense
    • Training & Development
    • Wellness Corner
    • Wellness Tips
  • Events
  • Plus
No Result
View All Result
SAFETY4SEA

Focus on psychological safety can enhance industry’s performance

by Hans Hederstrom
May 13, 2021
in Opinions, Safety
Focus on psychological safety can enhance industry’s performance
FacebookTwitterEmailLinkedin

In an exclusive interview to SAFETY4SEA, Capt. Hans Hederström, Chalmers University of Technology, Professor of the Practice, Dept. of Mechanics and Maritime Sciences, highlights that the maritime industry needs to quit perception that human is the creator of problems and focus instead on ways to empower human skills.

In addition, industry needs to develop leadership skills continuously to create trust and psychological safety within the team onboard; this subsequently will enhance safety performance, Capt. Hederström concludes.

SAFETY4SEA: How may the young generation think of the shipping industry? How should we work to raise industry’s profile to the next talents?

RelatedNews

Lessons learned: Ensure there are compatible adapters onboard

Watch: Avoid the risk of electrocution for shipboard welding

Capt. Hans Hederström: They might think of the shipping industry as a life without internet connection, away from friends and family. There are rumours about old fashioned leadership and in some cases problems of victimisation, harassment, and bullying. To attract the next generation of seafarers, information about the opportunities in the maritime industry must be presented on media platforms used by the young generation.

The following can be done to raise the profile of the maritime industry:

  • Arrange for top quality internet connection.
  • Leaders must stop complaining about poorly educated junior officers and engineers, they are eager to learn and want a coach and a mentor not an autocratic boss.
  • The industry must put an end to victimization, harassment, and bullying. Many young seafarers, both male and female, end their career after only one contract because they have been exposed to this harsh culture.
  • Research on victimization, harassment, and bullying has shown to have an impact on the individual’s safety-related behaviour, which therefore can be seen as a serious threat to both the individual and the organisation where safety is high priority.
  • Research also indicates that 50% of victimization, harassment, and bullying stems from the leader, which says something about the understanding of leadership.
  • Leaders at all levels must react and set limits to what is acceptable behaviour and what is not, instead of sweeping victimization, harassment, and bullying under the carpet.

S4S: How could we facilitate recruitment of new talents and at the same time retain the existing crew?

Capt.H.H.: To facilitate recruitment of new students and retention of existing officers and engineers every shipping company should have their own visual career path showing the steps from cadet to Captain and Chief Engineer. Each company should also have a specific competency framework and promotion criteria for seafarers to see and understand what is expected of them, for each step in their career.

S4S: What is your wish list for the operators with regards to human factor? What needs to be considered to discussions around human factor?

Capt. H.H.: The human is often seen as the creator of problems; however, we need to change our mindset and realise that the positive contribution to safety by the human is by far much bigger than the opposite. The industry is still too much focused on developing technical skills, we need to understand that human skills are as important.

Wish list:

  • Improve communication skills, we all need to communicate adult to adult, irrespective of rank or position.
  • Certain words carry stigma, we should change the following: Accident to Learning Event, Accident Investigation to Learning Review and Audits to Continuous Improvement Opportunities. (S. Brown, Luton Airport, 2019)
  • Always expect that people will have variations in their performance which could lead to negative consequences.
  • Make sure the system will be resilient enough to bounce back from disturbances due to variations in human or technical performance.
  • Create passage plans where critical elements are expressed in a range of values instead of single numbers making it easy for the operator to control and observe. (Mental Models in Confined Waters, Seaways Magazine June 2018)
  • Create a process to identify gaps in the operation, “work as imagine vs work as done.” This is a team effort and requires that psychological safety is established within the team otherwise people will be reluctant to disclose any gaps.

S4S: In your view, has the industry been successful in implementing safety culture?

Capt. H.H.: Yes, there are a few segments of the industry who have been successful in implementing a safety culture. I have been working with some cruise companies who have made significant improvements over the last two decades, by introducing a role-based bridge organisation focusing on coordinated teamwork and leadership based on trust and psychological safety.

Clive Floyd in his book Next Generation Safety Leadership stated that:

In the more mature safety climates, it is not golden rules, policies, procedures, safety signs or slogans that increase in frequency or significance – it is trust, visible felt leadership, psychological safety and authentic information sharing that make the difference.

Those leaders are very keen on continuous professional development (CPD) and have regular coaching and mentoring sessions with their team members. There are Captains who schedule regular nautical meetings with the purpose of CPD where the chairmanship is rotated between the officers. The agenda is consisting of some fixed items such as:

  • Reviewing recent operational events both successful events and learning events and the reason for this outcome.
  • Case study: One officer should have prepared for a presentation of a case study. The team should together analyse the case study and investigate what defences they have in place to avoid a similar incident on their ship.
  • Short training session presented by one of the officers regarding items from the abnormal & emergency checklist.
  • Suggestions for improvements.
  • The Captain should avoid dominating those meetings and allow the officer conducting the meeting to learn the skills of how to chair a meeting. The Captain should only be listening in and ask relevant questions and always speak his/her opinion last.

”The highest-performing teams have one thing in common: psychological safety — the belief that you won’t be punished when you make a mistake. Studies show that psychological safety allows for moderate risk-taking, speaking your mind, creativity, and sticking your neck out without fear of having it cut off — just the types of behavior that lead to market breakthroughs.”

….Says Laura Delizonna in Harvard Business Review, Aug. 24, 2017.

S4S: If you could change one thing that would have an either profound or immediate impact on the safety performance across the industry, what this one thing would it be and why?

Capt. H.H.: In my view the most important thing that would have a profound impact on safety performance would be an ongoing leadership training program, including, or even starting with the leaders ashore. We need to move away from the one-off leadership training programs because change is difficult and must come step by step in order not to be rejected, as our human brain is very conservative and will reject big cultural changes in one go.

Leaders must realise that more regulation, compliance, and control will not make the industry safer. To improve safety performance leaders must develop their leadership skills to create trust and psychological safety within their team.

The importance of psychological safety has over the last 20 years been brought up by Amy Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School. In her book “The Fearless Organisation” (2019) she defined psychological safety as; “a climate in which people are comfortable expressing and being themselves. More practically, when people have psychological safety at work, they feel comfortable sharing concerns and mistakes without fear of embarrassment or retribution.”

In all industries with critical operations there are numerous examples of incidents and accidents where team members were afraid of speaking up due to fear of embarrassment or being punished.

 

 

The views presented hereabove are only those of the author and do not necessarily those of  SAFETY4SEA and are for information sharing and discussion  purposes only.

 
Focus on psychological safety can enhance industry’s performanceFocus on psychological safety can enhance industry’s performance
Focus on psychological safety can enhance industry’s performanceFocus on psychological safety can enhance industry’s performance
Tags: best practiceshuman factorInterviewsleadershiplife onboardpsychological safetysafety cultureseafarer safetysmsoft skillsyoung generation
Previous Post

How tensions between Israel and Palestine affect shipping

Next Post

Application of Bunkers Convention in Australia: What you need to know

Hans Hederstrom

Hans Hederstrom

Captain Hans Hederström has been installed as a Professor of the Practice at the Dep. of Mechanics and Maritime Sciences, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden on Sept. 05, 2019. In December 2018 Captain Hans Hederström retired after ten years as the Managing Director of the Center for Simulator Maritime Training, CSMART. He was the principal architect in establishing CSMART by writing the simulator specification and getting a team of professional instructors together. CSMART started the Bridge simulators for operation in July 2009. In 2012 the centre added a world class engine simulation facility. Captain Hederström holds a Master Mariners (class 1) licence, a Marine Engineers Certificate from the Marine College in Gothenburg, Sweden and has sailed in all ranks up to Master.

Related News

Panama IMO
Seafarers

Panama reaffirms commitment to protection of seafarers’ rights

July 9, 2025
biofouling
Pollution

SQE MARINE: Keep your Biofouling Management Plan up to date

July 8, 2025
friendship
Social

Exploring the human need for friendship: A lifeline at sea and on shore

July 8, 2025
GSR Services: The Hong Kong Convention sets the rules for total ship lifecycle responsibility
Opinions

NorthStandard: Data sharing to drive technology and improve crew wellbeing

July 8, 2025
GSR Services: The Hong Kong Convention sets the rules for total ship lifecycle responsibility
Opinions

GSR Services: The Hong Kong Convention sets the rules for total ship lifecycle responsibility

July 7, 2025
Lithium-Ion batteries
Loss Prevention

ABS develops EV battery fire simulation modeling to tackle risks

July 7, 2025

Comments 1

  1. Burkhard Mueller says:
    4 years ago

    I fully support the statement of Prof. Hederstroem that change in the leadership approach in the industry must start at the top of the companies. All efforts to instigate change of the safety culture in the various middle management levels, focussing on a sustainable change away from blame culture towards a just culture, incorporating psychological safety of human beings in operational roles are waste of efforts and time if this change is not embraced from the top management level and the top managers of a company.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Explore more

No Result
View All Result
MARITIME EVENTS

Explore

  • Safety
  • SEAFiT
  • Green
  • Smart
  • Risk
  • Others
  • SAFETY4SEA Events
  • SAFETY4SEA Plus Subscription

Useful Links

  • About
  • Disclaimer
  • Editorial Policies
  • Advertising
  • Content Marketing
  • Contact

© 2025 SAFETY4SEA

No Result
View All Result
  • Safety
    • Accidents
    • Alerts
    • Loss Prevention
    • Maritime Health
    • Regulation
    • Safety
    • Seafarers
    • Security
  • SEAFiT
    • Intellectual
    • Mental
    • Physical
    • Social
    • Spiritual
  • Green
    • Arctic
    • Ballast
    • Emissions
    • Fuels
    • Green Shipping
    • Pollution
    • Ship Recycling
    • Technology
  • Smart
    • Connectivity
    • Cyber Security
    • E-navigation
    • Energy Efficiency
    • Maritime Software
    • Smart
  • Risk
    • CIC
    • Detentions
    • Fines
    • PSC Case Studies
    • PSC Focus
    • Vetting
  • Others
    • Diversity in shipping
    • Maritime Knowledge
    • Offshore
    • Ports
    • Shipping
    • Sustainability
    • Videos
  • Columns
    • Anchor Your Health
    • Book Review
    • Career Paths
    • Human Performance
    • Industry Voices
    • Interviews
    • Maripedia
    • Maritime History
    • Opinions
    • Regulatory Update
    • Resilience
    • Seafarers Stories
    • SeaSense
    • Tip of the day
    • Training & Development
    • Wellness Corner
    • Wellness Tips
  • SAFETY4SEA Events
  • SAFETY4SEA Plus Subscription

© 2025 SAFETY4SEA

Manage your privacy
We use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. We do this to improve browsing experience and to show (non-) personalized ads. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
Manage options
{title} {title} {title}
No Result
View All Result
  • Safety
    • Accidents
    • Alerts
    • Loss Prevention
    • Maritime Health
    • Regulation
    • Safety
    • Seafarers
    • Security
  • SEAFiT
    • Intellectual
    • Mental
    • Physical
    • Social
    • Spiritual
  • Green
    • Arctic
    • Ballast
    • Emissions
    • Fuels
    • Green Shipping
    • Pollution
    • Ship Recycling
    • Technology
  • Smart
    • Connectivity
    • Cyber Security
    • E-navigation
    • Energy Efficiency
    • Maritime Software
    • Smart
  • Risk
    • CIC
    • Detentions
    • Fines
    • PSC Case Studies
    • PSC Focus
    • Vetting
  • Others
    • Diversity in shipping
    • Maritime Knowledge
    • Offshore
    • Ports
    • Shipping
    • Sustainability
    • Videos
  • Columns
    • Anchor Your Health
    • Book Review
    • Career Paths
    • Human Performance
    • Industry Voices
    • Interviews
    • Maripedia
    • Maritime History
    • Opinions
    • Regulatory Update
    • Resilience
    • Seafarers Stories
    • SeaSense
    • Tip of the day
    • Training & Development
    • Wellness Corner
    • Wellness Tips
  • SAFETY4SEA Events
  • SAFETY4SEA Plus Subscription

© 2025 SAFETY4SEA