Mark Bull FNI, Maritime Consultant, Trafalgar Navigation Limited has shared his forecast for shipping safety in 2017 urging industry stakeholders to take the Human Element into account more seriously, therefore, a strict Code of Conduct is needed.
SAFETY4SEA: Do you think there was a significant success and/or progress made with respect to maritime safety during 2016? Focusing on your area of expertise, what were the most important industry developments within 2016?
Mark Bull: Personally speaking, I feel it was a “stagnant year” and nothing stands out in my mind. Perhaps the high point was the publication of the Nautical Institute’s “Navigational Assessments” at the end of November. I think there are now stirrings of interest in such activities beyond OCIMF and it was good to see 2 Flag States at the launch meeting. I think we may see such assessments linked to P&I membership.
S4S: Focusing on your area of expertise, what do you think that it will be the biggest safety challenge(s) for the maritime safety for the 2017?
M.B.: With Galileo approaching full operational condition, I believe we will soon see dual or more GNSS receivers allowing a constant comparison and hence a highly accurate continuous position reference system. This could be supplemented by a shore based radar tracking system in port approaches to allow an instrument based system similar to ILS on aircraft. The challenge will be to achieve acceptance – all the talk of Cyber attacks is not helping – does anyone remember Y2K?
S4S: What would be the 2017 resolutions for your company/ organization? What are your goals and aspirations to enhance shipping safety? Do you have any new projects on the pipeline and/or plans for 2017 that you would like to share?
M.B.: To offer a worldwide network of qualified navigational assessors and have them where the ship-owner or manager needs them. Actually this is already underway. My other projects are very confidential at this stage.
S4S: What is your overall forecast for shipping safety in 2017 and what would you like to share and/or wish and/or ask other industry stakeholders?
M.B.: For safety management, I think the time has come to take stock. Existing systems are beyond their “sell by date”. Many are not producing the desired results, and they certainly do not take the Human Element into account. I regret to say that many inspectors adopt a bullying approach and there is an urgent need for a strict Code of Conduct.
The views presented hereabove are only those of the author and not necessarily those of SAFETY4SEA and are for information sharing and discussion purposes only.
