Tag: human factor

The 2019 SAFETY4SEA Athens Forum successfully concluded on Wednesday 2nd of October, in Eugenides Foundation, Athens, attracting 650 delegates from 260 organizations. Discussions varied among key safety challenges affecting the industry, as well as the hot issue of sustainable shipping.

Several discussions see automation completely transforming the industry in the next 30 years, while others seem less convinced of a major reform. Our special 'Smart Watch' column is asking global experts to provide feedback on the following question: What will the ship of 2050 look like?

During the 2019 Hellenic American Maritime Forum in Athens, Mrs. Panagiota Chrysanthi, DDPA/EMR, Andriaki Shipping Co. Ltd, provided her opinion on safety challenges in the shipping industry, and the crucial role that human factor plays. As noted, from 2012-2016, 75% accidents were due to human error. She also added that the industry has not done enough to prevent human errors.

Resilience is a term that is widely known during the last years and refers to the ability of an organization to anticipate, prepare for, respond and adapt to incremental change and sudden disruptions in order to survive and prosper. Namely, the term reaches beyond risk management towards a more holistic view of business health and success. 

Industry insiders are for many years now, pinpointing the urgent need for seafarers to be trained as human beings and the importance of considering the underlying factors behind accidents too and it seems that in that way, we have been better thinkers. How, therefore, has the so-called human factor been considered as a symptom and not as a cause with the passage of time?

The Philippines Supreme Court has reopened the case against an official of Sulpicio Lines over the 2008 sinking of its ferry Princess of the Stars. The Supreme Court reversed a Court of Appeals dismissal against Edgar Go, Sulpicio Lines' first vice president and team leader of its crisis management committee.

In April 2021, a fire onboard the Italian passenger ferry ‘Moby Prince’, Italy’s worst merchant marine disaster since the end of World War II, broke out. The incident, resulting in death of all but one person onboard, highlighted how miscommunication in emergency situations can be disastrous. 

During the 2019 SAFETY4SEA Cyprus Conference, Capt. VS Parani, HSSEQ Manager, Oceanic Marine Management Limited, discussed how heuristics can be used for better decisions onboard ships, stressing that seafarers make several high-stakes decisions every day- not all end well, given that there are on average 100 total ship losses and 1000 fatalities every year, mostly attributed to human error.

DP World will start its first hyperloop project in India. During 2018, DP World collaborated with Virgin Hyperloop One to create a cargo transporter. Now, the first project destination will take place in India. However, it is not yet known when the project will start. Hyperloop is a futuristic mode of passenger and freight transportation in which a pod-like vehicle is propelled through a near-vacuum steel tube.

While talking at the first SAFET4SEA Conference in Singapore, Mr. David Foo, Director (Port Systems), MPA Singapore, revealed that human element remains a major concern for safety and he provided an update on the ongoing efforts to address the human element, as well as share new initiatives and ideas on how MPA seeks to address the issue.