Page 10: of Marine News Magazine (September 2025)

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Training Tips for Ships

Learning from Mistakes © CartoonResource/AdobeStock

Fail Forward:

Using Mistakes as Training Gold

By Heather Combs, CEO, Ripple Operations repetition can escalate from minor mishap to major inci-

In the maritime world, mistakes can feel like anchors, heavy, embarrassing, and dents in a heartbeat.

The shift begins with culture. If the prevailing atmo- best left out of sight. The instinct to hide them is strong, especially in environments where reputation, pride, and sphere is one of punishment and blame, crew members will naturally protect themselves by concealing errors. hierarchy run deep. Yet mistakes, when handled cor- rectly, are not liabilities. They are gold mines of insight, This shields individuals but puts the vessel at greater capable of transforming both safety and performance risk. A safer, more effective approach is to foster an envi- ronment where mistakes are openly reported, examined across an entire vessel.

The truth is, no matter how experienced the crew or without personal attacks, and converted into actionable how rigorous the procedures are, errors will happen. A training opportunities.

This does not mean lowering standards or treating er- line will be secured incorrectly. A checklist will be skipped under time pressure. A miscommunication will cause a rors casually. It means recognizing that the same human delay. The danger lies not in the mistake itself, but in tendency to err is also the one that fuels innovation and letting it slip quietly into the shadows. When mistakes improvement. In aviation, for example, debriefs after ev- go unexamined, they repeat, and in maritime operations, ery ? ight, successful or not, are routine. Every misstep be- 10 | MN September 2025