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26 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News ? NOVEMBER 2013 shipping these are the superintendents ashore and the captains and chief engi-neers on the ships. Once the Board of Directors are committed to the process and the front line employees begin to recognise what is being attempted, then the main challenge is to convince these critical middle management employees of the need for this process and the need for them to change. They need to change from the ?I speak, you listen? command and control style of management, to the ?How can I help you and how can I sup-port you?? method. They also need to be comfortable and empowered to ask their boss for help and support. This does not occur spontaneously! This is where the STCW 2010 mandated Human Element Leadership & Management (HELM) training becomes essential.How do the attitudes and behaviors of individuals relate to safety and cul-ture change? This question encompasses why culture change is a 5 to 10 year ?voyage?. The ?battleground? is to change the collective attitudes, beliefs and values of the employees, since it is they that drive behaviours. It takes time for employees to understand that the company is serious about the process and that this initiative will not just be a passing ?ß avour of the month?. Once this occurs, usually after about a year or so, the 80 / 20 rule kicks in and 80% of the committed employees drag most of the other 20% along. In many cases the few remaining disenfranchised will leave. It is usual to expect that when people who are inß uencers in the company (and may often be early cynics) embrace the nec-essary changes of behaviour, they carry many others with him.?Aside from attitudes, what are the most important factors of the human element that most companies need to address? The Þ rst is standards of com-petence and the training needed to en-sure those competencies. This includes especially (but not exclusively) human factor, leadership & management skills. SAFETY & TRAINING ?What?s wrong and how can we  x it?? Employees are rarely asked that question and when they are, their brilliant and often simple ideas end up on some poor hap- less, overstretched manager?s desk, who is forced to put it in the ?too dif cult? tray. MR #11 (26-33).indd 26MR #11 (26-33).indd 2611/11/2013 11:41:58 AM11/11/2013 11:41:58 AM