Page 10: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (September 2018)

Con? dential

About the Author

Dennis L. Bryant is with Bryant’s Mari-

Near-Miss

GOVERNMENT UPDATE time Consulting, and a regular contribu- tor to Maritime Reporter & Engineering

News as well as online at MaritimePro- fessional.com. t: 1 352 692 5493

Reporting e: [email protected]

As in most if not all industries, the was transferred in 1976 to the National there are no disciplinary or legal conse- relatively uniform, Congress adopted maritime sector experiences many more Aeronautics and Space Administration quences. A properly constructed con? - the Con? dential Information Protection near-misses than actual casualties. And (NASA) for collection of information, dential, voluntary, non-punitive report- and Statistical Ef? ciency Act of 2002 yet, information regarding near-misses deletion of identifying information, and ing system can be used by any person to (CIPSEA), located at 44 U.S.C. §3501 is seldom shared outside the particular publication. safely share information. Con? dential note. Congress found that protecting the company or vessel/facility involved. Experience with the ASRS has clearly reporting systems have the means to an- con? dentiality interests of individuals

This is a needless waste of valuable shown that, as expected, when organiza- swer the question ‘why’ – why a system or organizations who provide informa- learning opportunities. tions want to learn more about the oc- failed, why a human erred. Incident and tion under a pledge of con? dentiality for

The Federal Aviation Administration currence of events, the best approach is event data are complementary to the data federal statistical programs serves both (FAA) established the ? rst formal con? - simply to ask those involved. People are gathered by other monitoring systems. the interests of the public and the needs dential near-miss reporting system in the generally willing to share their knowl- In an effort to increase the utilization of society. In addition, ensuring that federal government in 1975. The Avia- edge of events if they are assured that and dissemination of such con? dential information provided under a pledge of tion Safety Reporting System (ASRS) their identities will be protected and information while making the process con? dentiality for statistical purposes re-

Demark, Sweden, and Finland have national near-miss reporting systems for their marine industry. The Nautical Institute has oper- ated the Mariners’ Alerting and Reporting Scheme (MARS) since 1992.

© MrSegui/Adobe Stock 10 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • SEPTEMBER 2018

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