Page 18: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (December 2024)

The Human Factor

Leveraging Human Factors for

Safer Maritime Operations

By Fred Finger, SVP & Head of Operations, ARC

A safety management system, while vital, can only take a misses, which means crucial learning opportunities are lost. company so far. The real change has to be cultural throughout In the airline industry, introducing a no-blame culture revolu- an organization. Many maritime companies can operate ef- tionized how crews handled mistakes, enabling them to open- fectively under the International Safety Management Code, ly discuss incidents without fear of punitive action.

which governs safety and pollution prevention for ships. At ARC, we’ve made a conscious effort to cultivate a similar

Frameworks like these enable carriers to act compliant with no-blame culture. It’s not about pointing ? ngers but about un- basic safety standards, but there is a signi? cant human ele- derstanding why something went wrong and how we can ? x it. ment not quite covered by such standards. In 2012, Allianz Early in our adoption of human factors, ARC of? cers pointed looked at around a century of maritime incidents, estimating to this as a critical component of reducing risk in the ? eet. By that 75% to 96% of marine accidents involved some human framing non-conformities—instances where procedures or ac- error. That’s where the adoption of “human factors” comes tions don’t meet safety standards—not as failures but as opportu- into play. Airlines have relied on analysis of human factors for nities for learning, we’ve seen our teams become more engaged decades, understanding that even the most advanced systems and proactive in reporting issues. This cultural shift has allowed and rigorous processes can fall short if the human element us to address minor problems before they become big ones.

is neglected. The emphasis on analyzing behaviors, decision- making, and communication patterns has yielded remarkable 2. Accepting and Disclosing Mistakes safety improvements in aviation. We recognized that this avia- A no-blame culture naturally leads to more openness, but it tion example could be adopted at American Roll-On Roll-Off must be paired with an environment where mistakes are ac-

Carrier (ARC), as well as by other maritime companies. cepted, disclosed, and analyzed. The most effective way to

At ARC, we continue to see how considering human factors improve is to be upfront about where things have gone wrong. can be just as critical to keeping our crews safe and delivering Early in our implementation of human factors, ARC held a for our customers. From our lessons learned over ? ve years of series of workshops where our of? cers were encouraged to implementing human factors analysis, we have focused our speak candidly about mistakes they had made or witnessed. analysis on three core principles that any carrier can follow. This “tone of accountability,” as we call it, was a powerful step. We saw of? cers from across the ? eet open up at ARC’s 1. Creating a No-Blame Culture key of? cer conferences about situations where better deci-

One of the most signi? cant barriers to safety improvement sions could have been made. The point was not to dwell on in any industry is the fear of blame. When individuals fear the error but to learn from it and improve. repercussions, they’re far less likely to report mistakes or near This kind of honesty can be challenging to achieve, espe-

Images courtesy ARC 18 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • December 2024

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