Dynamics Simulation of the Risk Coupling Effect between Maritime Pilotage Human Factors under the HFACS Framework

Xinxin Zhang,Lijun Tang,Shenping Hu,Weijiong Chen,Yongtao Xi

doi:10.3390/jmse8020144

Abstract

Maritime pilotage is an important guarantee for the safety of water traffic in port. The pilot is affected by the complex port environment, the differences of crew and equipment of different ships, the physical and psychological pressure of the pilot himself, as well as the management factors from the pilot station and maritime safety administration. In order to avoid pilotage accidents (PAs), it is necessary to study the coupling effect of human-organizational factors (HOFs) on PAs. In this paper, from the perspective of HOF risk coupling in pilotage, the problem of HOF risk coupling in maritime pilotage is studied by using the hierarchical classification idea of the human factors analysis and classification system (HFACS) and the method of system dynamics (SD). First of all, HFACS is used to analyse the HOF risk causal elements (RCEs) in pilotage, and 70 RCEs are summed up in four layers; secondly, the SD coupling model of RCEs is constructed; finally, based on a dataset of PAs collected by the Shanghai Harbour Pilot Association, the coupling simulation of RCEs in pilotage is carried out, and the volatility is evaluated. In general, the safety situation of maritime pilotage has been improving in the Shanghai port. However, four RCEs (negligence, habit, pilotage experience, and violations) in unsafe acts and two RCEs (teamwork and personal safety awareness) in precondition for unsafe acts contribute the most to maritime PAs and need to be paid attention to.

Highlights

Maritime pilotage, which plays a very active role in port maritime safety, refers to the operations where pilots board a ship, guide the ship safely into and from the port, berth or unberth, drop or heave up anchors, as well as passing ship locks and other restricted waters in certain water areas for the purpose of ensuring the safety of the ships, ports, and facilities
This paper aims to make a contribution to maritime safety research by studying human factors from the perspective of a systematic human-organizational factors (HOFs)
This paper proposes a method of system dynamics (SD) for studying the HOFs system and the coupling effect between factors

Summary

Introduction

Maritime pilotage, which plays a very active role in port maritime safety, refers to the operations where pilots board a ship, guide the ship safely into and from the port, berth or unberth, drop or heave up anchors, as well as passing ship locks and other restricted waters in certain water areas for the purpose of ensuring the safety of the ships, ports, and facilities. Due to the improper judgment, operation, and decision-making of pilots, and the uncertainty and complexity of the environment, it is unlikely to eliminate maritime pilotage accidents (PAs) completely and PAs will continue to occur. Proposed by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to conduct a risk assessment on the safety pilotage in the Shanghai port [1]. On the basis of applied research, Fang et al analysed the importance degree of the “human–machine–environment” cause of the pilotage risk system [2]. Xi et al pointed out that the main cause of PAs was human error [3]

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