Optimization of captain’s safety management

Abstract

The article is devoted to the maritime safety issues in terms of captain’s management activity. Effective and safe management of captains can be achieved by identifying the importance of considering psychophysiological factors in the selection of seamen personnel, including captains, in conjunction with their managerial qualifications and high level of legal culture (knowledge and real willingness to strictly follow legal prescriptions and regulations), and by using a formal safety assessment method in relation to maritime crew management risks.
 The authors made a conclusion that the causes of accidents are rooted in the conflict between two main components: subjective (behavior – managerial decision) and objective (vessel and situation), in fact, the captain's personality (or behavior) complies with the requirements of the situation or technical condition of the vessel.
 Psychophysiological selection aims to identify abilities and qualities that appropriate professions, accompanied by significant neuropsychological strain, the severity of stressful situations, etc. It appeared that reaction disorder play a decisive role in one-third of all accidents, ergo, psychophysiological selection can reduce maritime casualties by 20-25%. In this respect, the application of the formal safety assessment method in combination with psychophysiological selection in the context of optimizing captain's safety management is proposed. The authors considered the professional selection of captains based on stable psychophysiological states and qualification while assessing the risks via formal safety assessment methodology as a dual basis of the maritime safety.
 The functional dependence of maritime safety on the policy of the shipping companies is defined: a) risk assessment, which allows to connect legal norms of safety directly with actions of the captain as much as possible, based on modelling of a situation; b) personnel activity, carried out on the basis of professional and managerial abilities of captains and taking into account the psychophysiological states; c) the level of legal culture (knowledge and strict adherence to safety rules and regulations) of the captain, who operates within the commercial, social and safety sectors, based on the complex of legal rules and regulations governing these sectors.