Abstract
Over the past decade the number of maritime transportation accidents has fallen. However, as shipping vessels continue to increase in size, one single incident, such as the oil spills from ‘super’ tankers, can have catastrophic and long-term consequences for marine ecosystems, the environment and local economies. Maritime transport accidents are complex and caused by a combination of events or processes that might ultimately result in the loss of human and marine life, and irreversible ecological, environmental and economic damage. Many studies point to direct or indirect human error as a major cause of maritime accidents, which raises many unanswered questions about the best way to prevent catastrophic human error in maritime contexts. This paper takes a first step towards addressing some of these questions by improving our understanding of upstream maritime accidents from an organisation science perspective—an area of research that is currently underdeveloped. This will provide new and relevant insights by both clarifying how ships can be described in terms of organisations and by considering them in a whole ecosystem and industry. A bibliometric review of extant literature of the causes of maritime accidents related to human error was conducted, and the findings revealed three main root causes of human and organisational error, namely, human resources and management, socio-technical Information Systems and Information Technologies, and individual/cognition-related errors. As a result of the bibliometric review, this paper identifies the gaps and limitations in the literature and proposes a research agenda to enhance our current understanding of the role of human error in maritime accidents. This research agenda proposes new organisational theory perspectives—including considering ships as organisations; types of organisations (highly reliable organisations or self-organised); complex systems and socio-technical systems theories for digitalised ships; the role of power; and developing dynamic safety capabilities for learning ships. By adopting different theoretical perspectives and adapting research methods from social and human sciences, scholars can advance human error in maritime transportation, which can ultimately contribute to addressing human errors and improving maritime transport safety for the wider benefit of the environment and societies ecologies and economies.
Highlights
The global shipping industry is responsible for transporting as much as 90% of world trade (SSR 2021)
Normal accident theory (NAT) presents a much more pessimistic prediction – that ‘serious accidents with complex high technology systems are inevitable’ (Sagan 1993:13). This empirical observation presents new research questions, such as, is the Normal Accident Theory (NAT) still relevant today? Should we extend High-Reliability Organisations (HRO) theory to propose new concepts that would better describe ships as they function in real conditions? Could another way to manage resources and trade-off decisions concerning investments on ships avoid accidents? Has the maritime industry learnt from the aviation industry (International Air Transport Association congress of 1975) that it is machines that have to be adapted to human-beings and not the reverse (Clostermann 2017:20)?
This paper suggests that research from the disciplines of human and social sciences, organisation studies, can provide new and relevant insights by clarifying how ships can be described in terms of organisations and by considering them in a whole ecosystem and industry
Summary
The global shipping industry is responsible for transporting as much as 90% of world trade (SSR 2021). While the frequency of maritime accidents may be in decline, one single incident can have catastrophic and long-term consequences for marine ecosystems, the environment and local economies (Roberts et al 2002) This is exacerbated further by the fact that maritime transportation vessels are increasing in size and the amounts of cargo on-board with them. In August 2020, Mauritius declared a state of environmental emergency after the MV Wakashio ran aground at Pointe d’Esny, spilling oil into an area renowned as a sanctuary for rare wildlife. These types of accidents attract the attention of the media and heighten the concerns of people around the world, as images of the damage to marine wildlife and the environment are graphically visible
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