The Role of the Human Factor in Marine Accidents

Nermin Hasanspahić,Srđan Vujičić,Vlado Frančić,Leo Čampara

doi:10.3390/jmse9030261

Nermin Hasanspahić, Srđan Vujičić + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9030261

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Abstract

A common interest of all shipping industry stakeholders is safe and accident-free shipping. To reach that goal, one of the most important actions that can be done is to analyze previous marine accidents. It means finding causes of accidents and, based on the analysis results, implementing effective corrective measures that can help reduce such undesired events in the future and improve safety efforts in shipping. Since it is widely accepted that human error accounts for 80–85% of all marine accidents, the research was focused on the human factor analysis in marine accidents. In this paper, 135 marine accident reports recorded in the UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) database from 2010 to 2019 were analyzed. The analysis aimed to categorize causal factors and discover the ones that are the most common. The Human Factor Analysis and Classification System for Maritime Accidents (HFACS-MA) method was used to be able to do so. Furthermore, multiple linear regression was used to determine the relationship between the number of accidents and the most common HFACS-MA causal factors. The research revealed that the causes of marine accidents are primarily dependent on two human factor categories and confirmed that by influencing those human factors categories, the number of marine accidents could be reduced and shipping safety improved in general.

Highlights

The shipping industry accounts for more than 90% of global world trade in goods, and as such, it is one of the world economy drivers [1]
The objectives of this paper are to identify the role of the human factor in marine accidents, determine the most common causal factors according to the HFACS-MA taxonomy, and to find which of the causal factors could be used as predictors of marine accidents, i.e., which have a significant effect on the number of accidents
This study focused on the effect of the human factor and its role in marine accidents

Summary

Introduction

The shipping industry accounts for more than 90% of global world trade in goods, and as such, it is one of the world economy drivers [1]. The safety of ships at sea is the primary concern of all stakeholders. Lack of safety can induce loss of lives, environmental pollution, damage to cargo and vessel, and it needs to be avoided [2]. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) focused on improving safety onboard ships through different sets of rules, regulations, and requirements. Improvements are visible in ships’ design, stability, propulsion, equipment, and human elements. Even though ships’ inspections are stringent and substandard ships are kept in detention or prohibited to continue with the operation, the number of marine accidents is still large [3]. Several catastrophic accidents occurred in the past decade, such as the sinking of container ship SS El Faro and cargo ship Cemfjord with the worst consequences—total loss and fatalities

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