...indeed to be a seaman is not an easy task, and the last 20 years has been tougher.
Yes, knowledge , skill and attitude is a must, but are not enough.
During a voyage of 15-30 days, everything runs smooth, and am not speaking for colissions etc, the any problem appears when the ship arrives to port, where regardless its size, completing loading or discharging in 2-4 days.. Can anyone imagine the stress conditions the crew involved?? fatigue is one, and think that can be 2 ports for loading or discharging. Then what??
The fact that crew is dreaming to go ashore after a long period cannot be forgotten. So, many and various things are keeping busy the mind, redirecting the crew from their work, and this is normal.
If you go back, when ships where staying longer times at ports, was no obvious problems. Since many years now , have put the industry in concern, and what bothers me is that after deaths occured we see the problem...... Knowledge and skill are not the medecine only... unless if you are looking for macines.....
By Joseph R. Fonseca
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Reducing accidents depends on knowledge, skill and just as importantly,
attitude, says the Indian Maritime Administration. And, human error is not
always just seafarer error.
As the government of India strives to raise India’s share of the global
seafaring community from 7 to 15 percent by 2020, at the same time, it
struggles with the reality of an escalating death rate attributed to accidents
and suicides among Indian mariners. According to the casualty figures released
by the Directorate General of Shipping, government of India (the Indian
administration) there were 25 accidental deaths, 2 cases of suicide and 8
sailors reported missing during 2012. Year to date data in 2013 suggests a
similar and perhaps even slightly elevated pattern.
Since human factors are said to account for 80 percent of marine accidents, one
of the administration’s many motivations for reversing the trend is that the
inherent dangers are a deterrent to youth who might otherwise want to enter the
seafaring profession. According to Gautam Chatterjee, the Director General of
Shipping (DGS), who heads the Indian Maritime Administration, much depends on
competence of the seafarer for reducing accidents. In his address on the
National Maritime Day he also insisted, “For competence, one needs knowledge,
skill (that is hands-on proficiency) and attitude. So in order to reduce
accidents at sea, all these three aspects need to be targeted.”
Causes & Remedies
The faster turnaround of ships resulting in very short port stays and reduced
opportunities to undertake maintenance of deck and machinery has, over time,
brought tremendous pressure on seafarers. As seafarers hurry to complete work
within a limited time frame, they also often end up getting injured. A new
system, put into place for curtailing accidents, begins at the time of
selection itself, wherein only the right candidate is allowed to register for
training. The DGS has fixed norms for eligibility for candidates, including but
not limited to minimum qualifications and psychometric tests. Beyond this,
Behavior Based Safety Courses are being conducted for both pre sea and post sea
levels.
“In order to reduce accidents, Anglo Eastern conducts various value-added
courses to address knowledge and skill,” said Captain Kersi N. Deboo, Director
& Principal of the Anglo-Eastern Maritime Training Center, a well-regarded
India-based maritime training institute offering a large number of pre-sea and
post-sea curriculum. He added, “Courses must be current, up-to-date, topical
and with practical hands-on training. Because statistics indicate that 80
percent of accidents happen due to human error, we have introduced a number of
courses to address the attitude and the behavioral aspects of error management
/ preventing accidents. We have a set of safety related courses which address
occupational hazards, risk assessment and incident investigation. Further, we
have a number of courses that address the behavioral aspects of behavior-based
safety, maritime resource management, leadership and team work.”
He also points out that all these courses are incorporated in the recent
revision of STCW 2010 where additional elements have been included at all
levels of resource management, leadership and team work. After recognizing that
attitude and behavior play a dominant role in reducing the cause of accidents,
Anglo Eastern became the first training institute in India to introduce these
requirements, well prior STCW 2010 coming into force. The 2010 amendment has
made it part of the competency syllabus and are more of soft skill training.
“We conduct the courses at various levels,” says Capt Deboo. “We have
occupational hazards, risk assessment, safety inspections and also maritime
resource management and behavioral based safety at all levels. Besides,
incident investigation and leadership for the senior level officers there are
number of workshops based on case studies, experience sharing, role play and
simulation exercise.”
Turning Knowledge into Policy – and everyday practice
Anglo Eastern says it all boils down to how much of the learning that takes
place ashore is adapted on board. Shipping companies therefore need to develop
a mechanism to monitor activities on board the ship, while also making senior
officers accountable for developing a professional safety culture on board.
This involves adequate preparations for every possible scenario. For example,
port calls entail pre-arrival work, the inward passage, followed by cargo
activities, port state inspections, agents, vetting, and a dozen more necessary
tasks. Separately, ship’s engineroom staff has to perform maintenance on the
power plant – all within a very narrow time frame. In other words: a stressful
time where a large percentage of accidents are known to occur.
“Working under stress, seafarers are often pushed to work quickly,” says
Captain Deboo. “Doing things fast without adequate rest leads to seafarers
taking shortcuts or bypassing certain functions. This ultimately leads to
mistakes. A thorough understanding all the equipment and the skill to do the
job is of course necessary. So, too, is the right attitude, particularly the
“buddy factor” – that is everybody working as a team; sharing the work load or
warning somebody about any imminent danger or action that will lead them to
harm.”
Human Error vs. Seafarer Error
Captain Yashoverman Sharma, Head of Training, International Maritime Training
Center (Wilhelmsen Maritime Services), takes a holistic view. “It is wrong to
assume that human error, which is associated with 80 percent of accidents at
sea, is the same as ‘seafarer’ error,” he contends. “In fact, in my assessment,
human error is 99.9 percent of the cause of accidents. Typically, losses
suffered in any accidents at sea are considered in ‘dollar terms’ and human
lives hardly factored into the equation. This is sad. On the contrary,
everything else should be sacrificed to save human lives. In reality, this is
rarely the case.”
Sharma insists that by assuming ‘human error’ being solely ‘seafarer error’ has
led to the incorrect assumption that training (alone) can put an end to
accidents. “But, I am sorry to say that it is not so,” he emphasizes. “They
have identified human error as the critical issue and training programs are
being revised to help the operators to reduce accidents. I am not saying this
is not useful. It is very good. But I want to point out that eventually, the
circumstances of the conditions under which such incidents take place involves
more people than just the seafarer on the spot. These people are the
‘behind-the-scene’ operators.”
But then what is human error, he asks. Sharma points out that it is humans who
make rules. If it happens that the port state control and flag state don’t do
their duty well, then that too becomes human error. If the engine fails,
leading to loss of life or property then that too becomes human error as the
engine was designed by humans. “Why should we equate human error to
seafarer error alone?” he asks. “If I say the seafarer was fatigued and
therefore his judgment was impaired leading to a collision or injury to
himself, I would say that instead of falsely implicating the seafarer one must
ask, ‘What about the people who put the seafarer in that position where he ends
up getting fatigued?’ Shall we say that it is the company which should have
seen that there were more hands on board or the administration that should have
brought into place necessary preventive regulations? Or is it possible that the
ship board management was responsible? There are so many
possibilities.”
Sharma contends that very few accidents are really solely attributable to the
lack of knowledge or skills. Furthermore, he says, every seafarer is under the
threat of being blamed for the ship being delayed or the owner facing losses or
the ship machinery or equipment gets damaged. So, he says, with the best of
intentions people are driven to cause accidents. According to Sharma, in
any incident, before one assigns blame, it is necessary to see what created
that accident. Under what conditions was the vessel being operated? Often the
conditions under which seafarers have to work are not entirely under their
control. Was it lack of spare parts, improper machinery and no money from the
owner?
“I am not saying that the shipowners who spend all the money on training and
maintenance of the ship do not experience accidents; there are accidents still
happening,” Captain Sharma says, “The best of companies have faced marine
disasters. It is a matter of reducing risks that is important. It does not end
only with issuing instructions to the ship. There needs to be support as well.
I say one must delegate more powers. If proper responsibility is given and
conditions created for operating the ship safely, then accidents will reduce.”
Sharma had more to say. “Accidents which are assigned to the human element
cannot in my opinion be attributed to seafarers alone. It also involves the
operators and working environment they have created on the ship, the designers
of the ship, the naval architects, etc. Unfortunately, ship designers don’t
typically sail on the ships that they design. It is found that many accidents
resulting in injury or death to seafarers could have been avoided if care had
been taken to integrate safety measures while designing the ship. Even in the
administration, accountability is lacking. People survey ships and make it pass
all safety tests. Should I say the surveyor did his job in the case of MOL
Comfort? Did he ensure that it would not break into two?”
Safety: Everyone’s Business
The takeaways from the foregoing discussions are clear. Of course, competence,
knowledge, skills and attitude are primary ingredients of a safe and productive
merchant seafarer.
At the same time, all of that can count for little if the mariner is placed
into poorly designed physical surroundings, impossible situational scenarios,
and with inadequate engagement from above and ashore.
It turns out that safety does come from the top: from the superior officer(s)
on board, ship’s management ashore, the ship’s design team, the flag state and
the classification society, too. The introduction of STCW and its many
amendments is just one piece of the puzzle. Likewise, training alone will not
prevent accidents from happening. And, until that reality is embraced by the
full chain of personnel involved with today’s intermodal transportation chain,
the inevitable accident will remain the rule, rather than the exception.
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