Prevention of Human Errors Aboard Ships

Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (ClassNK) announced publication “Guidelines for the Prevention of Human Error Aboard Ships”. Man-made causes are said to account for some 80% of all marine casualties. Hence, reducing the possibility of human error can be considered as being both essential to and an effective means of reducing casualties. While many factors can contribute to a casualty, human error onboard ship can be often reduced by strengthening the training and education of all crew, and by addressing more indirect contributing factors such as hardware or other ergonomic related causes.

The implementation of the International Safety Management Code has played an important role in strengthening the training and education of crews. At the same time, the shipping industry has also started to become aware of the importance of ergonomic considerations in the design and installation stages of marine systems. In fact, ergonomic design of the man - machine interface is not only important for ensuring a smooth flow of information between man and machinery, but is also expected to make the working environment of marine systems more effective and safer. It will also help to reduce the workload of the crew and contribute to minimizing the occurrence of errors.

The guidelines will be available for download from the ClassNK website later this month.