It has been well documented that most maritime accidents (~80%) are caused by human error. Still, most of the focus on learning is rooted in technical causes and adding procedures and checklists.

Despite this bias, many accident investigation reports pinpoint that the leadership or safety culture was the root cause of more recent accidents such as the Bulk Jupiter, El Faro, Helge Ingstad and Costa Concordia, as well as older accidents such as the Exxon Valdez, Bow Mariner, Herald of Free Enterprise and Amoco Cadiz.

Industry blind spot

The critical failures leading to the accident were in most cases known before the accident took place. This demonstrates that failures which are not handled properly may develop into critical situations and accidents. This is a blind spot because the biased focus on technicalities and “impeccable” safety inspections makes people reluctant to be open about their failures, concerns and mistakes.

We at SAYFR think shipping companies, and the whole industry, needs to change its focus. Thousands of auditors and inspectors across the world are engaged by classification societies, flag and port state authorities, vetting and insurance companies and HSEQ departments. They verify that ships do the right thing and comply with technical and procedural requirements. However, ticking boxes never made anyone safer.

Cover-up culture

Also, and worryingly, there is a cover-up culture causing errors and unsafe practices. There are now so many procedures and checklists that, in some cases, it is impossible to comply with all of them. The fear of failure is driving accident statistics, and surveys reveal that 45% of seafarers admit that they regularly do not comply with procedures.

I firmly believe that human factors are key to prevent threats and failures from escalating. Yet improving safety or performance is about improving not only individuals but also the collaboration between sea and shore staff, between officers and crew and between different nationalities and cultures on board ships.

Huge potential to reduce accidents

Although this is recognized, it is not always addressed, so I believe a new approach is necessary to improve collaboration and reduce risks. Indeed, collaboration is strongly correlated with the risk of accidents and business interruption. Our experience of working on multiple projects over the years shows that it is possible to reduce the risk of major accidents by up to 75%.

However, there is no quick fix to improve collaboration and implement behavioral changes through, for example, training courses. Changing the culture is key and that process takes time. To help operators improve their approach to safety, proven methodologies must be used.

Safety leadership behaviors

Put simply, it involves observing and identifying working methods on board and then working with all the officers and crew in teams and as individuals to deliver the eight-point safety leadership behaviors, namely:

• Giving feedback
• Speaking up
• Building trust
• Creating openness
• Showing care
• Facilitate learning
• Promoting teamwork
• Managing dilemmas

Experience shows that the focus on the eight behaviors work because they address the blind spot. By encouraging the participants to openly share errors, failures and concerns, they are able to break the chain of events that can lead up to a major accident. Also, this approach helps to move beyond the culture of punishment to the positive safety-enhancing culture where crew members help each other.

Culture assessments key to improving safety

In order to understand how the organization culture influences safety, there is a need to use methodologies specialized for this purpose. One thing that many people are ignorant of is that a key professional competence of organizational psychology is advanced mathematics and data analysis. The evaluation of organizational culture relies on interviews, observations and questionnaires applying psychometric instruments that are tailor-made to ensure valid and reliable results. The professionals drive the process while the data provides the results. As a consequence, the more and better the data on these topics, the more valid, reliable and to-the-point are the results.

However not all the instruments used in the industry are valid and reliable. In a recent review of safety culture maturity instruments, only 3 of 43 instruments were valid. Indeed, there is not one single test alone that can demonstrate the validity of a survey instrument. Therefore, SAYFR has developed tailor-made psychometric instruments to assess these topics and has a database of responses from about 300 000 seafarers.

When it comes to the qualitative and quantitative tests that can be made to verify validity, the basic one is content validity. This dictates how well a safety instrument addresses a safety issue. It specifies that the survey instrument adequately covers the topic being studied as well as having sound scientific grounds and references.

This is important because so many historical examples show risks that were identified well ahead of time but were not addressed. These include the Deepwater Horizon blowout, which claimed 11 lives and caused huge environmental damage, rig personnel had knowingly by-passed safety barriers. In this case, failures were identified but the root cause of the problem – i.e. human neglect, whether cultural or circumstantial – was not factored in.

Reliability of survey instruments through data

Reliability of the survey instrument is also key and that is ensured statistically by use of data. Factor-analysis is a statistical method used to describe variability among correlated items in terms of a potentially lower number of unobserved variables, called factors. For our instrument, the eight factors are equal to the eight SAYFR leadership behaviours (8SLBs) mentioned above.

Moreover, predictive validity is the instrument’s ability to predict something in the future such as an event, or correlations with instrument measurements made by other instruments. If an organization scores low in terms of the 8SLBs, it is a good indicator of future problems. This has been shown on a number of occasions when departments, units or suborganizations have received low 8SLB scores only to have accidents occur in the intervening time, before action was taken.

Predictive validity can also be applied to solutions. When action was taken based upon a low 8SLBs score, a shipping company experienced a 60% reduction in the frequency of serious accidents, to a level which was maintained five years subsequent to the investigation.
Concurrent validity and construct validity are also important elements. Concurrent validity measures the correlation between two independent measurements performed at the same time. An increase in the ability to manage failures, for example, will necessarily correlate with the number of incidents that occur.

Construct validity is when a theoretical model of cause and effect – for example, do the improvements prescribed following appraisal of the 8SLBs – accurately replicate the real-world scenarios they are intended to represent? Construct validity is the ultimate validity measurement, and necessarily incorporates all other validity factors.

Reduction in the frequency of serious accidents

Also, it’s not only the psychometric instruments that rely on data. The use of digitalization, the internet of things (IoT), sensor data, machine learning, and big data has picked up in recent years. The idea is that those with the most data can create the best analytics and forecasts. With the use of more quality data, risk assessments and worst-case scenario simulations provide reliable predictions and identify effective interventions to prevent accidents.

In short, what we at SAYFR see is that the best shipowners and operators have a proactive organizational culture that goes beyond ticking the ‘compliance boxes’ and instead applies a collaborative, trusting approach from top to bottom in the company’s organization. This also includes assessing culture using valid and reliable survey instruments. This is what really helps to improve safety.

Source: www.maritimeprofessional.com

Author: Dr. Torkel Soma, Chief Scientific Officer, SAYFR

Image: www.pixibay.com

The post A New Approach to Maritime Safety is Needed appeared first on Cargo News Today.

As logistics professionals come out from underwater, they’re dealing with the fact that they cannot resume business as usual. Fortunately, these challenges present a new reality and opportunities in remote collaboration. This includes using technology to achieve greater visibility into their organizations, and developing end-to-end, collaborative business processes that involve all the players in the supply chain.

Remote Collaboration in Logistics

Remote collaboration is the use of technology to bring together people from different locations for a common purpose. It’s driven by advancements in cloud computing, real-time videoconferencing, and other forms of telecommunications that have made it easier to collaborate with people across distances. Leaders in logistics can benefit from remote collaboration because it allows them to tap into a wider range of industry experts and connect more easily to their end customers.

One of the biggest challenges in logistics is gaining a true sense of a facility or area that an employee can’t physically visit. This helps with planning and operations, but it’s also important from a security perspective because it allows leaders to understand what areas present risks for their workers and what areas might be hiding dangers. Advances in 360° technology, such as real-time 360° collaboration, allow leaders, customers, and experts to see any area from a remote location.

For example, during the heat of the pandemic, DB Schenker, a global logistics leader, leveraged 360° technology to conduct virtual warehouse tours. During these tours, DB Schenker brings potential customers on site to view their facility and explore their offerings without the time, cost, and environmental impact of physical travel, which in turn helps drive sustainability goals. They estimate saving millions in travel costs.

Below are 5 key benefits of remote collaboration for logistics leaders.

#1 Massive Cost-Saving Potential

Swapping site visits with virtual inspections/tours saves on average $2k per person, per visit. This money can be reinvested into other scalable projects. Remote collaboration is meant to augment an existing collaboration protocol. With the right tools at their disposal, logistics leaders can select which visits they can conduct remotely and how they can reallocate funds to other areas of business growth.

#2 Sustainable Solution

Business travel is a leading culprit in carbon emissions. For example, a relatively short return trip from London to Rome carries a carbon footprint of 234kg of CO2 per passenger.

Reducing reliance on travel allows businesses to reduce greenhouse gas emissions over time, thereby helping organizations meet carbon reduction targets without major disruptions to their business.

#3 Minimize In-Person Disruptions

With 360° remote collaboration, leaders and onsite personnel can get their time back. Instead of spending travel time and several hours on site, leaders can see what’s happening and discuss all the details in a single meeting.

Typical on-site visits disrupt routine workflows. For example, visits such as facility tours or audits may involve schedule changes for on-site personnel. This might only take a few hours out of the day but could significantly disrupt workflow. Leaders that use remote collaboration can reduce or eliminate these disruptions, allowing them to get work done.

For attendees, the average business trip involves 6.9 hours lost that could otherwise be spent productively and often involves a physical and mental drain on the travelers.

#4 Conduct More Frequent Visits

By avoiding logistical challenges with travel, leaders in the logistics space can reimagine how often they want their team or customers to be on site.

With remote tools at their disposal, they can increase the frequency of routine audits or bring customers/stakeholders on site more often for updates and decisions. Having more site visits virtually will only help on the efficiency side and improve quality control.

#5 Maintain Safety of Sites and Personnel

Remote collaboration also provides logistics leaders with another security benefit – personal safety – by allowing them to conduct more business from their homes or offices, away from any danger that might be present at a particular location. Having a remote protocol in effect helps leaders overcome travel challenges or COVID related shutdowns.

At the end of the day, logistics leaders should consider how remote collaboration tools can add value across the entire organization. Creating measurable goals, reallocating funds based on current needs, conducting more frequent visits for customers or employees, reducing in-person disruptions, and increasing access to decision makers are just some of the benefits that come from selecting remote collaboration tools built for site visits.

Technology is not a replacement for all physical interactions. In certain cases, logistics leaders might want their team or customers/stakeholders to visit their locations as opposed to meeting online. Having the option to have meetings with multiple people from different time zones in one space is already our future.

Source: www.inboundlogistics.com

Author: Devon Copley, Founder and CEO, Avatour

Image: www.pexels.com

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The JB84 cabinet from Jo Bird is designed to store the vast majority of 5Kg CO2 portable fire extinguishers as well as taller 12Kg/litre fire extinguishers.

The overall dimensions are very close to the long running JB01 and the JB84l will replace both the standard JB01 and the JB01R versions. The JB01 has always been one of the best sellers in the Jo Bird range so why change it?

Because the technology has moved on through intensive R&D, which means the new model has a stronger door design with a higher standard of finish but equally important, uses closed moulds to reduce both VOC airborne pollution and waste during the production process.  This helps Jo Bird towards the 50% CO2 reduction target pledge by 2030.

The cabinet back has a greater radius on the top corners to improve the strength of the structure without increasing the weight. By having a more rigid back and door, it has been possible to increase the door aperture size without compromising the high IP56 ingress rating. This makes it even easier to remove the fire extinguisher in an emergency when every second counts.

Just like the new JB80, the door features the robust rotary handle with the anti-tamper facility and anti-microbial Biomaster® additive. This combines superb reliability as well as fast access by simply turning the handle and pulling towards you. This is simple to operate even when wearing gloves and the handle is easy to spot with the contrast of yellow against charcoal grey. No messing with fiddly catches.

The design uses corrosion resistant materials throughout to provide virtually maintenance free service but has the added benefit of being lightweight through its construction from Lloyds approved composite materials.

In common with the other models in the Firebird range, the JB84 can be customised with other colours, windows and fire retardant materials along with alternative lettering.

It is designed to be bulkhead/wall mounted but can be supplied with posts for free standing support.

Source: www.maritimejournal.com

Image: www.pixabay.com

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