From Titanic to Costa Concordia—a century of lessons not learned

The recent foundering of the Costa Concordia in January 2012 demonstrated that accidents can occur even with ships that are considered masterpieces of modern technology and despite more than 100 years of regulatory and technological progress in maritime safety. The purpose of this paper is, however, not to speculate about the concrete causes of the Costa Concordia accident, but rather to consider some human and organizational factors that were present in the Costa Concordia accident as well as in the foundering of the Titanic a century ago, and which can be found in many other maritime accidents over the years. The paper argues that these factors do not work in isolation but in combination and often together with other underlying factors. The paper critically reviews the focus of maritime accident investigations and points out that these factors do not receive sufficient attention. It is argued that the widespread confidence in the efficacy of new or improved technical regulations, that characterizes the recommendations from most maritime accident investigations, has led to a lack of awareness of complex interactions of factors and components in socio-technical systems. If maritime safety is to be sustainably improved, a systemic focus must be adopted in future accident investigations

After 40 years of regional and coordinated ship safety inspections: Destination reached or new point of departure?

Port State Control (PSC) is the major global strategy for fighting substandard shipping since the signature of The Hague Memorandum in 1978. In the last years, the increased volume of trade, the enlarged number of main international conventions and the highlighted differences among the various Regimes have posed new challenges to the modern system of PSC, which may need to find its new course. This paper examines the point of view of key maritime stakeholders with regard to the EU PSC regime. Elite interviews (n = 14) were conducted with subject matter experts ranging from policy makers, to industry and seafarers’ representatives. The study aims to determine factors leading to difference in treatment among EU Member States. The study concludes that PSC in Europe seems to be the most efficient and reliable of the regional agreement on PSC. However, some discrepancies during the inspection process and outcome can be highlighted due to differences at the inspector and Member State level

Safety of domestic ferries: A scoping study of seven high-risk countries

Ferry accidents are fairly common globally, causing countless deaths and injuries. Whereas ferry transportation is an integral part of the domestic transport infrastructure in many countries, particularly archipelagic countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines, river deltaic countries like Bangladesh, countries with extensive riverine systems such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria and Senegal, or even a combination of great lakes, rivers and archipelago such as Tanzania, these countries are experiencing a high number of ferry accidents and fatalities over the past two decades and, therefore, considered high-risk countries in the ferry transport sector. International community continuously seeks to enhance safety in the domestic ferry industry. Thus, a scoping study has been conducted on the safety of domestic ferries in these seven high-risk countries. The study utilizes a structured methodology to identify focus areas in the seven countries for enhancing safety in the domestic ferry sector. The analysis involves past domestic ferry accidents, maritime profile, industry demographics and stakeholder matrix, regulatory and governance climate, political landscape, and amenability to change and external intervention. Eventually, the study proposes a conceptual framework with fifteen distinct criteria, identified against five attributes as an aid to the decision-making in a country for considering a safety intervention with a high likelihood of success and a significant positive impact on safety in the domestic ferry sector. Furthermore, current hazards threatening the safety of domestic ferries and their role in the formation of accidents; key stakeholders of domestic ferry sector and their state of play; national regulations related to the safety of domestic ferries and alignment with the IMO model regulations; national political landscape; state’s willingness to facilitate and receive a safety intervention; and public attitude towards safety are presented in the respective countries using globally recognized indices, questionnaire surveys and personal interviews.https://commons.wmu.se/lib_reports/1086/thumbnail.jp

Making the case for Crew-Centered Design (CCD) in merchant shipping

Since 2003, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has emphasised the need to address and integrate ergonomics knowledge in a concerted manner. However, there is little guidance on the application of this knowledge in the design of merchant vessels. Utilizing a mixed methods approach, the paper identifies the need for crew-centered design (CCD), highlighting the importance of using concepts derived from Human-Centred Design (HCD) to be able to design work spaces and operational procedures that facilitate the work of the crew on board. Drawing upon results obtained from accident analysis (utilising the Technique for the Retrospective and predictive Analysis of Cognitive Errors - TRACEr) and 24 semi-structured interviews, this paper identifies areas in which it could be potentially beneficial to integrate end-users in the design of ships and shipborne operations. This paper further discusses why and how concepts rooted in HCD could be used to improve maritime workspace and interface design, as well as the design of procedures and shipborne operations. However, due to the specifics of the maritime domain, the authors propose that there is the need to expand the HCD perspective, making the design not only fit a single user, but to fit the crew as part of a maritime socio-technical system. The paper discusses that the case for CCD is imperative in the interest of safety, efficiency and even makes economic sense

TRACEr-MAR: Technique for the retrospective & predictive analysis of cognitive errors adapted to the maritime domain

This guidebook is the first of a series of WMU Papers in Maritime and Ocean Affairs. It introduces the Human Error Identification technique TRACEr-Mar (Technique for the Retrospective and predictive Analysis of Cognitive Errors adapted to the Maritime Domain). Modern socio-technical systems had witnessed a complex co-evolution and interaction of both social and technical aspects in the day-to-day reality. However, when an accident occurs in such complex systems, accident causation models always have to simplify the reality and may therefore be limited for fully understanding all the aspects involved in the failing of the maritime socio-technical system involved in that accident. In order to carry out an accident investigation that covers the needs of a particular investigator, different tools exist. A systematic accident analysis requires a full methodological framework consisting of a model to support the focus of the investigation, a related data taxonomy, a methodology for the application of the taxonomy and an outline of the analysis of the findings. This guidebook provides the necessary information for such a framework, TRACEr-Mar, as adapted to the Maritime domain. This framework focusses on human machine interfaces and the related decision making during maritime operations. The guidebook is addressed to practitioners and researchers determined to apply the TRACEr-Mar technique to maritime accident investigations

A “Net-Centric” conduct of navigation and ship management

Following the so-called “Industrial Revolution”, the shipping industry has benefitted from a very extended number of technology innovations. Over time, shipbuilding practices and the equipment of ships have been significantly improved. Furthermore, during the last couple of decades, the continuous improvement and integration- interconnection of electronics systems (the “network-centric” approach), have created a new operating environment for shipping. It is therefore not a coincidence that recent discussions on digitalization and autonomous ships provide a disruptive picture of how this industry may be transformed in the near future. Contemporary sea-going vessels are equipped with various technologically advanced systems and are highly automated. Today, all systems supporting the conduct of navigation and the various information technology (IT) applications related to ship management activities are heavily reliant upon real-time information to safely/effectively fulfil their allocated tasks. The issues of connectivity and interconnection clearly stand out. It is important to assess how navigation will be conducted in the near future. This analysis is based on a qualitative methodology, and its starting point, which also serves as the necessary “literature review”, is to identify and briefly discuss a certain number of technological developments that follow the network-centric architecture and have been recently introduced as equipment appropriate for ships. Next, it will examine how interactive processes and applications, both on the shore side and onboard vessels, can facilitate a safer working environment for seafarers and allow personnel based ashore to have a better understanding of what is happening at sea, as part of explaining the so-called “net-centric” framework of operations. Another important aim is to evaluate these promising technological trends according to their capacity of adoption in order to promote efficient and safe operations within the extended maritime transport domain. An important conclusion is that a net-centric philosophy and associated software applications can truly break down any existing limitations and create a collaborative environment for people and “machines”, including remotely controlled unmanned vessels

Counteracting incentive sensitization in severe alcohol dependence using deep brain stimulation of the nucleus accumbens: clinical and basic science aspects

The ventral striatum / nucleus accumbens has been implicated in the craving for drugs and alcohol which is a major reason for relapse of addicted people. Craving might be induced by drug-related cues. This suggests that disruption of craving-related neural activity in the nucleus accumbens may significantly reduce craving in alcohol-dependent patients. Here we report on preliminary clinical and neurophysiological evidence in three male patients who were treated with high frequency deep brain stimulation of the nucleus accumbens bilaterally. All three had been alcohol dependent for many years, unable to abstain from drinking, and had experienced repeated relapses prior to the stimulation. After the operation, craving was greatly reduced and all three patients were able to abstain from drinking for extended periods of time. Immediately after the operation but prior to connection of the stimulation electrodes to the stimulator, local field potentials were obtained from the externalized cables in two patients while they performed cognitive tasks addressing action monitoring and incentive salience of drug related cues. LFPs in the action monitoring task provided further evidence for a role of the nucleus accumbens in goal-directed behaviors. Importantly, alcohol related cue stimuli in the incentive salience task modulated LFPs even though these cues were presented outside of the attentional focus. This implies that cue-related craving involves the nucleus accumbens and is highly automatic