Capt. Pradeep Chawla, Managing Director, Q A & Training AESM – HK, has openly declared that almost 100 per cent accidents occur due to human error.Addressing at the annual seminar organized by Anglo Eastern in Mumbai on “Achieving Compliance to Procedures”, he sarcastically questioned: When no human being wants to get hurt, why accidents happen? Why a person who has worked perfectly for 15-20 years suddenly commits an error?
In his welcome address Mr. Marcel Liedts, COO, Anglo Eastern Group, said the client base has been growing despite the shipping industry passing through a turbulent phase. He urged the seafarers to maintain integrity as today truth comes out anyway.
Sensitizing the participants about the existing market scenario, Mr. Peter Cremers, CEO, Anglo Eastern Group, deplored that it is the worst time for shipping market in decades and there are challenges in every direction. He added that though seafarers are not affected today, owners are suffering a lot. He therefore urged the delegates to reduce wastage by efficient use of funds, reduce mistakes and travel costs and execute diligently even small jobs.
Alerting the participants on the major changes in deployment and selection, he stated that complacency in routine operations is still there and hence he called upon the seniors to demonstrate problem-solving to their juniors by they themselves doing it.
He expressed concern that now-a-days juniors are more focussed only on money rather than their jobs and added that managing young seafarers is a challenging job. He had a word of advice for them: “Seafaring, unlike other jobs, is an all-encompassing one which requires constant checking and cross-checking. Any mistake onboard ship cannot be forgiven”.
Talking about the growth of the organization, he noted that Anglo Eastern had recently signed an agreement with a new client Teekay Tankers Ltd. Its anchor handling business has also been growing steadily. But he cautioned that business is a marathon and there is no time to sit down.
Mr. Clifford Baker, staff consultant in the Safety Assessment and Human Factors Group, ABS, pointed out that in spite of huge efforts in designing procedures to avoid accidents in shipping, accidents do happen and this is largely due to human errors. He also gave interesting insights about the reasons as to why seafarers don’t follow certain written procedures designed for their safety. Any of the following could lead to seafarers not following them: inadequate knowledge of the procedure, lack of experience, complacency, perceived relevancy of a procedure, risk perception, design, workload, time constraints, safety culture, individual characteristics such as fitness, risk perception/tolerance, etc.
Speaking on “Charterers and Benchmarking – Judging the performance of Bulk Carriers,” Mr. Rob Lomas, Secretary General, Intercargo, tried to answer whether owners and charterers can create a strategic alliance to implement the change. Explaining the rationale the charterers apply in selecting one vessel over the other, he observed that in the fragmented and challenging markets, price is the main driver. He felt sad that many of the charterers don’t consider non-regulatory performance, as safety adding larger charterers consider reputational risk arising out of environmental standards.
On the role of ‘Port State Control’, Mr. Simon S.H. Tse, Cargo Ships Safety Section, Hong Kong Marine Department, stated these authorities control the safety standards on board ships to protect their own waters against the hazards of pollution and keep “sub-standard” ships off their coasts.
Mr. Bjorn Berger, Principal Consultant, DNV Maritime Advisory, Energy Efficiency Project Group, dwelt at length on Energy Efficient – Ship Design and Performance.
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