A consortium led
by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) has launched
"The Human Element: a guide to human behaviour in the
shipping industry”
This is a major new Guide for the shipping industry which
explains how human behaviour lies at the centre of both the
profits and the losses of the shipping industry – and what
companies can do about it.
Put together by organisational psychologists, the Guide shows how
human behaviour is at the heart of the shipping industry,
generating its successes and its failures. The Guide provides
insight, explanation and advice to help everyone involved in the
global shipping industry manage the human element more safely,
more effectively, and more profitably.
Analysis of continuing shipping disasters has increasingly
implicated the human element. The loss of life, the impact on
company profits and credibility, and the vast environmental damage
that can result from the loss of even a single vessel remain clear
and present dangers.
Aimed at everyone in the shipping industry - from ship designers
to ships' crews - the Guide explains fundamental aspects
of human behaviour and makes clear that the human element is
neither peripheral nor optional in the pursuit of a profitable and
safe shipping industry.
Captain David Turner, Head of the development project at the MCA
said,
"In the shipping industry, human behaviour is the true
secret of our success. But it also makes us the victims of our
failures. This Guide shows how to navigate a course between the
two - resulting in increased profits and better safety for all.
“The Guide clearly shows that managing the human element must
take place simultaneously at all levels of the industry – from
deep within the engine rooms and decks of the smallest cargo
ships, through company boardrooms to the international conventions
of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO). In the end, it
is the strategies and policies of shipping executives and
regulation makers that shape the space in which ships and their
crews operate.”
Contacts:
Maritime and Coastguard Agency Press Office
Phone: 023 8032 9401
NDS.MCGA@coi.gsi.gov.uk