Risk-Taking in theShipping Industry

Presented By CODie.com-Maritime Software for Your Business-

Based on reaserch provided by

UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency

“The Human Element – A Guide to Human Behavior in the Shipping Industry” (Dirk

Gregory and Paul Shanahan)

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What it is About

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Shipping always involves risks and we need to accept them.

We explain how risk-taking works and how decisions are made.

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Key Point

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Even we make a decision we can never be certain that we have made the right one. This is partly because we want our plan to work, hence, we are tricked by our brain into selectively finding assumptions that are good from our personal point of view.

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What Affects Risk-Taking?

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Risks, are determined by our feeling about a given situation.

It is influenced by an incorrect perception of control

Due to thinking positively about: experience, equipment or familiarity

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Example

A deckhand who was washed overboard – he only secured himself in heavy weather by wrapping an arm around the pulpit rail instead of using the harness.

This situation involved perceived familiarity, it was not the first time the deckhand had done this, therefore the situation seemed to be familiar and hence controllable. He was wrong.

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Another point of influence is perceived value – when something could bring one a big step closer to a higher goal, so the more we desire it, the less risky it appears.

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How Decisions are Made

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Making decisions is time consuming.

Our brain needs to work through all data and facts

And has to consider alternatives and options

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A tradeoff between safety (thorough investigation) and profitability (deciding quickly) happens.

Companies need both traits, and their company culture dictates what is favored

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Companies pressuring for efficiency shift the perception of their seamen

Thoroughness will be valued less

Working quick becomes valued

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Why we Break Rules

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Maritime buisness is dominated by time and cost.

People break rules to increase efficiency

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People tend to use „just good enough“ principles to increase efficiency, here are five:

1. It looks fine or It’s not really important – so we can skip this step.

2. It’s good enough for now, ie it exceeds minimal requirement.

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3. It was checked earlier/will be checked by someone else later – so we can skip this.

4. There’s no time (or no-one) to do it now. Don’t worry – we’ll do it later!

5. “It’s normally OK” or “It’s muchquicker this way”.

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Counter Measurements

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The ship manager is requested to

Create a company culture which allows thourough decisions

School seamen about risk levels

Communicate known risks

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The seaman is requested to

Have decisions evaluated by his team

Support a open and just critic culture

Not fall for perceived familiarity

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Influence of company culture

Incident reporting: It might improve efficiency but, not necessarily safety

Policy integrity: Safety as top priority is often lip service

Cost policy: Unnecessary cost are reduced, but what is unnecessary and who defines it?

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For Your Consideration

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Managers tend to favour the efficiency of meeting their deadlines rather than thoroughness. This is because it is their non-efficiency that the organisation will notice first, and if things go well, they will be praised for their efficiency.

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Visit our blog to read the full article:

https://codie.com/wp/maritime/human-behavior-in-the-shipping-industry-risk-taking

Or

https://codie.com/maritime/blog

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„How is all this related to your software?“

Let‘s be honest, just buying our ship or crew management software will not magically reduce your stress or risk-taking. However, it will provide you with the right tools to reduce your task complexity, to work smarter and save (leisure) time. That‘s a good start.

Your CODie Team

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