Human Element

All ships require humans to operate them. Even if drone ships become a reality, they will still be built, maintained and managed by humans. 

In 2010, we participated in a joint venture with the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), BP Shipping and Teekay Marine Services to gather and publish research and insight into human error in the maritime industry, why such errors occur and how to avoid them in the future. 

Award-winning book

The resulting award-winning book, The Human Element: A Guide to Human Behaviour in the Shipping Industry, provides clear guidance on how to mitigate human failures − the cause of so many accidents. Its success led to the production of a commercial training video for seafarers and ship managers.

In 2017, we supported a further MCA book entitled Being Human in Safety-Critical Organisations. This delves more deeply into why humans make errors despite their training, and what safeguards can be put in place to minimise the risks. 

A year later we also supported Behaving Safely: A practical guide for risky work, an invaluable pocket guide for seafarers and workers in safety-critical industries.