A Nautical Institute project sponsored by The Lloyd’s Register Educational Trust


The International Maritime Human Element Bulletin


Issue No. 30 September 2012 ISSN 1747-5015


E


ach of the bulletins in this series has been about defining


the responsibilities of a particular stakeholder group with respect to addressing the Human Element. From these we intend to develop descriptions of the knowledge and skills necessary to discharge those responsibilities.


But, we would not be ‘user- centred’ if we did this on our own. Contributions from those who have already benefited from the right training and experience will be essential to ensure that we get it right. What we have offered in the centrespreads will serve as a ‘first draft’, which we will ultimately develop through the Alert! website, with a view to providing a comprehensive human element skills framework for all the various stakeholders. Feedback, therefore, is essential and very welcome.


This brings us to the end of this third series of Alert! bulletins, but this is not the end!


We are grateful to The Lloyd’s Register Educational Trust for agreeing to fund a fourth series of bulletins, which will explore the management of solutions to human element issues. Such solutions will complement, draw on, and bring together all the work done in the Alert! Project since its inception in 2003, and create a compendium of human element managed solutions for the shipping industry.


The Editor Alert! The Nautical Institute 202 Lambeth Road London SE1 7LQ United Kingdom


editor@he-alert.org


w:www.he-alert.org e: editor@he-alert.org


The people managers... most valued assets


Look after your people... and they will look after you.


Alert!, Issue No. 18


The first point of contact for any person wanting to go to sea is likely to be a member of the human resources (HR) department; equally, the first point of contact for any seafarer outside the ship is likely to be his/her HR or crewing manager.


So, it stands to reason that those who are involved in the business of man- aging the working lives of seafarers should never forget that seafarers are unique in that for a large part of each year they are placed aboard a floating platform, which is subject to the vagaries of the wind and the sea, and in which they work, rest and play, away from normal family life.


Maritime HR/crewing managers, therefore, should not just have a professional knowledge of HR practice, but also, they must have some under- standing of the ways of the sea, and of the challenges that a seafarer and his family will face through separation. He/she therefore provides a link between the seafarer and his/ her family.


looking after the company’s


The term Human Resources is relatively new. To some it is simply another way of describing the function of personnel management; to others it covers a much broader spectrum of activities than just the management of people. But, this is a term that can turn the Person into a commodity. One dictionary defines a resource as: The stock or supply of money, materials, staff, and other assets that can be drawn on by a person or organization in order to function. People should not be regarded simply as a resource.


In any industry, the people are vital to the success of an operation. In the maritime context, those who are charged with the management of people (the seafarers and those who are involved in the management and operation of ships) do not just need the professional knowledge and skills to be able to do the job, but also they must possess a number of key attributes, such as attitude, integrity, transparency, motivation, and a dedi- cation to excellence.


Whether we describe them as HR man- agers, personnel managers or people managers, they all have a responsibility to look after the company’s most valued assets - the people.


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