seafarers. Those with specific safety responsibilities are more likely to perform well when management is clearly committed to health and safety. It’s also important that procedures are in place so that all seafarers can cooperate in establishing and maintaining safe working conditions and practices.
Seafarers on board, or their elected representatives, must be allowed to make representations to the company or their employer about health and safety matters. They need to be able to do so without risk of disadvantage to themselves. Such representations should be considered, perhaps in conjunction with the safety committee, and any agreed measures to improve safety put in place as soon as possible.
Risk assessments
The safety officer should be familiar with the principles and practice of risk assessment and should be available to advise those preparing and reviewing risk assessments. Where the safety officer also has other responsibilities (for example, a chief officer) they may well conduct risk assessments themselves. However, the general principle is that the safety officer takes an independent view of safety on behalf of the company. Appointing the Master as the safety officer is not generally advised. This is because the safety officer is required, among other duties, to make representations and recommendations on health and safety to the Master.
Seafarers, and in particular leaders, should be given tools to assess current attitudes and behaviours they possess and gaps that need to be addressed. This should aim to improve:
- operator and manager behaviour;
- safe working; - supervisory behaviour; - rule-breaking; - situational awareness; - understanding and assessing personal risk;
- managing change and making change last;
- seeing yourself as others see you;
- understanding own organisational culture.
Research by Dr Little in 2004 found that there was more emphasis on technical skills than on leadership abilities in the training provided and in promotion criteria through the ranks, all the way up to master. Training quality was generally regarded to be low, suffering in particular from cost-reduction drives, which put pressure on training providers to reduce the scope and length of training courses.
A lack of investment in training can contribute to a poor safety culture. So, it’s important for seafarers to have access to personal and external resources, as well as appropriate training to conduct their tasks safely.
Just culture
A just culture is founded on 2 principles that apply simultaneously to everyone in the organisation. These are that:
- human error is inevitable, and the organisation’s policies, processes and interfaces must be continually monitored and improved to accommodate those errors;
- individuals should be
accountable for their actions if they knowingly violate safety procedures or policies.
In a just culture there is a high level of trust between workers and managers. Workers are encouraged or even rewarded for providing essential safety-related information. When incidents occur, the focus is on preventing them from occurring again. A just culture leads to a learning culture.
“Just culture” is a term used by many, but it may not work well in your
organisation, depending on a variety of factors. There are many terms that reflect differing approaches to safety culture, and this is just one. So please use what is useful from this section and do your own research to work out what kind of organisational culture would best address any problems you have within your organisation.
Incidents, errors and near misses are inevitable from time to time, but in a just culture these are treated as learning opportunities and although workers are held accountable for their actions, dismissals only occur if the incident was a direct result of an action intended to cause harm. Otherwise, the factors that contributed to the problem are identified, and workers are supported in their work environments to ensure the incident does not occur again.
Changing culture - Proactive steps:
1. Get to know your workplace and the habits and attitudes of those employed in it.
2. Look and listen to what’s happening and be prepared to ask questions.
3. Take on the responsibility of a safety official, or proactively listen to and encourage those that have the role.
4. Contribute to lesson learning by being honest about mistakes, and always try to understand others.
112 | ISSUE 107 | MAR 2024 | THE REPORT
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