An Evaluation of the Effects of Human Factors on Potential Ship Accidents Under Pilotage

Abstract

In recent years, despite the technological advances, and increasing security measures in the maritime industry, it is observed that the effect of the human factor in the marine accidents has not changed. Most of the accidents occur in narrow canals, straits, rivers and entering port areas, resulting in environmental pollution, economical casualties and injury/loss of life. Pilotage is set compulsory in order to maintain safe passage at such confined waters. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of critical human factors on the potential ship accidents under pilotage operations. To explore the identified human factors, depth interviews and a questionnaire study were conducted with masters and pilots. The obtained data was analysed using DEMATEL (Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory) method to identify the most important and influential factors. The DEMATEL method is used to investigate interaction among human factors and to visualize them with help of causal-effect relation diagram. The results show that master experience, pilot experience and crew training are significant factors compared to other human risk factors. As a result of the findings of this research, it is also thought that improving the collaboration and communication between the master and the pilot will be effective in preventing the accidents. Moreover, understanding casual relations among human factors is important to prevent marine accidents. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis was performed for testing reliability of the experts’ evaluation and being clear certainty of the main results/findings in the DEMATEL method. It is found that expert considerations to the casual relationship between human factors are objective and sufficient. The findings of this article provide a critical overview of the research literature on the development of preventive measures for policy makers, shipping companies and port authorities.

Keywords

• Pilotage
• maritime safety
• accident prevention
• DEMATEL.

References

1. Ahvenjärvi, S. (2016). The human element and autonomous ships. International Journal on Marine Navigation and Safety of Sea Transportation, 10(3), 517-521. https://doi.org/10.12716/1001.10.03.18
2. Akyuz, E., & Celik, E. (2015). A fuzzy DEMATEL method to evaluate critical operational hazards during gas freeing process in crude oil tankers. Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, 38, 243-253. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jlp.2015.10.006
3. Akyuz, E., & Celik, M. (2014). Utilisation of cognitive map in modelling human error in marine accident analysis and prevention. Safety Science, 70, 19-28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2014.05.004
4. Berg, N., Storgård, J., & Lappalainen, J. (2013). The impact of ship crews on maritime safety. University of Turku, Centre for Maritime Studies.
5. Büyüközkan, G., & Güleryüz, S. (2016). An integrated DEMATEL-ANP approach for renewable energy resources selection in Turkey. International Journal of Production Economics, 182, 435-448.
6. Chen, S. -T., Wall, A., Davies, P., Yang, Z., Wang, J., & Chou, Y. -H. (2013). A human and organisational factors (HOFs) analysis method for marine casualties using HFACS-Maritime Accidents (HFACS-MA). Safety Science, 60, 105-114. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2013.06.009
7. Demirci, S. M. E., & Uygur, S. (2021). DEMATEL yöntemi ile denizcilik mesleği seçimini etkileyen kriterlerinin incelenmesi [Investigation of the criteria affecting the selection of maritime profession with the DEMATEL method]. Journal of Marine and Engineering Technology, 1(2), 68-76.
8. Erdem, P., & Akyuz, E. (2021). An interval type-2 fuzzy SLIM approach to predict human error in maritime transportation. Ocean Engineering, 232, 109161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2021.109161

9. Ernstsen, J., & Nazir, S. (2020). Performance assessment in full-scale simulators – A case of maritime pilotage operations. Safety Science, 129, 104775. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2020.104775
10. Erol, S., & Başar, E. (2015). The analysis of ship accident occurred in Turkish search and rescue area by using decision tree. Maritime Policy & Management, 42(4), 377-388. https://doi.org/10.1080/03088839.2013.870357
11. Fan, S., Zhang, J., Blanco-Davis, E., Yang, Z., Wang, J., & Yan, X. (2018). Effects of seafarers’ emotion on human performance using bridge simulation. Ocean Engineering, 170, 111-119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2018.10.021
12. Gabus, A., & Fontela, E. (1972). World problems, an invitation to further thought within the framework of DEMATEL. Battelle Geneva Research Center, Geneva, Switzerland, 1-8.
13. Graziano, A., Teixeira, A. P., & Guedes Soares, C. (2016). Classification of human errors in grounding and collision accidents using the TRACEr taxonomy. Safety Science, 86, 245-257. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2016.02.026
14. Hetherington, C., Flin, R., & Mearns, K. (2006). Safety in shipping: The human element. Journal of safety research, 37(4), 401-411.
15. Hoem, Å. S, Fjortoft, K. E., & Rødseth, Ø. J. (2019). Addressing the accidental risks of maritime transportation: Could Autonomous shipping technology improve the statistics? International Journal on Marine Navigation and Safety of Sea Transportation, 13(3), 487-494. https://doi.org/10.12716/1001.13.03.01
16. IGP&I. (2020). Report on P&I claims involving vessels under pilotage 1999-2019. International Group of P&I Clubs.
17. International Maritime Organization (IMO). (2008). Casualty Investigation Code (s. 3).
18. Macrae, C. (2009). Human factors at sea: Common patterns of error in groundings and collisions. Maritime Policy & Management, 36(1), 21-38. https://doi.org/10.1080/03088830802652262 MSC-MEPC.2-Circ.13, I. (2013). Guidelines for the application of the human element analysing process (heap) to the IMO rule-making process.
19. Park, Y. A., Yip, T. L., & Park, H. G. (2019). An analysis of pilotage marine accidents in Korea. The Asian Journal of Shipping and Logistics, 35(1), 49-54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajsl.2019.03.007
20. Raby, M., & McCallum, M. C. (1997). Procedures for investigating and reporting fatigue contributions to marine casualties. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 41(2), 988-992.
21. Rothblum, A. M., Wheal, D., Withington, S., Shappell, S. A., Wiegmann, D. A., Boehm, W., & Chaderjian, M. (2002). Human factors in incident investigation and analysis. Report of Working Group, 2nd International Workshop on Human Factors in Offshore Operations, Texas, 142p.
22. Sánchez-Beaskoetxea, J., Basterretxea-Iribar, I., Sotés, I., & Mauri Machado, M. M. (2021). Human error in marine accidents: Is the crew normally to blame? Maritime Transport Research, 2, 100016. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.martra.2021.100016
23. Seker, S., & Zavadskas, E. K. (2017). Application of fuzzy DEMATEL method for analyzing occupational risks on construction sites. Sustainability, 9(11), 2083. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9112083
24. Si, S.-L., You, X.-Y., Liu, H.-C., & Zhang, P. (2018). DEMATEL technique: A systematic review of the state-of-the-art literature on methodologies and applications. Mathematical Problems in Engineering, 2018, 3696457. https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/3696457
25. Smith, A. P., Allen, P. H., & Wadsworth, E. M. (2007). A comparative approach to seafarers’ fatigue. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Maritime Safety, Science and Environmental Protection, Greece, pp. 1-15.
26. Soner, O. (2021). Application of fuzzy DEMATEL method for analysing of accidents in enclosed spaces onboard ships. Ocean Engineering, 220, 108507. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2020.108507
27. Trucco, P., Cagno, E., Ruggeri, F., & Grande, O. (2008). A Bayesian Belief Network modelling of organisational factors in risk analysis: A case study in maritime transportation. Reliability Engineering & System Safety, 93(6), 845-856. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ress.2007.03.035
28. Tzannatos, E. (2010). Human element and accidents in Greek shipping. The Journal of Navigation, 63(1), 119-127. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0373463309990312
29. Uflaz, E., Celik, E., Aydin, M., Erdem, P., Akyuz, E., Arslan, O., Kurt, R. E., & Turan, O. (2022). An extended human reliability analysing under fuzzy logic environment for ship navigation. Australian Journal of Maritime & Ocean Affairs, In press. https://doi.org/10.1080/18366503.2022.2025687
30. Uğurlu, Ö., Kaptan, M., Kum, S., & Yildiz, S. (2017). Pilotage services in Turkey; key issues and ideal pilotage. Journal of Marine Engineering & Technology, 16(2), 51-60. https://doi.org/10.1080/20464177.2016.1262596
31. Uğurlu, Ö., Yıldız, S., Loughney, S., & Wang, J. (2018). Modified human factor analysis and classification system for passenger vessel accidents (HFACS-PV). Ocean Engineering, 161, 47-61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2018.04.086
32. van Westrenen, F. (1995). Towards a Decision Making Model of River Pilots. IFAC Proceedings Volumes, 28(21), 217-222. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1474-6670(17)46728-0
33. van Westrenen, F. (1996). A framework for a decision model of river-pilots based on their workload. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 17(5), 411-418. https://doi.org/10.1016/0169-8141(94)00118-9
34. Wróbel, K. (2021). Searching for the origins of the myth: 80% human error impact on maritime safety. Reliability Engineering & System Safety, 216, 107942. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ress.2021.107942
35. Wu, B., Yip, T. L., Yan, X., & Guedes Soares, C. (2022). Review of techniques and challenges of human and organizational factors analysis in maritime transportation. Reliability Engineering & System Safety, 219, 108249. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ress.2021.108249
36. Wu, L., Jia, S., & Wang, S. (2020). Pilotage planning in seaports. European Journal of Operational Research, 287(1), 90-105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2020.05.009
37. Xia, X., Govindan, K., & Zhu, Q. (2015). Analyzing internal barriers for automotive parts remanufacturers in China using grey-DEMATEL approach. Journal of Cleaner Production, 87, 811-825. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.09.044
38. Yıldırım, U., Başar, E., & Uğurlu, Ö. (2019). Assessment of collisions and grounding accidents with human factors analysis and classification system (HFACS) and statistical methods. Safety Science, 119, 412-425. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2017.09.022
39. Zhang, X., Ming, X., & Yin, D. (2020). Application of industrial big data for smart manufacturing in product service system based on system engineering using fuzzy DEMATEL. Journal of Cleaner Production, 265, 121863. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.121863