Maritime Team Dynamics - 'Lessons from the Flight Deck'

In 2017, aviation had its safest year on record. For the first time in 60 years, there were no fatalities on a commercial airline. While the maritime industry is very different from aviation in many respects, there may be lessons worth learning from an industry with such an excellent safety record. Aviation has benefited from decades of research into the areas of risk management that others in the transport industry can learn from.

In the maritime industry, we see the same incidents happening repeatedly. For the crew members involved, and their families, these often tragic and avoidable incidents can be life changing. For ship owners and operators, the financial impact of claims can be significant, in addition to the disruption and inconvenience caused by accidents on board.

While it is easy to dismiss any transport incident as being caused by ‘human error’, the aviation industry has adopted the philosophy that the human element can be improved by taking a ‘process oriented’ approach to managing the human element. This Guide aims to show how the human element management techniques and principles used in aviation can be applied throughout the maritime industry.

Introduced by the UK P&I Club to boost member access to top-class safety training, this publication refers to the Club’s interactive maritime crew resource management (MCRM) course: a human element safety initiative that brings aviation and maritime together to provide members with exceptional human factor learning and instruction.

Knowledge sharing between the maritime and aviation industries is a key element of improving safety globally. This publication contains 12 aviation incidents that cross-refer to the maritime sector, highlighting important and transferable ‘lessons from the flight deck’. A discussion of these lessons follows each case study, emphasising important teamwork practices such as clear communication, situational awareness and the need for a shared mental model between all members of the bridge team.

The case studies provide lessons to be learnt from the aviation industry, showing how they mirror maritime incidents and focussing on the key human element modules included within the MCRM training. Each case study refers to the MRCM course structure.

The UK P&I Club

The UK P&I Club is one of the oldest P&I clubs in the world. It has endured for a century and a half with its continuing focus on mutuality. The UK Club has remained constant, weathering periods of profound economic and political change.

Providing a superior service to members at cost has always been the Club’s central purpose. Irrespective of the times, staying true to our specialist role has demanded rigorous financial control.

Our loss prevention department was one of the earliest in the P&I business, and it remains the most extensive, helping to reduce members’ exposure to claims. Other modern initiatives include the in-depth analysis of major claims, conducting onboard risk assessments and sharing training videos with seafarers and shore personnel on lessons learned, drawn from our database. Since the era of the mid-Victorian tramp steamer, the UK P&I Club has looked ahead with its members. The past has enabled us to help prepare the maritime world for future challenges.

For a safer tomorrow at sea, we are championing best industry practice and investing in innovation. The UK P&I Club will continue to focus on what it does best: protecting shipping globally, together.

https://www.ukpandi.com/about-us/