Enhancing Safety through Generic Competencies

• Main Authors: S. Mockel, M. Brenker, S. Strohschneider
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Gdynia Maritime University 2014-03-01
• Series: TransNav: International Journal on Marine Navigation and Safety of Sea Transportation
• Subjects: Safety Management; Safety at Sea; Generic Competencies; Critical Situation; Accident Pyramid; Resilant System; Standardized Operating Procedures (SOP); Crew Resource Management
• Online Access: http://www.transnav.eu/files/Enhancing Safety through Generic Competencies,487.pdf

This article provides insights into proactive safety management and mitigation. An analysis of accident reports reveals categories of supervening causes of accidents which can be directly linked to the concept of generic competencies (information management, communication and coordination, problem solving, and effect control). These findings strongly suggest adding the human element as another safety-constituting pillar to the concept of ship safety next to technology and regulation. We argue that the human element has unique abilities in dealing with critical and highly dynamic situations which can contribute to the system's recovery from non-routine or critical situations. By educating seafarers in generic competencies we claim to enable the people onboard to successfully deal with critical situations.