Helm Safety Report 2015 - Safety Management Systems LLC

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The Impact of Crew Engagement
and Organizational Culture on
Maritime Safety in the Workboats
and OSV Sectors
Both workboats and offshore supply vessels (OSVs) operate in highly dangerous working conditions.
The work carried out by workboats is inherently risky, whereas OSVs often work in extreme and
unpredictable weather conditions with heavy moving equipment on open decks.
Despite the dangerous nature of their work, workboats
and OSVs have not been the focus of much safety-related
research. Instead, a lot of research has focused on the
deep-sea maritime industry, establishing that safety
culture and crew engagement play an important part in
preventing marine incidents and accidents.
This research study aimed to examine the link between
the human element and safety performance on
workboats and OSVs, answering the following research
question:
How do crew engagement and organizational culture
impact on maritime safety on workboats and OSVs?
The research study concluded that, like in other industries,
crew engagement and organizational safety culture
impact heavily on the safety performance on workboats
and OSVs.
To arrive at this conclusion, several research methods
were used.
An in-depth literature review was conducted to identify
factors important towards the establishment of an
organizational safety culture within the maritime
industry, inclusive of the workboat and OSV sectors.
These factors are: communication; empowerment of
employees; feedback systems; mutual trust; problem
identification; promotion of safety; responsiveness;
safety awareness. This set of eight factors was used to
develop a framework for assessing the safety culture of
a shipping company.
In order to assess the current safety performance in the
wider maritime industry as well as in the workboat and
OSV sectors, marine casualty statistics provided by the
European Marine Casualty Information Platform were
examined. Almost 6,000 occurrences were reported
during 2011 and 2013 in EU waters or on EU-flagged
vessels. General cargo vessels proved to be not only
the vessel category the most involved in occurrences,
but also the vessel category with the highest rate of
casualties and experiencing the greatest number of
occurrences according to severity. In contrast, tugs and
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OSVs were involved in comparatively few occurrences
and recorded far less fatalities and injuries, suggesting
that their safety performance may be superior to that of
other vessel categories.
Port State Control (PSC) inspections and the resulting
vessel deficiencies and detentions were then used as
an indicator for safety culture and crew engagement.
During 2014, general cargo/multi-purpose vessels, bulk
carriers and container ships recorded most deficiencies
and detentions and OSVs and tugs amongst the least.
The vast majority of inspected workboats and OSVs
registered no or only very few deficiencies and only a
very low percentage of both vessel types were detained.
However, those deficiencies and detentions recorded
were mostly due to factors related to safety culture and
crew wellbeing, hence it was concluded that better safety
management procedures, improved safety culture and
ensuring crew wellbeing could contribute to lowering
workboat and OSV deficiencies and detentions.
In order to observe whether current safety procedures are
adequate in the offshore industry, an international online
survey was run by Southampton Solent University with
50 participants from key offshore companies to establish
8 Factors impacting safety culture:
communication
empowerment of employees
feedback systems
mutual trust
problem identification
promotion of safety
responsiveness
safety awareness
their safety working practices and their thoughts and
opinions regarding the safety culture within their current
company and the industry as a whole.
For this survey, organization and different geographical
cultures were considered crucial factors in determining
the levels of safety practiced onboard. The key report
findings highlighted a general trust of the onboard
management implementing the health and safety
procedures, but less certainty when this applied to
challenging safety decisions made by authority, unless it
was felt the circumstances were life threatening. Failure
to under report accidents were evident and attributed
to the fear of negative repercussions to job security and
the damage it may cause to a company’s good safety
record and an additional administrative burden. Issues
surrounding communication and language barriers
were presented as another issue which is particularly
relevant in light of the multi-national crews operating
onboard and the global nature of the industry. Issues
between the onboard management and the client were
evident and were attributed to pressures to complete a
job on time and how this translated to under reporting
safety failures off-shore. The onshore management were
also highlighted in the research as making decisions
about safety for offshore teams without thoroughly
understanding the day to day operations at sea.
In order to understand how safety culture can contribute
to accidents onboard workboats, three case studies
were conducted, examining the safety culture onboard
workboats that had been involved in an accident. The
companies’ safety cultures were assessed based on the
framework developed through the literature review.
The case study analysis established that many factors
contributing to the accidents find root in the company’s
safety management. This is even the case for those
accidents which were primarily caused by equipment
failure. In particular, incomplete or inexistent hazard
identification procedures, lack of safety procedures
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or failure to ensure they are implemented, lack of
communication about safety hazards and insufficiently
trained crews were mentioned as factors contributing to
the accidents.
After establishing the link between poor safety culture
and accident causation, the research study focused
on identifying to what extent a well-embedded
organizational safety culture can contribute to safety
leadership within the workboat industry. Again, three
case studies were conducted, this time of companies
with above-average safety records, and the framework
developed based on the literature review was used
to assess each company’s safety culture. All three
companies communicate safety as their top operating
priority and despite not being legally obliged, two out
of the three companies had established a certified
safety management system. Communication of safety
procedures and other safety-related information was
found to be an important aspect and innovative ways
were developed to achieve effective communication. All
three companies established reporting mechanisms to
encourage employee feedback and urged their crews to
stop an operation they deem unsafe.
Based on the research study findings, recommendations
were made for companies in the workboat and OSV
sectors wishing to improve their safety records via
establishing a sound organizational safety culture. It was
suggested that companies focus on the set of eight safety
factors identified in the literature review and validated
through the case study analysis. It was also recommended
that companies establish a safety management system
following the principles set out in the International Safety
Management (ISM) Code and adapt it to the company’s
specific needs and circumstances.
Furthermore, recommendations were made for further
research in the area of further exploring the client,
management relationships and the onshore and offshore
management relationships in relation to decisionmaking for safety procedures at sea. Based on the OSV
survey findings, it was also recommended that further
research is invested in establishing which specific safety
concerns exist in the Gulf of Mexico as this was an area
that was said to have a good and bad reputation towards
implementing safety culture.
To what extent a well-embedded
organizational safety culture can
contribute to safety leadership within
the workboat industry.
Safety culture is paramount in both the workboat
and offshore sectors, but ensuring that multinational
crews from different companies operating in different
global regions consistently work safely and report any
accidents is difficult to ensure, and presents a highly
complex picture. This report presents some of the key
issues raised by the industry and discusses them in light
of the organizational structures within the workboat
and offshore sectors. The findings highlighted provide
evidence for future investigation.
To receive a copy of this Market
Intelligent Report in full,
visit Helm Operations.
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About Helm Operations
Since 1999 Helm Operations (formerly Edoc Systems Group) has been developing operations software
for the maritime and OSV industries. Helm CONNECT is the flagship product of Helm Operations. Helm
CONNECT is the first planned maintenance and compliance software designed and built for use for vessel
crews and engineers. The intuitive interface ensures greater engagement through simple, but powerful
tools that are developed for specific tasks faced by your crews and your shore-based team every day. Simply,
Helm CONNECT connects everyone in your organization together, with more timely, better quality data and
reporting for your executives, managers, operators and crews. Never before has a system given you the ability
to know what’s going on, on your vessels like Helm CONNECT.
Helm is used by some of the largest and most respected workboat companies in the world. Below are
some of the customers we work with:
To learn more visit our website at www.helmoperations.com
About ClassNK
ClassNK is one of the world’s leading classification societies, dedicated to supporting the growth and
development of the maritime industry, and ensuring the safety of ships, their crews, and the marine
environment. With more than 8,600 vessels on its register, ClassNK provides classification and certification
services to more than 20% of the world’s merchant fleet via a network of some 130 offices worldwide.
To learn more visit www.classnk.com