Manpower strains 'linked to accidents'
STAMFORD 22 March – Statistics compiled by class society DNV reveal an increasing incidence of serious maritime accidents across several sectors, including tankers. While overall accident frequency is now half of its late-1980s level, DNV attributed the rise in serious accidents to manpower strains. In a statement issued at the Connecticut Maritime Association conference, DNV Maritime Solutions head Dr Espen Cramer argued: “The general level of experience onboard vessels has been reduced. There are more new recruits, less retention and faster promotion.” Furthermore, he continued, “the workload onboard with respect to paperwork and inspections has increased while crew size is stable”. Simultaneously, “the loss of experience is also a stress factor for those onboard who continuously have to train new crewmembers”, said Cramer. DNV statistics pinpoint navigational accidents including collisions, contact damage and stranding as “areas of high concern”. Cramer concluded that shipping must place more focus on shipboard crew and shoreside management if it is to reverse the trend, asserting: “Shipping still has more to learn from other industries such as offshore and aviation, where there has been an intense focus on human and organisational factors for more than 25 years.”
