COLUMN | Lessons from outside the bubble: what the shipping industry could learn about safety from other sectors [Grey Power]

We are often told, in a reproving tone, that we operate in our “silos” and are ignorant of much relevant stuff going on in the world outside.

The shipping industry, it is sometimes said, for example, needs to learn from the safety culture of commercial aviation, with its “no-blame” attitudes to accidents (maybe not quite so pure as they claim), and other operational procedures.

I recall an eminent shipowner suggesting that air traffic control could be usefully “marinised”, even deep sea, to reduce collisions and grounding outside areas covered by VTS. The point about learning lessons from other non-marine sources is not unreasonable, as one can point to plenty of examples where better intelligence about the wider world could have prevented accidents afloat.

Many years ago, after a tragic fire in a German shipyard , involving insulation being installed in a large reefer container ship, the inquiry revealed that the terrifying consequences of this material catching fire (huge heat, rapid flame spread and toxic gas) had been discovered years previously in the mining industry. The intelligence, however, had failed to be more widely promulgated and reached ship designers.