The human element plays a part in the majority of deaths and accidents at sea. It is a measure of people's ability to deal effectively and safely with the complexity, difficulty pressures and workload of their daily tasks, not only in emergency situations but also during routine operations.
A range of tools has been developed to help advance the operational and safety performance of ships and shipping companies and improve the working lives of seafarers, primarily through non-regulatory activities.
Our work involves:
- improving our understanding of normal and natural human behaviour, cognition, psychology, capabilities, needs, resilience etc. and matching these operational demands and requirements; and
- providing current practical effective advice and guidance to industry.
We take a holistic view of the human element:
Our work involves:
- commissioning, supporting and participating in a range of research projects to better understand the interrelationship between people and their work.
- Developing tools and guidance to help shipping companies and seafarers improve their working practices and safety performance.
- Working with industry to identify stakeholders' needs. In particular leading the Human Element Advisory Group (HEAG) and the Human Element Development Group (HEDG).
- Leading development of the Human Element, Leadership and Management (HELM) training for UK certificated seafarers under the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW).
- Working with individual companies and other industries to develop ideas for best practice.
