Alert! Issue No.22: Focus on the Regulators

Nautical Institute project, sponsored by Lloyd’s Register Educational Trust.

Those who make all the rules and regulations that govern the design and operation of ships need to be sensitive to human element implications in all that they do. This is according to the International Human Element Bulletin Alert! in its latest issue – which launches the third series of these human element awareness bulletins.

Let’s face it. How often do those on the receiving end of regulations, who are charged to operate ships according to the rules that somebody else has made, shake their heads in frustration and bewilderment at the way that the regulations seem to make their lives harder. “If only the bureaucrats”, they mutter, “had understood how ships are operated...”

Alert! points out that some three years ago, the industry’s principal regulator – the International Maritime Organization - introduced its own checklist to help all regulators properly consider the human element as they framed new regulations or amended others. It is a step in the right direction, but of course there are plenty of other people who have a finger in the regulations pie, perhaps translating international regulations into local legislation, or even those at company level. Do they all consider the same HE checklist before sending their regulations off to their ships? There is a strong recommendation that they do this, if their rules, regulations and instructions are to be ‘user-friendly’.

The centrespread of this Alert! bulletin carries a useful guide for everyone through the whole regulatory chain of command. It is good advice and if it was followed, better rules and regulations would clearly result.

The issue also carries articles about how the human element can be placed at the centre of a shipping company’s organisation, the significance of the new Maritime Labour Convention, seafarer education and training and the need for an upgrade in HE skills in the shipping company. There is an introduction to Human Organisational Factors (HOF) and perspectives from Hong Kong and South Korea. And an accident investigation report points to the contribution of fatigue – yet again - in a grounding incident involving an exhausted master. It indicates that there is still lots to take on board about human element issues.

The Alert! Project – launched in October 2003 – is a campaign to improve the awareness of the human element in the maritime industry. This is a Nautical Institute project, sponsored by Lloyd’s Register Educational Trust.

Further information about the human element awareness initiative, and electronic copies of Alert! can be found at www.he-alert.org.

The Nautical Institute is the world's leading international professional body for qualified mariners. Through its Constitution, the Council of the Nautical Institute is directed to 'provide the strongest possible professional focus, dedicated to improving standards of those in control of seagoing craft, while maintaining the Institute as an international centre of nautical excellence.'

Founded in 1972, it is a thriving international professional body for qualified mariners, with 40 branches world-wide and some 7,000 members in over 110 countries.

The Lloyd’s Register Educational Trust (LRET) is an independent charity that was established in 2004. Its principal purpose is to support advances in transportation, science, engineering and technology education, training and research worldwide for the benefit of all. It also funds work that enhances the safety of life and property at sea, on land and in the air.

The LRET focuses on four categories:

• pre-university education: through appropriate organisations, promotes careers in science, engineering and technology to young people, their parents and teachers
• university education: through universities and colleges, provides undergraduate and post-graduate scholarships and awards at first degree/masters levels to students of exceptional ability
• vocational training and professional development: supports professional institutions, educational and training establishments working with people of all ages.
• research: funds existing or new centres of excellence at institutes and universities.