Ship Safety Officers' Perceptions and Attitudes Toward Near-Miss Management Systems

Abstract

Unlike learning from accidents, learning from near misses is based on events that caused no injuries or damage. Therefore, reporting and investigating near-miss events in shipping could be considered a more convenient means of reducing accidents and safety improvements than accident investigations. However, to facilitate learning from near misses, an adequate and efficient Near-Miss Management System must be implemented on board ship. Since ship Masters and Safety Officers are responsible for the efficiency of the Near-Miss Management System (NMMS) on the shipboard side, their attitudes and opinions on implemented systems might be considered indicators of its quality. Therefore, the questionnaire was developed and distributed among Masters and Safety Officers to collect their perceptions of and attitudes toward Near-Miss Management Systems. Furthermore, the paper aims to examine the relationship between the respondents' ranks (Masters and Safety Officers), the type of ship they are serving on, and their attitudes toward Near-Miss Management. The data analysis showed that most respondents are satisfied with the Near-Miss Management Systems implemented on their ships but consider near-misses underreported. Moreover, analysis results showed that there are no significant differences in attitudes towards NMMS between ranks and types of ships.