确保航行安全的关键

Keys to navigational safety

每每出现严重事故,公众谴责如潮,要求严惩祸首,都表明海事安全是不容妥协的。现在的人们,至少是产业界的人们,愿意相信这样一种观点：事故都是可以防范的,而出了事故是不能原谅的。这些人与他们的前任们相比,

Marine safety, as might be discerned from the expressions of public outrage that follow a prominent casualty, with demands for fearsome penalties for the guilty, is today a non-negotiable given. A population, at least in the industrialised world, is encouraged to believe that no accident is ever acceptable and that all are preventable. The fact that this same population is probably more insulated from any knowledge about the sea and ships than any of its predecessors is largely irrelevant, when perception is the most important factor. The shipping industry, despite a number of well-publicised casualties and others which largely escape public attention, does not have a bad record, considering the increase in the number of units in the world fleet and the potentially hazardous environment in which it operates. For the last ten years, total losses have declined and are presently running at around 100 ships per annum. How many of these accidents, especially where the failure to follow proper procedures has been identified, will be attributable to what might be described as 'bad habits', perhaps cultivated over many years? It has sometimes been suggested that, in this instance, the shipping industry needs to take some lessons from aviation, where there are regular assessments of those on the flight deck, both on operations and in simulators. The cost implications here are considerable, although it is significant that a number of shipping companies, notably those operating passenger ships and tankers, undertake these regular assessments of their officers' skills. It is perhaps arguable that the procedure for revalidation of certificates needs to be made less of an academic exercise, with the far greater availability of simulators perhaps providing a useful tool for this work.