Reducing the probability of ship grounding: which measure to undertake?

The analytic hierarchy process has been used to elicit the knowledge of maritime transport stakeholders, such as seafarers, authorities, insurers and academics, regarding human factors and risk-reducing measures for ship groundings. Measures against human fatigue, alcohol abuse, language barriers, poor bridge management and safety climate have been compared with regard to costs and benefits. The measures are discussed in the context of large ships on a voyage of at least 24 h containing Bridge Resource Management. The study shows that stakeholders consider the costs of the measures to reduce human fatigue at sea surpass the benefits. Measures against alcohol abuse are regarded as the most cost–benefit efficient. Also, the stakeholders consider the watch scheme 8–4–4–8 to be less fatiguing than the 12–12 watch scheme. In addition, the results of the study support previous findings that inadequate manning levels contribute the most to human fatigue within the bridge management team.     

Common patterns in aggregated accident analysis charts from human fatigue-related groundings and collisions at sea

Research has shown that there are potentially disastrous outcomes of human fatigue at sea. The conditions in which the seafarers have to operate are becoming more and more demanding. The study in this article attempts to aggregate accident charts derived from in-depth studies of human fatigue-related accidents to determine common patterns of interlinked fatigue factors. The accidents are analyzed by means of the Cognitive Reliability and Error Analysis Method (CREAM), which in the article has been modified for maritime accidents. The main fatigue factors identified are ‘shift work’, ‘irregular working hours’, ‘inadequate task allocation’, and ‘excessive demands’. The study reveals several differences between ship collision and grounding accidents and their corresponding fatigue factors. Human fatigue-related collision accidents are characterized by wrong/badly timed decisions, misconceptions, and poor communication between the vessels. Right before the collision the crew is often panicking and mistakes are easily made. In human fatigue-related groundings, the conditions are often monotonous and the navigating officer has either overlooked the upcoming seabed or simply fallen asleep. Safety climate issues are also identified as important contributors to human fatigue.     

路基边坡植被护坡技术综述

介绍国内外植被防护技术的发展，现状及趋势。对边坡植被防护的主要类型，应用工程实例进行分析。强调绿色通道建设的重要性，重点研究开发新型厚层基材喷播植被技术等。     

Oil spill risk analysis of routeing heavy ship traffic in Norwegian waters

Norwegian authorities have for a long time been concerned about the risk of oil spills outside the Norwegian coast. One of the key measures adopted has been to reduce the risk of ship accidents by imposing sailing routes for heavy ship traffic (over 5,000 gross tonnages) with high environmental risk potential farther away from part of the coast. This article is based upon two reports which conducted risk assessments of imposing such sailing routes outside the entire Norwegian coast. These routes were proposed by an expert group consisting of relevant stakeholders. Data of traffic pattern and number of sailing were collected for the year 2008 using the universal Automatic Identification System (AIS). The proposed route was compared with 2008 traffic pattern in regard to the accident frequencies and the expected oil spills per year. An accident and oil spilling simulation program called MARCS was used to simulate these results. After conducting a traffic forecast for the year 2025, the simulation was again run and the results compared with the year 2008. In total, the proposed route is expected to reduce oil spills by 590 t per year in 2008 and by 3670?t in 2025. The main reason for this substantial reduction is that the number of groundings is reduced because of the distance from the shore being increased. The reduction was particularly strong for tankers.