Safety first: building a ‘safety climate’ is key to avoiding marine accidents
Located at the gateway to southern China and the centre of the fast-developing Asia-Pacific trading basin, the Hong Kong port has always played a key strategic role in the economic development of the city.
In 2016, Hong Kong was ranked as the fifth largest container port in the world, handling more than 19.8 million teu (20-foot equivalent units) of containerised goods. The Chinese mainland remains the biggest source and destination of Hong Kong’s transshipment cargo, carried by oceangoing vessels and river trade feeders. Last year, the number of vessels arriving in Hong Kong exceeded 185,000.
The Hong Kong port is renowned for its efficiency. Yet the busy maritime activities have also brought concerns around safety issues. In 2015, the marine department recorded 319 accidents in Hong Kong waters, ranging from collisions and groundings to fires and explosions. In fact, over the past decade, the annual accident figure has always remained way above 300.
Maritime safety refers to the process of implementing international and national rules with the objective of minimising the risks to people (crew, passengers), property (ships, cargoes, containers) and the environment. Shipping is one of the most international yet risky industries in the world. To improve the safety of shipping operations and the environment, the International Maritime Organisation has been developing a number of international safety regulations for shipping nations to follow.
However, often the regulations are just minimum requirements. Safety involves not only the technical skills but also operations and management. Accidents usually occur on board because of unsafe acts or errors by crew and employees, which cannot be readily avoided through best practice or established rules. For ship managers and maritime companies, in order to reduce the frequency of unsafe acts, it is necessary not only to instil the requisite skills but also to create a safety climate in which employees have an awareness of safety issues and safety behaviour.
Organisational safety climate refers to the coherent set of perceptions and expectations that employees have regarding safety in their organisation. It is related to shared perceptions about organisational values, norms, beliefs, practices and procedures. Research has shown that safety climate can help predict safety-related outcomes, such as fatalities or injuries.