UK: Maritime and Coastguard Agency Wins Safety at Sea International Award

A consortium led by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) has won a Safety at Sea International Awards for The Human Element: a guide to human behaviour in the shipping industry

This guide for the shipping industry was published in May 2010. It explains how human behaviour lies at the centre of both the profits and the losses of the shipping industry – and what companies can do about it.

The awards recognise innovations in maritime safety equipment, systems, training, management and security. The Human Element won its award for in the Management and Operations category.

Sir Alan Massey, who coincidently presented the award to Captain David Turner, head of the development project at the MCA said,

“I am delighted that the work of my Human Element team at MCA has been recognised and celebrated in this way. They have worked very hard to analyse and then publicise very widely their findings on this critical aspect of maritime safety.”

More than 80% of all accidents at sea are attributed to the Human Element. The MCA team have raised global awareness of this phenomenon and given some very practical advice to ships Captains and operators on how to mitigate the risks. Their work has become a standard reference book for those seeking to improve safety in seafaring.

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Source: MCA, June 24, 2011.