Advancing The Principles of The Prevention Through People Program (1997)

Dedicated and sustained efforts in developing an understanding of the impacts of human and organizational performance—and how to focus these impacts—are needed to advance and implement the principles of the PTP (Prevention through People) program to ultimately improve safety and effectiveness in the marine environment. A systems approach that addresses individual, team, organizational, regulatory, and environmental factors, as well as their interactive effects, should be employed. In taking such a multifactorial approach, the PTP program is on the right track. The PTP program is a means to a continuing process that has the potential to bring about unprecedented advances in marine safety and environmental protection.

The PTP program can benefit directly from the Coast Guard's current and planned human factors research. Although the Coast Guard's Human Factors R&D Program plan was not developed to support the PTP program, the ongoing projects have value for and are generally supportive of the PTP effort. The human factors projects now under way, however, do not, by themselves, provide an adequate basis for the PTP program because the objective of the Human Factors R&D Program is to increase marine safety in general. The high-risk sectors (i.e., towing vessel/barge operations, tankship operations, fishing operations, passenger vessel operations, and offshore supply vessel operations), as identified in the QAT (quality action team) report, are not specifically targeted.

In sum, the PTP program has a number of additional human factors R&D needs that currently are not part of the Coast Guard's Human Factors R&D Program, and recommendations for strategic human factors R&D that meet these needs are set forth in this chapter. These recommendations have been linked purposely to the five goals in the PTP implementation plan, not in an effort to redesign the PTP program but rather to more directly align the Human Factors R&D Program with the PTP program in order to enhance the Coast Guard's effectiveness in promoting safety and efficiency in maritime operations. Table 4-1 shows the degree to which each recommended R&D activity supports each PTP goal.

Four high-priority human factors R&D activities in support of the PTP program are recommended: (1) testbed platform projects; (2) guidelines for incorporating PTP into Coast Guard performance appraisals; (3) identification of effective incentive and disincentive systems; and (4) development and adoption of human factors engineering design guidelines for vessel design.

Each of these recommended research activities supports multiple goals of the PTP program, each to varying degrees (see Table 4-1). A description of each recommendation follows, with supporting justification. In addition to the above four research recommendations, two of the developmental activities discussed in Chapter 3 also have human factors R&D components. These activities are (a) near-miss/incident reporting, evaluation, and

dissemination and (b) human factors cost-effective case history reporting, analysis, and dissemination. The R&D components of these activities should be delineated and carried out as a part of the effort to develop and implement the activities.

Recommendation 1. The subcommittee, noting that what is known in one industry or sector cannot be applied in another without testing and modification, recommends that a testbed program be established to evaluate practical applications of the PTP principles. Much information learned from previous human factors and organizational research has not yet been applied in the marine industry. A testbed program could demonstrate the applicability to the marine industry of a selected human factors and organizational concepts, which are the foundation of the PTP program. This testbed program should be developed for several vessel types and industry sectors, including the high-risk sectors. Successful application of PTP principles in a testbed program would increase the credibility and effectiveness of the PTP program and could encourage additional industry support for and participation in the PTP program.

The Coast Guard is currently funding a project on human resource management for commercial vessels to identify and define the effects of human-related factors (e.g., fatigue, workload, scheduling) on safety and performance of marine operations. The subcommittee believes that the orientation of this project should be to use what is available in the research literature, including applications in other industries, and adapt it to maritime use in the various sectors. This can best be done through testbed program validation that would recommend specific changes. For example, results in the trucking industry about the effects of fatigue, workload, and scheduling on safety and performance are expected to lead to changes in Department of Transportation regulations on work hours and rest breaks for truckers. Such results have direct potential applicability in the marine industry.

Various applications of human factors and organizational research findings, which support PTP principles, could be examined using this platform to determine its impact on

safety and efficiency. Some examples of research issues include

• watch systems (e.g., fatigue and attention-related issues)

• inspection (equipment, structures) and maintenance systems

• new International Safety Management certification processes

• manning levels

• alternate work hours

• crew issues (including coordination, education, and training)

• components of a safety culture

• automation evaluations

• workplace issues (such as ultraviolet light studies)

• navigation and piloting aid field evaluations (e.g., the electronic chart display and information system)

• investigations of new technology implementations (such as docking systems, autonomous winch and docking systems, pilot carry-aboard packages)

• simulation model validation studies (as identified in National Research Council, 1996)

• evaluation of safety incentives and their implementation

Test platform (i.e., on-ship, on-dock) projects to study and test concepts and applications could provide many benefits that are not to be gained from traditional research activities. These include

• proof of concepts

• validation of instruments

• ability to translate theory to practice

• data evaluations for broad application

• expediting the learning process

Recommendation 2. The subcommittee recommends that the Coast Guard develop model guidelines for incorporating safety into performance appraisals that can be adapted by companies in the various sectors of the maritime industry. The Coast Guard should develop and promote an objective, criterion-based system of performance appraisal and rewards that explicitly addresses and measures safe work practices.¹

Recommendation 3. The Coast Guard should identify incentives that can encourage implementation of proven safety culture methodologies. To this end, methods used in other industries should be reviewed, adopted, and field tested as applicable.

The subcommittee also recommends that the Coast Guard undertake research to define and delineate a maritime “safety culture.” This research should address the effects of national and local cultures on the safety culture, the correlation between people's cultural backgrounds and an organization 's culture, the compatibility of individual cultural traits and organizational cultural traits with the requirements for maritime safety, and the effects of national culture on the interactions between people and the systems with which they work, all of which may affect the reliability and safety of the system (e.g., Roberts, 1993; Weick, 1987; Wenk, 1986).

In conjunction with the incentive program, the subcommittee recommends that the Coast Guard identify and review reward systems that have been successful for specific maritime organizations and companies (i.e., systems that have been shown to reduce accidents, lost work hours, and claims for workman's compensation).

Under Recommendation 3, the Coast Guard would identify incentives and disincentives, both within the marine industry and among other industries, that can be broadly adapted. Particular attention should be given to criteria for successful reward systems. The Coast Guard should also consider the possibility of developing a PTP award system as part of an incentive program.

The current PTP program emphasizes the role of operators and operating companies in maritime safety; however, it does not address specific responsibilities of equipment manufacturers, who are also important participants. To fill this gap, the subcommittee makes the following recommendation:

Recommendation 4. The PTP program should develop (or at least encourage the development of) a comprehensive and universal micro- and macroergonomics code to be used during ship design, construction, maintenance, and operational stages.

Under this recommendation, standard human factors engineering guidelines for vessel design would address areas such as automated bridge design, engine control rooms, and engine rooms of oceangoing vessels (to prevent accidents such as the Liberian flagged tankship Seal Island in which a fire broke out in the engine room of the N/V Seal Islandwhile the vessel was moored at the Hess oil refinery in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. According to the National Transportation Safety Board report, the apparent cause of the fire was the failure of the chief engineer to make proper permanent repairs to the lube oil systems duplex strainer for the steam generator). Necessary guidelines exist within the Department of Defense (e.g., MIL STD 1472D (U.S. Department of Defense, 1989); Air Force Design Handbook 1-3, Human Factors Engineering); the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; the Department of Transportation (e.g., the FAA Human Factors Design Guide (DOT/FAA/CT-96/1), and the private sector (e.g., Salvendy, 1982; Woodson et al., 1992); but these guidelines would need to be adapted for maritime use. If human factors engineering guidelines were available, the maritime industry would be able to use them in future vessel designs and modifications which would greatly reduce design-induced human errors and injuries.

National Research Council. 1996. Simulated Voyages: Using Simulation Technology to Train and License Mariners. Marine Board. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

Roberts, K.H. 1993. New Challenges to Understanding Organizations. New York: McMillan.

Salvendy, G., ed. 1982. Handbook of Human Factors and Ergonomics, 2nd ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

U.S. Department of Defense. 1989. Human Engineering Design Criteria for Military Systems, Equipment and Facilities. MIL-STD-1472D. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Defense.

Weick, K. 1987. Organizational culture and high reliability. California Management Review 29:112–127.

Wenk, E., Jr. 1986. Tradeoffs: Imperatives of Choice in a High-Tech World. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Woodson, W., B. Tillman, and P. Tillman, eds. 1992. Human Factors Design Handbook, 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.