IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/reensy/v216y2021ics0951832021004567.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Searching for the origins of the myth: 80% human error impact on maritime safety

Author

Listed:
  • Wróbel, Krzysztof

Abstract

There is a strong belief among researchers that humans contribute to some 80% of industrial accidents, including those occurring in shipping. However, few sources give actual evidence and hard data to support this statement, and even fewer sources provide a detailed analysis of what where the actual human factors or errors causing the accidents. Therefore, a literature review has been performed to verify the common belief and identify its source. A total of 292 documents has been reviewed. Results indicate that although original research generally agrees that a human error constitutes a significant contribution to the maritime accident occurrence, the widely accepted 80% rate itself in unsubstantiated.

Suggested Citation

  • Wróbel, Krzysztof, 2021. "Searching for the origins of the myth: 80% human error impact on maritime safety," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:reensy:v:216:y:2021:i:c:s0951832021004567
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ress.2021.107942
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0951832021004567
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ress.2021.107942?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zheng Wan & Jihong Chen, 2018. "Human errors are behind most oil-tanker spills," Nature, Nature, vol. 560(7717), pages 161-163, August.
    2. Rajagopal, 2014. "The Human Factors," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Architecting Enterprise, chapter 9, pages 225-249, Palgrave Macmillan.
    3. Ramos, M.A. & Thieme, Christoph A. & Utne, Ingrid B. & Mosleh, A., 2020. "Human-system concurrent task analysis for maritime autonomous surface ship operation and safety," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    4. Antão, Pedro & Guedes Soares, C., 2008. "Causal factors in accidents of high-speed craft and conventional ocean-going vessels," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 93(9), pages 1292-1304.
    5. Sercan Erol & Ersan Basar, 2015. "The analysis of ship accident occurred in Turkish search and rescue area by using decision tree," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(4), pages 377-388, May.
    6. Kujala, P. & Hänninen, M. & Arola, T. & Ylitalo, J., 2009. "Analysis of the marine traffic safety in the Gulf of Finland," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 94(8), pages 1349-1357.
    7. Yildiz, Serdar & Uğurlu, Özkan & Wang, Jin & Loughney, Sean, 2021. "Application of the HFACS-PV approach for identification of human and organizational factors (HOFs) influencing marine accidents," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    8. Goss, Richard, 2008. "Social responsibility in shipping," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 142-146, January.
    9. Isidro F. Aguillo, 2012. "Is Google Scholar useful for bibliometrics? A webometric analysis," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 91(2), pages 343-351, May.
    10. Wróbel, Krzysztof & Montewka, Jakub & Kujala, Pentti, 2017. "Towards the assessment of potential impact of unmanned vessels on maritime transportation safety," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 155-169.
    11. Oster, Clinton V. & Strong, John S. & Zorn, C. Kurt, 2013. "Analyzing aviation safety: Problems, challenges, opportunities," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 148-164.
    12. Tzannatos, Ernestos & Kokotos, Dimitris, 2009. "Analysis of accidents in Greek shipping during the pre- and post-ISM period," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 679-684, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wu, Bing & Yip, Tsz Leung & Yan, Xinping & Guedes Soares, C., 2022. "Review of techniques and challenges of human and organizational factors analysis in maritime transportation," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    2. Bye, Rolf J. & Aalberg, Asbjørn L., 2018. "Maritime navigation accidents and risk indicators: An exploratory statistical analysis using AIS data and accident reports," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 174-186.
    3. Chang, Chia-Hsun & Kontovas, Christos & Yu, Qing & Yang, Zaili, 2021. "Risk assessment of the operations of maritime autonomous surface ships," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    4. Wang, Huanxin & Liu, Zhengjiang & Wang, Xinjian & Graham, Tony & Wang, Jin, 2021. "An analysis of factors affecting the severity of marine accidents," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    5. Zhang, Mingyang & Montewka, Jakub & Manderbacka, Teemu & Kujala, Pentti & Hirdaris, Spyros, 2021. "A Big Data Analytics Method for the Evaluation of Ship - Ship Collision Risk reflecting Hydrometeorological Conditions," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    6. Carine Dominguez-Péry & Lakshmi Narasimha Raju Vuddaraju & Isabelle Corbett-Etchevers & Rana Tassabehji, 2021. "Reducing maritime accidents in ships by tackling human error: a bibliometric review and research agenda," Journal of Shipping and Trade, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 1-32, December.
    7. Wang, Lei & Liu, Qing & Dong, Shiyu & Guedes Soares, C., 2022. "Selection of countermeasure portfolio for shipping safety with consideration of investment risk aversion," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    8. Du, Lei & Goerlandt, Floris & Kujala, Pentti, 2020. "Review and analysis of methods for assessing maritime waterway risk based on non-accident critical events detected from AIS data," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    9. Bing Wu & Xinping Yan & Yang Wang & C. Guedes Soares, 2017. "An Evidential Reasoning‐Based CREAM to Human Reliability Analysis in Maritime Accident Process," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(10), pages 1936-1957, October.
    10. Abaei, Mohammad Mahdi & Hekkenberg, Robert & BahooToroody, Ahmad & Banda, Osiris Valdez & van Gelder, Pieter, 2022. "A probabilistic model to evaluate the resilience of unattended machinery plants in autonomous ships," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    11. Bhardwaj, U. & Teixeira, A.P. & Guedes Soares, C., 2022. "Casualty analysis methodology and taxonomy for FPSO accident analysis," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 218(PB).
    12. Chang, Chiung-Ting, 2017. "Risk factors associated with flying in adverse weather: From the passengers' point of view," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 68-75.
    13. Sotiralis, P. & Ventikos, N.P. & Hamann, R. & Golyshev, P. & Teixeira, A.P., 2016. "Incorporation of human factors into ship collision risk models focusing on human centred design aspects," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 210-227.
    14. Weiliang Qiao & Yu Liu & Xiaoxue Ma & Yang Liu, 2020. "Human Factors Analysis for Maritime Accidents Based on a Dynamic Fuzzy Bayesian Network," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 40(5), pages 957-980, May.
    15. Rong, H. & Teixeira, A.P. & Guedes Soares, C., 2022. "Maritime traffic probabilistic prediction based on ship motion pattern extraction," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).
    16. Özkan Uğurlu & Serdar Yıldız & Sean Loughney & Jin Wang & Shota Kuntchulia & Irakli Sharabidze, 2020. "Analyzing Collision, Grounding, and Sinking Accidents Occurring in the Black Sea Utilizing HFACS and Bayesian Networks," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 40(12), pages 2610-2638, December.
    17. Çakır, Erkan & Fışkın, Remzi & Sevgili, Coşkan, 2021. "Investigation of tugboat accidents severity: An application of association rule mining algorithms," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    18. Kaptan, Mehmet & Uğurlu, Özkan & Wang, Jin, 2021. "The effect of nonconformities encountered in the use of technology on the occurrence of collision, contact and grounding accidents," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 215(C).
    19. Abreu, Danilo T.M.P. & Maturana, Marcos C. & Droguett, Enrique Lopez & Martins, Marcelo R., 2022. "Human reliability analysis of conventional maritime pilotage operations supported by a prospective model," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    20. Angelos Pantouvakis & Maria Karakasnaki, 2016. "An empirical assessment of ISM Code effectiveness on performance: the role of ISO certification," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(7), pages 874-886, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:reensy:v:216:y:2021:i:c:s0951832021004567. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/reliability-engineering-and-system-safety .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.