A database designed to help improve safety in the maritime industry needs more participants. Additional data are needed to supplement the existing information and make it useful to operators. The primary focus of the database, called SHIELD, is to identify and learn from human error causes in maritime incidents.
About SHIELD
SHIELD stands for Safety Human Incident & Error Database. It was released in 2022 and was developed by several partners as part of the European Union’s SAFEMODE Project. SAFEMODE is an effort to build and improve a culture of safety throughout both the maritime industry and the aviation industry.
As technology improves in both industries, human factors are often neglected. The project aims to collect and use data about human factors in incidents. SHIELD is the database collecting and using that information. It collects data about incidents on three levels:
- Basic facts, such as where and when the incident occurred, who was involved, and what happened
- An assessment of the occurrence that describes the severity of the incident and human factors involved
- Any safety positive actions, meaning any actions human operators took that prevented the incident from being worse, as well as lessons to be learned from these actions
Feeding Data to SHIELD
The SAFEMODE project and the teams developing SHIELD are currently encouraging safety professionals, accident investigators, ship operators, and other relevant teams and individuals to begin using the database.
Several major players are already using SHIELD. These include several big cruise lines, accident investigation boards, ferry operators and both Asian and European safety agencies. These participants are helping to shape the database, but SHIELD needs more information.
For the database to provide practical solutions and lessons for limiting human error in maritime accidents, it needs a lot of real-world data. Every incident logged into the database helps SHIELD identify underlying causes of accidents and suggest useful solutions.
How SHIELD Can Make Maritime Work Safer
Much of the work of improving safety in maritime work has focused on everything but human error: safety procedures, training, checklists, technology, maintenance, and more. These are all important, but no system has yet collected significant information on the role of human error in incidents. Human error is rarely considered in safety decision making.
The developers hope that SHIELD will fill this gap. With enough information gathered, it will be able to go beyond simply listing the human factors involved in an accident. It will be able to use that information to find the underlying causes, create more accurate risk models, and tailor research.
Maritime work is always risky, but it can be safer. Improved technology is always important, but it does not take the human factor out of maritime operations. SHIELD could help improve safety in a new way, but it needs more contributors.