SEAHORSE procedure improvement system: 6th Conference on Design for Safety

Standardisation of operating procedures has been used in variety of different sectors with the aim of achieving more reliable operations hence operational safety. Likewise, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) have been adopted by the maritime sector and enforced through the regulatory framework in an attempt to achieve safer shipping operations. Despite the fact that regulations enforce the SOPs, it is often observed that during shipping operations these procedures are not followed due to various reasons. One of the most common reasons for not following the SOPs is because shipping companies suffer from poorly designed procedures, which are impractical, unclear or sometimes factually wrong. These poorly designed procedures are disregarded by crew members, which prevent the practical implementation of these SOP's during shipping operations. Therefore, it is of key importance that a systematic approach is needed to identify and improve the current SOP's as well as preventing potentially harmful workarounds.

The EU FP7 SEAHORSE project is developing a "Procedure Improvement System" which will be actively used by the crew members any time anonymously. In order to achieve this, over 400 questionnaires have been collected from seafarers across Europe where they were asked to report on impractical SOPs and common workarounds conducted on board ships. These questionnaires were organised and a risk benefit analysis was conducted. This paper will report the initial results, as well as demonstrating the overall methodology for the SEAHORSE Project's procedure improvement system.