Exploring organizational safety vulnerabilities on naval ships – a comparative quantitative analysis

Abstract

There are several recent examples of major accidents involving naval ships. The starting point for this article is the collision between the frigate ‘Helge Ingstad’ and the oil tanker ‘Sola TS’. An investigation highlighted systemic weaknesses in the Norwegian navy related to safety competence safety management, and handling of goal conflicts. By means of a cross-sectional survey involving crews on Norwegian vessels (N = 9,344), we explored if naval ships differed from other ships on such aspects. The results indicated that crew members on naval ships had less experience and less confidence in their colleagues’ competence to work safety. There were few differences related to considerations of safety management and safety practices. There are approaches available that could supplement accident investigations in systemic analyses of complex sociotechnical systems.

Keywords: Safety, Naval vessels, Culture

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1002510