Knee-jerk reaction has meant drop in training

Captain John Wright, managing director of training consultants WrightWay points out that safety and teamwork training saves money for organisations in the long term – and accidents do occur, budgetary restrictions notwithstanding. “Common contributory factors such as a breakdown in teamwork and communication, inexperienced workers, poor management style, fatigue and stress feature in the majority of mishaps.” This is all the more relevant to port and terminal operations where the sheer scale and complexity of the machinery can create problematic scenarios.

For every event that lead to a fatality there were three that lead to serious injury, 30 that lead to an injury serious enough to require time off work, 300 minor injuries requiring first aid, 3,000 ‘near misses’ that did not lead to damage or injury and as many as 30,000 unsafe acts.

According to WrightWay, experience has shown that by concentrating on the elimination of the “unsafe acts”, it is possible to eliminate occurrences with more serious and costly consequences.

He adds, “Safety and efficiency are two sides of the same coin.” However, he points out that actually tackling it requires a change to a culture of shared ownership – and “cheerful accountability”. If this last seems a little unlikely, there is a programme designed to let employees gain a unique, hands-on, interactive approach using a state-of-the-art simulator. The delegates are required to work together to achieve a successful outcome, for instance, manoeuvring a cruise liner out of Southampton docks. This course concentrates on the attitudes and behaviours of individuals and their impact on safety. It provides the opportunity for people to examine their own behaviour and make individual decisions on how to improve their teamwork.