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April 2012 www.sname.org/sname/mt Modern maritime activity is a highly developed technological operation, but it is still heav- ily dependent on the active involvement of competent people. In highly developed, and arguably complex, technological activity, while safety can be improved through changes in the under- lying technology, ultimately there comes a limit where the human factor domi- nates. Charles Perrow, in his book Normal Accidents, and Romney Duffey and John Saull in their book, Know the Risk exam- ine maritime safety, along with other sectors such as nuclear power generation and aviation. ey make the case that all technologies develop a reducing accident record, but eventually reach a plateau, after which further accidents are the result of human fallibility. e human contribution that causes these normal accidents? gen- erally refers to the operators who are part of the active control system of the technology, and there proves to be remarkable similar- ity across a wide range of industry sectors. The merchant shipping industry has made signicant improvements over a sus- tained period, as shown in Figure 1 on page 42, of total losses over the last 30 years. e trend is evident despite the aging of the world eet. e falling loss rate does not tend to zero. Notwithstanding this highly com- mendable achievement, through changes in industry practices and the development of effective regulation of shipping by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the classication societies, there are still calls for further reductions in the frequency of major marine casualties. Allan Graveson, the inuential senior national secretary of the United Kingdom-based trade union, Nautilus, clearly set down the challenge in a recent speech at the Marine Accident Investigation and Prevention Conference in London when he said, Despite the sterling e orts of the rapidly developing accident investigation industry, prompted by new regulatory measures, there is still a con- siderable way to go in an industry that has and continues to accept, a rate of losses and fatalities that other sectors of industry would nd intolerable.? Despite the falling rate of total losses, the marine underwriting community is increasingly concerned by the escalation in the size and number of marine claims. e recent trend in the number of serious casualties is shown in Figure 1 on page 42. e reasons for the increase in major claims may include a deterioration in the standards of seafarers, an accelerated technology refresh rate (implying the Despite the falling rate of total losses, the marine underwriting community is increasingly concerned by the escalation in the size and number of marine claims. The February 1996 grounding of the Sea Empress o the coast of Wales was the result of navigational error.