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What maritime accidents can teach us about human error, and structural design and engineering BY JEOM KEE PAIK LESSONS LEARNED The pursuit of green shipping and ocean energy resource exploration are key goals for todays maritime industry. At the same time, regard- less of signi cant e orts made to prevent them, accidents continue to occur while ships and offshore structures are in ser- vice. Most of these accidents are the result of a long chain of human error, with such error responsible for some 80% of all mari- time casualties. Unless human error can be minimized, it is not possible to protect human health and the environment fully and to ensure safety. Human error results from ignoring human factors and ergonomics, with such ignorance either the root cause of, or a major contributing factor to, many maritime acci- dents. Ignorance of the engineering factors that cause human error is due primarily to a lack of knowledge and guidance at the design, building, and operation stages. To eliminate or reduce human error, human factors and ergonomics must be fully taken into account, with more exten- sive knowledge applied to all stages, from design and engineering to building and operation. A key part of this more extensive knowledge is made up of lessons learned from past accidents, with a focus on struc- tural design and engineering. Impact velocity and bending moments One of the most notorious accidents in mar- itime history was the sinking of Titanic on April 15, 1912. is accident o ers several lessons from the structural design view- point. First, steel tends to become brittle at low temperatures. Even modern steel prod- ucts provide no exception to this rule, and DEDEENNNNRRAEAEEALL+ The oil tanker Erika sank in the Bay of Biscay on December 12, 1999, resulting in the spillage of 7,000 to 10,000 tons of oil. www.sname.org/sname/mt April 2012