Article citation information:
Melnyk,
O., Onyshchenko, S., Onishchenko,
O., Lohinov, O., Ocheretna,
V., Dovidenko, Y. Basic aspects
ensuring shipping safety. Scientific
Journal of Silesian University of Technology. Series Transport. 2022, 117, 139-149. ISSN: 0209-3324. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20858/sjsutst.2022.117.10.
Oleksiy MELNYK[1],
Svitlana ONYSHCHENKO[2],
Oleg ONISHCHENKO[3],
Oleh LOHINOV[4],
Valentyna OCHERETNA[5],
Yurii DOVIDENKO[6]
BASIC ASPECTS ENSURING SHIPPING SAFETY
Summary. Widespread
use of innovative technologies in all spheres of life has brought the maritime
transport industry, in particular, the process of ship navigation, to a
completely new qualitative level. Various navigation systems recently
introduced and used only as additional devices have gradually become an
obligatory element of shipboard equipment and navigation complexes of modern
vessels, extending their functionality and capabilities. The human factor influence
caused by automation of ship operation processes becomes a separate challenge.
Risks to shipping safety and consequences of breach of safety standards for
crew, vessel and cargo are far from being a full list of the problems to be
solved. This paper offers an overview of general issues of ensuring the level of safety of
shipping, by examining the concept of "vessel safety", considering
its individual sides, features, as well as constituent aspects of the concept,
systematization of the vessel safety structure to develop solutions toward
improving the integral safety and optimization of decision-making in
emergencies. Achievement of the general purpose of shipping safety thus means
the realization of ways of reducing the influence of the human factor on
several accidents and an estimation of the degree of influence of a set of
factors on a ship during operation.
Keywords: safety
of shipping, vessel operation, safe port
1. INTRODUCTION
The issues of
studying the "safety of navigation", which is understood as a set of
measures aimed at preventing any accidents with ships during voyages, are
devoted to several works. Many of them reveal general issues, while many
attempted to assess individual accidents in a bid to analyze and establish a
cause-and-effect relationship between maritime accidents.
Scientific
researches on shipboard technical systems and complexes operation are worth
highlighting since a significant share of marine accident statistics falls into
this category. Thus, the analysis of indicators of operational safety of
shipboard technical equipment is presented in [1,25].
In [23], the enhancement of the operational safety of the engine room machinery
through training on computer base training of the engine room simulator on
board ships. Environmental performance of inland navigation vessels and
regulation of operational and accidental pollution of the environment by water
transport, estimation of potential impacts and natural resource damages of oil
[2-4]. Modeling oil spill response and damage costs in [5,16].
Issues related to the safety of maritime transport, review and application of
ship collision and grounding analysis procedures and analysis of factors
affecting the safety of maritime container transportation were studied in [6,
7, 13, 18]. The international convention for the safety of life at sea:
highlighting interrelations of measures toward effective risk mitigation [8].
Research on maritime safety issues, nature and origin of major security
concerns and potential threats to the shipping industry and maritime
situational awareness аs a key measure for safe
ship operation and methods to predict future risk with a machine learning
approach [10,12,24]. Paper [9] is devoted to the
probabilistic assessment method of hydrometeorological
conditions and their impact on the efficiency of ship operations. Cyber
security in the maritime industry, systematic survey of recent advances and
future trends were studied in [11]. Actual ship stability problems and the
influence on the safety of navigation, improvement of ship safety through
stability research and innovations [15, 17, 19]. Works [20-22] deal with the
human factor especially regarding the predictive power of inspection outcomes
for future shipping accidents – an empirical appraisal with special
attention to the human factor aspects and exploring organizational and
regulatory factors of shipboard safety.
It is impossible to create the basis for
absolute shipping safety, as this specific human activity is inseparable from
various kinds of dangers, including navigational, but it is quite realistic to
determine the aspects of shipping safety and related potential hazards for the
vessel and crew on board and take timely measures to eliminate or mitigate
their consequences.
2.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Safety of shipping is ensured if an accident-free
navigation process is maintained, the propulsion and technical equipment are
operated following proper parameters, and the ship's crew complies with the
regulations and procedures related to safety. The main criterion for the
quality of operation of both the vessel as a whole and its power plant is the
statistics of incidents, accidents and disasters.
Introduction of new technical solutions and
operational procedures for a ship's power plant or a vessel cannot instantly
change the safety level. The main purpose of increasing the level of
operational safety is to prevent errors and accidents by in-depth analysis of
their causes.
In this perspective, the definition of the safety
concept is a multifactor result, which is determined by a set of functioning of
such a system, where an important basis is the theoretical and technical skills
of specialists, their practical experience in the implementation of the ship
management processes and operation of the ship power plants, knowledge and
determination of factors causing emergencies. Presently, the safety level is
assessed by statistics and analysis of accidents and emergencies and identification
of their causes.
Given the duties and
responsibilities of masters and crews of seagoing vessels that the
international safety management code imposes on companies, all possible
measures must be taken to ensure these key points:
- the
safety of the crew (human life);
- the
safety of the vessel;
- the
safety of the cargo;
- protection
of the environment.
Fig. 1. Factors affecting the ship during operation
Several
factors have an impact on the ship in the process of operation. They can be
divided into three groups - external, internal and environmental or climatic
factors. External factors are those that influence the commercial operation of
the vessel regarding the organization, management and provision of its
production activity and achievement of maximum economic and commercial
efficiency of the transportation process. A set of internal factors can be
considered as the operation of a vessel as a technical object, including
handling and maneuvering, technical operation of
vessel systems and complexes, as well as ensuring safe carriage of cargoes. And
finally, environmental factors, among which are geographical, defining
navigation area, hydrometeorological, defining the
state of the sea, atmospheric conditions at the current moment and in the
relevant sailing area; navigational, characterizing sailing area from the
viewpoint of navigational safety. Therefore, the vessel as a system is
simultaneously a technical, economic and social object (Table 1).
Tab. 1
Impact of a combination of factors on the ship
during operation
|
External |
Internal |
Environment |
|
Organizational (loading and unloading, port
operations) |
Management of the ship and its
operations on board |
Hydrometeorological (wind, sea currents, depths) |
|
Managerial (company management, port,
class, flag requirements) |
Technical Ship operation (M/E, machinery and systems
operation, operating procedure) |
Geographic (straits, channels, rivers,
passages) |
|
Functional (repairs, maintenance,
bunkering, supply) |
Cargo stowage, distribution,
handling. Safe cargo carriage |
Navigational (handling,
collision avoidance, maneuvering, |
Many
authors in various sources proposed the definition of «ship
safety». Based on the rules of safe operation of ships according to the
ISM code, it can be concluded that a ship is considered to meet the
requirements if she is in a good technical condition and is manned by a
qualified crew, which can imply the actual declaration of her seaworthiness, in
other words, potentially safe. Other safety criteria to be considered include
navigation safety, which in turn includes shipping safety, the safety of the
vessel to perform its functions for its specialization and designated purpose,
operational safety, habitability, satisfactory living conditions and
maintenance of optimum living conditions for the vessel's crew. In the
aggregate, according to these requirements, the degree of vessel safety is
defined. Shipboard safety, systematically, can be represented in terms of
aspects in accordance with their subject orientation. The main structural
components of ship safety which are proposed for consideration include:
- technological safety or cybersecurity (state of security of
the ship and its information and operational systems against external and
internal threats caused by the use of hardware and technology);
- technical safety (ensuring the operational and functional
condition of all shipboard technical systems and complexes and preventing negative
operational factors from affecting the ship as a technical system);
- ergonomic
safety (ensuring the proper state of human activity onboard,
excluding the effect of harmful manufacturing factors on the working
conditions, health and professional activity of the crew);
- ecological safety (ensuring environmental safety against
possible negative impact and marine pollution from ships);
- navigational safety (ensuring the safety of the ship as a
navigable moving object).
Fig. 2. Basic aspects of shipping safety
Thus,
shipping safety is the whole complex of measures aimed at ensuring the
reliability of the transport process, regardless of whether or not there have
ever been accidents for one reason or another. An important role is played by
accident prevention, which includes measures aimed at the prevention of certain
accidents. Hence, it follows directly from the definition of
"shipping" that navigation safety is that aspect of shipping safety
connected with the use of ships for transportation of cargoes and passengers.
Recently,
significant attention has been directed toward the creation and implementation
of intelligent decision-making systems aimed at providing an accident-free
navigation process. Such systems should provide the navigation officer with
unique data, which cannot be obtained based on the ship's technical
documentation or navigational equipment available. The specified system
autonomously analyzes the situation, evaluates and
forecasts the dynamics of environmental changes and gives practical
recommendations on ship control in a difficult situation or ensuring its
seaworthiness in different operational states.
Environmental
safety of shipping from the perspective of performing and monitoring ship
operations should be understood as the state of protection of the marine
ecosystem through the application of preventive, predictive and proactive
measures to avoid pollution and marine environment deterioration, as well as to
reduce the danger of long-term or irreversible negative effects on it, and
ensure the environmental interests of human activity arising through achieving
a balanced coexistence of the marine ecosystem. As a concept, ecological safety
is called to estimate the probability of prevention of possible harmful
influence on the environment of wastes of industrial activity of ships and is
unavoidable at the operation of technical means and the equipment losses of
working environments and products of incomplete combustion of fuel. A
quantitative measure of environmental safety, namely, the indicator of
ecological efficiency, should be a dimensionless or percentage measure of the
prevention of harm caused to the environment by the above wastes and
pollutants. Such wastes include oily (bilge) water, sewage (waste) water,
garbage, atmospheric emissions of harmful substances with exhaust gases, and
noise.
The technical
basis of the intelligent system is the shipboard information and measuring
systems, which controls the power plant characteristics, the state of the auxiliary
machines and mechanisms, vessel technological systems and devices, and monitor
many parameters, such as power, voltage, current, energy, steam, fuel and water
flow rate, speed, pressure and temperature. Quantitative information on
numerical values of these parameters is provided by measuring instruments
(sensors and alarms) and devices sensitive to deviations of parameters from set
values. Thus, developed intelligent data processing services for technical
systems should be flexible and reliable to make supplements and changes to the
system, ensuring its ability to perceive new information and methods of
information processing. Implementation of the reliability principle allows, in
case of failure of part of the system or impossibility of control of some
parameters of the controlled object or external environment, to operate and
provide practical recommendations, which ensure the safety of the engine room
operations, and consequently, ensure the safe operation of the vessel.
Ergonomics is
also closely related to engineering psychology, which studies the composition
and structure of mental processes underlying human-operator activity. In this
regard, ergonomic research is understood as the development of methods that
consider the human factor when creating technical means, designing and
organizing the activities of specialists in operating systems. A system is
ergonomic if it optimally distributes functions between human and machine parts
and solves other tasks for the ship's safety. The distribution of functions in
the system between human and machine aims at the optimal use of the
characteristics of the machine and human link. Each function is assigned to a
technical device or operator, depending on how it is matched to the
capabilities of one or the other link in the system.
In the
human-machine interaction system, the following functions should be included in
the advantages of using machines and the operator (Table 2);
Tab. 2
Comparative characteristics of
the activity of the operator and the machine
|
Machine |
Operator |
|
- Processing of information
according to a given program (solving navigational and operational tasks); |
- The ability to recognize
objects regardless of changing perceptual conditions and by implication; |
|
- Maintaining a set value of
the parameter (maintaining the set course, ensuring the set frequency of
propeller rotation); performance of operations and alarming about
malfunctions, parameter limit value, etc.); |
- Acquisition of generalized
concepts based on disparate facts; |
|
- Storing large amounts of
data in memory and providing it in a specified form (electronic cartography,
information systems); |
- Solving tasks unintended
by instructions given by a program or an algorithm; decisions connected with
high responsibility for possible consequences, especially in extreme
conditions and high-risk situations. |
Thus, ways of
optimal presentation to the operator of information about the state of the
control object and the external environment are based on the concept of the
information model - a set of information display tools, the perception of which
in the mind of the operator is formed by a set of ideas about the state of the
processes and objects displayed. In case of a deviation of the process course
from the norm, the operator interferes with it and has to restore the normal
course of the process within a certain time.
Other factors ensuring the safety of navigation
are, primarily, the safety of a vessel, which is expressed in the coordination
of actions of coastal and ship components, their optimum interaction excluding
the occurrence of emergencies the precondition of that interaction defects.
Fig. 3. Components of safe
ship operation
For
navigational safety, it is necessary to emphasize that the navigator's
workplace in the ship's control system is the navigation bridge, which is an
area consisting of the steering and navigating wheelhouse and the bridge wings.
The bridge design should enable one person to control the vessel from a single
command post, which is especially important when working in tense situations
requiring urgent assessment of the situation and immediate decision-making.
Equally, the bridge design should enable a group of people (the captain, watch
officer, pilot, helmsmen and lookouts) to work together under any sailing
conditions and circumstances. Furthermore, the bridge officers and others on
watch must be able to observe the horizon in as large a sector as possible
without having to move around the bridge while at the same time following the
readings of the most important indicators.
Fig. 4. Algorithm of action in case of an emergency on board
Safety
management systems have an indisputable priority and actively influence the
management system of the main production activity of the shipping company and
regulate its activity following the rules and norms of shipping safety and
environmental protection. Shipping companies must ensure a stable two-way
communication of ships with the shore, timely reports of captains on the
operational situation and condition of their ships, arising problems and
actions taken to eliminate them, as well as the development of emergency plans
and readiness of the company to promptly respond to dangers that may arise on
the ships.
In
turn, Masters, being properly qualified to operate a ship, must be fully aware
of the company's safety management system, fully implement the company's safety
policy on board the ships, and be the shipowner’s
trusted and authorized representative. Companies shall not prevent the master
from taking such actions as may be deemed uniquely necessary for protecting
human life, ensuring the safety of the ship, maintaining the safety of the
cargo and preventing pollution of the environment.
Modern views and approaches to the protection of
transport infrastructure facilities and vehicles against acts of illegal
intrusion should be actively implemented in the security system of commercial
seaports as critical infrastructure objects. Recently, along with obvious
issues such as unauthorized access and theft of cargo and smuggling, the
problem of illegal migration has become particularly acute. In the opinion of
industry experts, developing effective solutions to ensure the safety of ports
is an extremely urgent task. Of course, among the effective ways of implementing
these solutions is the use of video surveillance in seaports; however, other
issues remain unresolved. Current conditions of seaports functioning are one of
the most favorable for the implementation of an ideal
security system. Given the large number of port equipment, machinery and
mechanisms used for technological processes, the integration of seaport
security systems entails certain difficulties. Additionally, regardless of the
security equipment and systems in use, the daily operation of the port must not
be disrupted.
Fig. 5. Measures to ensure the safety of the ship in port
The
concept of a safe port also plays an important role in the system of ensuring
the safety of shipping. Two main elements to be considered are the
socio-political situation in the country of the proposed port of call, as well
as the level of technological and technical equipment of the port security and
resources for its protection, which can provide adequate measures to protect
the crew, the vessel and the cargo. In addition, are navigational factors such
as safe water depth at the berth, sufficient room for maneuvering,
shelter from adverse weather conditions and safe anchorage.
Approach channels of sufficient width with safe depths, right-lined sections
and minimum curvature of turns, passages under bridges and tolerable current
speeds. Berths must meet the criteria of sufficient overall dimensions,
reliable berthing, mooring facilities and equipment for cargo operations.
Hence, safe weather and climatic conditions should be carefully studied and
considered during all operations planning throughout the period of port time.
Fig.
6. Safe port concept
3. CONCLUSION
The
most important principle in the system of ship operation is ensuring the safety
of shipping and the protection of human life at sea, which is achieved by the
effective solution of the set tasks. The most important components of
accident-free fleet operation are based on a complex of organizational and
technical measures aimed at the implementation of national and international
requirements in the field of safety of shipping, as well as the prevention of
environmental pollution. Due to considerable progress in the study of the
problems of accident-free shipping, referring to the analysis of ship operation
problems, including statistics of accidents and emergencies, it has been made
clear that to reduce and prevent the loss of life and serious accidents, it is
necessary to improve ship design, construction and equipment, and develop the
scientific basis of ship navigation and her technical operation. However, the
number of accidents and failures at sea, which affects the general shipping
safety indicators, is still significant. It is necessary to establish
procedures for the identification and characterization of probable transport
accidents, hazardous situations and emergencies, and incidents on the board and
develop methods of response to them. Systematic training of ship crews to act
in identified or encountered and unforeseen or potentially possible emergencies
should be carried out by ship-owning companies to establish and implement measures.
This ensures the constant readiness of the company to promptly, adequately and
effectively respond to different potentially possible emergencies and set
standards for all kinds of potentially possible risks, which together will
contribute to improving the safety of shipping.
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Received 02.07.2022; accepted in
revised form 20.09.2022
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[1] Department of Navigation and Maritime Safety, Odesa National Maritime University, 34, Mechnikov str., 65029, Odesa, Ukraine. Email: m.onmu@ukr.net. ORCID: https://orcid.org/ 0000-0001-9228-8459
[2] Department of Fleet Opertion and Transport Technology, Odessa National Maritime University, 34, Mechnikov str., Odessa, 65029, Ukraine. Email: onyshenko@gmail.com. ORCID: https://orcid.org/ 0000-0002-7528-4939
[3] Department of Technical Fleet Operation, National University “Odessa Maritime Academy”, 8, Didrikhson str., Odessa, 65029, Ukraine. Email: oleganaton@gmail.com ORCID: https://orcid.org/ 0000-0002-3766-3188
[4] Department of Navigation and Maritime Safety, Odesa National Maritime University, 34, Mechnikov str., 65029 Odesa, Ukraine. Email: ologinov@ukr.net. ORCID: https://orcid.org/ 0000-0002-4540-731X
[5] Department of Navigation and Maritime Safety, Odesa National Maritime University, 34, Mechnikov str., 65029 Odesa, Ukraine. Email: fikyss2014@gmail.com. ORCID: https://orcid.org/ 0000-0003-4077-6711
[6] Department of Technical Fleet Operation, National University “Odessa Maritime Academy”, 8, Didrikhson str., Odessa, 65029, Ukraine. Email: dovid.yriy@hotmail.com. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4544-9744