Maritime safety in Nigeria: A necessity for human development

Over the years, shipping industry has recorded a fairly good safety record but marine accidents are potentially catastrophic. The high rate of fatal injuries in shipping is caused by organisational accidents and maritime disasters. Marine accidents can be expensive in terms of human lives and cost arising from damage claims to pollution of the marine environment.  Marine accidents and unintended pollution at sea do not just occur as they are products of several factors. The sustenance of safety in shipping industry requires human resources who are committed to following safety procedures.

Maritime safety is concerned with the protection of ships, safety of lives and the environment. This has been achieved through the promulgation of international instruments. This is because a ship is not automatically safe as people at all levels of the organisation have to create safety through practice at all times. Regarding safety, the priorities and preferences expressed by people through practice may be a logical reproduction of what the organisation finds important.

Human development is a well-being concept about individuals living a good life, being healthy and educated, and more importantly having access to resources. Essentially, peoples’ capability to what they can do and what they can become is pivotal to human development. Even when human development is at its peak in a nation, human error thrives in organisations including those in the marine industry. This is because underneath every human error, there is a more complex story. “Human error is the inevitable by-product of the pursuit of success in an imperfect, unstable and resource-constrained world,” according to Sydney Dekker. It is against this backdrop that this article seeks to examine the impact of human development on maritime safety in Nigeria. The objective of this is to identify human development as a prerequisite for maritime safety in Nigeria.

Conceptual definitions

Before delving into an overview of human factor-related marine accidents, it is necessary to conceptualise from the outset two phrases central to the topic, namely: human development and maritime safety. There are several theories as well as definitions of human development. In human development people are the focus. Accordingly, “human development is concerned with basic development idea, namely, advancing the richness of human life rather than the richness of the economy in which human beings live”. By extension, development of people requires that concerted efforts be made towards improving the range of choices in all areas of human endeavour. This is because people are an essential component of any organisation and they run the system. Enlarging human choices is linked to two issues, namely, capabilities and opportunities.

Human capabilities can be enhanced through the development of human resources, namely, good health and nutrition, education and skill training. However, these capabilities are latent unless opportunities exist to use them for productive purposes. Humans need economic, political and social opportunities to possess stated capabilities. These opportunities are only a means to an end because they are only necessary but not sufficient to engender human development. Human development is measured by the Human Development Index (HDI). The HDI encompasses life expectancy, literacy, education, GDP/capita and standard of living, while there six components, namely, “equity, sustainability, productivity, empowerment, cooperation and security”. Human development will therefore be defined as the process of broadening peoples’ capabilities and opportunities in order to improve their well-being.

There exists a body of literature that espoused different perspectives on the term maritime safety. It is not within the scope of this article to catalogue existing definitions but to extract a definition that is relevant. Specifically, “maritime safety involves the aversion of human losses and injuries, the preservation of marine and coastal environment and the protection of vessels and their cargoes”. By implication, maritime safety is principally concerned with ensuring safety of life at sea, safety of navigation, and the protection of the marine environment. Within the context of this article, maritime safety will be defined as the protection and preservation of crews, ships, cargoes and the environment from accident and incident.

Overview of human factor-related marine accidents

The human factor is a complex multi-dimensional issue that affects maritime safety and marine environmental protection. It involves the entire spectrum of human activities performed by those operating in the maritime industry (ships’ crew, shore-based staff, regulatory bodies, recognised organisations, shipyards, legislators and other relevant parties,) who need to cooperate to address human element issues effectively. Data concerning marine accidents and incidents have always been generated and investigated by agencies appointed by governments in coastal states where accidents have occurred or by countries flagging such vessels.

An analysis of port accidents from the beginning of the 20th Century contained in the Major Hazard Incident Data Service (MHIDAS) revealed a rise in the number of incidents in the maritime domain. According to MHIDAS, “Between 1981 and 1990, 82 accidents were reported, while between 1991 and 2000, there were 282 incidents. Of the total, 83 percent had occurred in the last 20 years and 59 percent in the last decade.” In 2012, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) statistics reveals that 70 cargo ships of over 500 tonnes and about 200 lives were lost due to various forms of marine incident. The International Shipping Federation (ISF) also reported that the quantity of oil spilled reduced from 384,000 tonnes in 1983 to only 10,000 tonnes in 1998. Human factors were cited as responsible for 16 percent of all port accidents, while the remaining 84 percent of port accidents were caused by other unstated error-producing conditions. An analysis of causes of marine incidents from 1981 to 1992 shows “human element as the major cause of sea accidents, with a percentage of 74 percent, while other contributing factors such as problems of misjudgement (45 percent), lack of attention (23 percent), communication problems (10 percent) and misunderstanding (9 percent)”.

Although there are no criteria for reporting accidents in the maritime domain, these statistics did not account for maritime accidents in developing countries as the accident-reporting culture within these nations was not strong. For instance, it was recently reported in one of the newspapers that “Nigeria does not have a credible marine accident data”. This is true as most accidents and incidents apart from loss of lives are not reported by ships to appropriate authorities, while regulations are not enforced effectively. The loss of lives and ships are mostly heard on television or read on the pages of newspapers. What about incidents that do not involve the loss of lives or pollution of the maritime environment. Effective reporting mechanism has to be put in place in order to report maritime casualties. This can be achieved through safety advocacy and by a thorough investigation and systematic analysis of casualties for contributory factors and causal chain of events.

M.A. Johnson