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What is the Nautical Institute? |
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A The Nautical Institute is the world's leading international professional body for qualified mariners. Through its Constitution, the Council of the Nautical Institute is directed to '‘provide the strongest possible professional focus, dedicated to improving standards of those in control of seagoing craft, while maintaining the Institute as an international centre of nautical excellence.' Founded in 1972, it is a thriving international professional body for qualified mariners, with 40 branches world-wide and some 7,000 members in over 110 countries. |
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What is the Lloyd's Register Educational Trust? |
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The Lloyd’s Register Educational Trust, an independent charity wholly funded by
the Lloyd’s Register Group, was established in October 2004. Its principal
purpose is to support advances in transportation, science, engineering and
technology education, training and research worldwide for the benefit of all. It
also funds work that enhances the safety of life and property at sea, on land
and in the air. The Trust focuses on four categories:
 Pre-university education:
through appropriate organisations, promotes careers in science, engineering and
technology to school children, their parents and teachers.
University education:
through universities and colleges, provides undergraduate and post-graduate
scholarships and awards at first degree/masters levels to students of proven
ability.
Vocational training and professional development:
supports professional institutions, educational and training establishments
working with people of all ages.
Research:
funds existing or new centres of excellence at institutes and universities.
Contact: Michael Franklin, Director
Lloyd’s Register Educational Trust
Registered Charity No. 1111853
71 Fenchurch Street, London EC3M 4BS
Tel: +44 (0)20 7709 9166
Email: lret@lr.org
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What is the Human Element? |
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A There is no accepted international definition of the term ‘the human element’. In the maritime context, the US Coast Guard defines it as “human and organizational influences on marine safety and maritime system performance”. It can be taken to embrace anything that influences the interaction between a human and any other human, system or machine onboard ship.
Although the phrase may be fairly recent in origin, the impact of people in the maritime safety system has been with us as long as mankind has sailed the seas. Nevertheless, the particular issues that this presents are not constant. The people, systems and machines have changed, not only through the increase in technology, but also because of the need for operators to maintain the competitive edge by reducing running costs. This has resulted in a reduction in manning scales and the employment of multinational, multicultural and multilingual crews.
Furthermore, the increasing reliance upon complex systems in merchant ship operations places certain demands and constraints on the human element, not least in terms of the competence of the user and of the organizational and physical environment in which he/she is required to operate.
The IMO, through its Resolution A.947(23) - Human Element Vision, Principles and Goals for the Organization - recognizes “the need for increased focus on human-related activities in the safe operation of ships, and the need to achieve and maintain high standards of safety, security and environmental protection for the purpose of significantly reducing maritime casualties”; and that “human element issues have been assigned high priority in the work programme of the Organization because of the prominent role of the human element in the prevention of maritime casualties.”
The human element is a critical feature of all aspects of ship or system design and operation. Human element considerations do not just start at the design stage of a ship and finish at build - they must be applied throughout its lifecycle
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What is this HE initiative? |
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A The Nautical Institute and the Lloyd’s Register Educational Trust recognise the need to improve the awareness of human element issues across the maritime industry.
The aim of the Alert! project is to improve the application of human element principles in the design, construction and operation of ships.
The primary objectives of the project are to promote the need for human element awareness at a well-considered professional level, and to explain the relevance of the human element to ship operations. To this end, it provides a forum for like-minded people to share ideas, through the Alert! bulletins, and through the website. |
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What does the Alert! Bulletin offer? |
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A The International Maritime Human Element Bulletin - Alert! - is a four-monthly, 8-page newsletter whose aim is to capture the attention and raise the awareness of maritime professionals across the industry, of human element issues. The bulletins are written by, and for, maritime professionals from a broad interdisciplinary cross section of maritime and other industries.
The articles are deliberately brief and, in many cases, are linked to longer articles, papers and presentations, which are held in the Alert! website database or in other websites. The articles are not overly technical and are written in a style that is understandable to a multi-national readership.
Much thought is given to quality and imagination in the construction of the graphical centrespread sections, in order to provide the reader with a pictorial summary of some of the key issues to be considered within each subject area. These centrespreads are downloadable as stand-alone items on the website, so that they can be printed and displayed at the workstation or used for presentation purposes.
You can register for your free copy of the latest Alert! bulletin or download all previously published editions, cartoons or centrespread features. |
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What will this initiative achieve? |
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A In addition to this project raising the awareness of the key issues, additional benefits will include the establishment of a standard language and definitions within the industry, the fostering of dialogue to discuss best practices and the development of a common approach to their application. |
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Who is it aimed at? |
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A We aim to capture the attention, and raise the awareness, of maritime professionals across the industry. The project is international in scope and seeks to represent the views of all sectors of the maritime industry, ie from mariners, engineers, naval architects, port operators, regulators, insurers etc. |
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How can I get a copy of the Alert! Bulletin? |
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A You can register for your free copy of the Alert! bulletin on this website. This web site contains all previously published editions of the Alert! bulletin for online viewing, download or registering for free e-mail distribution. |
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What does this website offer? |
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A The aims of this website are to provide access to the Alert! bulletins, and to establish a common database for information about human element issues pertinent to the shipping industry and to add greater depth to the features in each of the bulletins.
The website contains all previously published editions of the Alert! bulletin - for online viewing, download or registering for free e-mail distribution. Stand-alone copies of the centrespread diagrams from each issue of the bulletin can also be downloaded.
The online database provides a structure for holding information about human element issues pertinent to the shipping industry, in one location, and with a comprehensive search feature. Documents included in the database comprise of academic papers, technical papers, magazine articles, presentations and letters to the editor.
Contributors are invited to submit academic papers, technical papers, magazine articles, presentations, letters etc that are likely to add value to the understanding and application of human element issues, to:
editor@he-alert.org.
Further information on submitting documents for the database can be found on the View Database page. |
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How can I participate further? |
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A If you are a maritime professional and wish to submit a paper on any human element issue, please go to the View Database page.
If you wish to comment on any human element issue please contact:
David Squire, FNI
Editor, Alert!
The International Maritime Human Element Bulletin
The Nautical Institute
202 Lambeth Road
London SE1 7LQ
T: +44(0) 20 7928 1351/+44(0) 1282 814998
F: +44(0) 20 7401 2871
E-mail: editor@he-alert.org
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