A quantified risk analysis for oil spill during crude oil loading operation on tanker ship under improved Z-number based Bayesian Network approach.

Crude oil cargo operation poses significant oil spill risk although utmost care is exercised by ship and shore crew. This paper focuses on quantitative risk analysis for oil spill incidents in crude oil tanker ships to enhance safety at the operational level and prevent potential pollution. To achieve this purpose, the Bayesian network (BN) is used under the improved Z-numbers theory. While BN provides a powerful tool based on cause and effect network between the variables, the improved Z-numbers are capable of handling uncertainty and improving the reliability of qualitative expert judgments. The findings show that the occurrence probability of oil spill risk in crude oil tanker ships is found 2.90E-02 during the cargo loading operation. The findings of the research are expected to contribute ship crew, safety inspectors, ship owners, HSEQ managers, and terminal managers in risk management decision-making, improving operational safety, taking control actions, and minimizing oil spills.

Neurophysiological Assessment of An Innovative Maritime Safety System in Terms of Ship Operators' Mental Workload, Stress, and Attention in the Full Mission Bridge Simulator.

The current industrial environment relies heavily on maritime transportation. Despite the continuous technological advances for the development of innovative safety software and hardware systems, there is a consistent gap in the scientific literature regarding the objective evaluation of the performance of maritime operators. The human factor is profoundly affected by changes in human performance or psychological state. The difficulty lies in the fact that the technology, tools, and protocols for investigating human performance are not fully mature or suitable for experimental investigation. The present research aims to integrate these two concepts by (i) objectively characterizing the psychological state of mariners, i.e., mental workload, stress, and attention, through their electroencephalographic (EEG) signal analysis, and (ii) validating an innovative safety framework countermeasure, defined as Human Risk-Informed Design (HURID), through the aforementioned neurophysiological approach. The proposed study involved 26 mariners within a high-fidelity bridge simulator while encountering collision risk in congested waters with and without the HURID. Subjective, behavioral, and neurophysiological data, i.e., EEG, were collected throughout the experimental activities. The results showed that the participants experienced a statistically significant higher mental workload and stress while performing the maritime activities without the HURID, while their attention level was statistically lower compared to the condition in which they performed the experiments with the HURID (all p < 0.05). Therefore, the presented study confirmed the effectiveness of the HURID during maritime operations in critical scenarios and led the way to extend the neurophysiological evaluation of the HFs of maritime operators during the performance of critical and/or standard shipboard tasks.

SWOT analysis for safer carriage of bulk liquid chemicals in tankers.

The application of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis to formulation of strategy concerned with the safe carriage of bulk liquid chemicals in maritime tankers was examined in this study. A qualitative investigation using SWOT analysis has been implemented successfully for ships that are designed to carry liquid chemicals in bulk. The originality of this study lies in the use of SWOT analysis as a management tool to formulate strategic action plans for ship management companies, ship masters and officers for the carriage of dangerous goods in bulk. With this transportation-based SWOT analysis, efforts were made to explore the ways and means of converting possible threats into opportunities, and changing weaknesses into strengths; and strategic plans of action were developed for safer tanker operation.