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For port authorities and shipping firms to enhance vessel quality and ensure safety of maritime, Port State Control (PSC) inspections are crucial. Notwithstanding the tremendous efforts made in recent years to improve PSC, one issue that persists in PSC inspection practices today is the absence of pertinent schemes or scholarly studies that concentrate on the particular deficiency type-centric perspective of detention of vessel, which is crucial to the inspection mechanism. Considering the International Safety Management (ISM) Code type-sourced deficiencies, which is one of the most prevalent deficiency types, this paper reveals and evaluates the correlation between various influencing factors and types of deficiencies, and their effect on detention caused by ISM Code deficiency. In this regard, it is aimed to develop a data-driven machine learning-based model using the detention records collected within the Tokyo MoU region from 2017 to 2023 in this paper. Tree Augmented Naive Bayes (TAN), one of the most popular data-driven Bayesian Network techniques, is therefore exploited. Findings of this study point out that detention period appears as the most important predictor to determine the occurrence of detention caused by ISM Code deficiency followed by detention place and ship type, respectively. The findings of this research may provide significant insights to port authorities and ship operating companies for developing policy formulation and setting priorities to mitigate the detention risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Studies conducted to determine the efficacy of the ISM Code in the past include investigations of the trends of accident numbers and insurance claims and users'' perceptions. None of these, however, could produce a definitive conclusion. This is because both the use of safety outcome as well as the use of perception have inherent problems and are not reliable. This paper takes a different approach. It draws on wider research on management of workplace health and safety to ascertain whether or not employment and social conditions that support effective implementation of self-regulation are present in the maritime context. The findings reveal a considerable disparity between managers'' and seafarers'' understanding of the use of the Code resulting in a wide gap between its intended purpose and practice. The analysis shows that the critical factor is the lack of seafarers'' participation in management of workplace health and safety. The underlying causal factors for such lack of participation were located in seafarers'' poor employment condition and low-trust relationship with their managers. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In shipping, safety depends on the reliability of the technical and human components of the ship-system, although the marine environment itself may sometimes be so hostile as to give rise to accidents that are beyond technical and human control. The need for a continuous analysis of shipping accidents is dictated by the accumulated evidence for the predominance of the human factor and the ever-increasing pressure for further improvement on the safety record of shipping. In this context, the effectiveness of enforced regulations towards the promotion of safety policy in shipping is assessed and the debate and focus on this issue are maintained. The purpose of this paper is to examine human reliability with reference to all accidents involving Greek-flagged ships during 1993–2006, a time-scale that spans over the pre- and post-ISM period. The accident data were processed through a decision tree analysis, which enabled the classification of various accident factors, which, for the purpose of this approach, were treated as the tree variables. In the context of assessing the effectiveness of the implemented ISM Code, the above-mentioned analysis revealed that although the human element maintained its dominance in shipping accidents, there is also substantial evidence in support of its effective control during the post-ISM period, since the implementation of the ISM Code led to an overall reduction of human-induced accidents. Furthermore, the ISM Code was found to remove the influence of vessel type upon the human or non-human source of accidents, since prior to ISM implementation tankers and Ro-Pax vessels were profoundly linked to human-induced accidents. In terms of location, the ISM Code improved the human-induced accident record in both navigational regions of restricted and open waters. However, its impact in terms of location was less effective, since the navigation in restricted waters proved to be distinctively linked to human-induced accidents in comparison to that of open waters, over the entire period of investigation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article explores the recordkeeping practices of seafarers concerning the implementation of work and rest hours' regulations. In particular, it considers what motivates seafarers to hide their violations through record adjustment. The research adopted a qualitative research methodology to understand this industry problem, involving the use of semi-structured interviews. These were conducted with 20 seafarers to analyze their recording practices and adjustment of records. The participants underline that the imbalance between workload and manning levels leads to recurrent violations, particularly during port-related operations and for seafarers on the 6On/6Off watch system. To hide their violation and feign compliance, the data revealed that almost all seafarers in our study adjusted work and rest hours' records. The fear of the consequences of non-conformities during third party inspections is the main driver for such adjustment of records. Employment concerns and job insecurity tend to make seafarers submissive to the companies' interests, and they place the ship interests first. Flag State, Port State, and shipping companies seem to disregard violations and adjustments. Therefore, adjusting records seems a low-risk option for seafarers. However, systematic adjustment of records points to failures of the International Safety Management (ISM) Code and its audit system. In many cases, seafarers accept unfavorable work conditions and embrace the ethos of 'ship first'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]