Examining Human Factors for marine casualties using HFACS - maritime accidents (HFACS-MA)

A dedicated Human and Organisational Factors (HOFs) framework for maritime accidents analysis is obviously worthwhile to be developed. In this article, a prototype of the framework is proposed and named as Human Factors Analysis and Classification System for Maritime Accidents (HFACS-MA). This is an analogue of HFACS and is in line with the core concepts of Reason´s Generic Error Modelling System (GEMS) and Hawkins´s SHEL model. Moreover, it complies with the requirements regarding the International Maritime Organization (IMO) guidelines. A proposed analysis method which incorporates HFACS-MA with Why-Because Analysis to provide a comprehensive insight into the accident regarding Herald of Free Enterprise disaster is also demonstrated. This integration may prove beneficial for spotlighting the causalities of the causal factors identified and the vulnerability of the operating system. The reasons that the integration can be deemed as complements to the demographics of a study using HFACS are also discussed in this paper.