Human factor analysis of passenger ship accidents

Despite all technological developments and legal regulations, passenger ship accidents still continue to occur, due to human error. These accidents; leads to devastating material and moral losses. That's why; identification and prevention of human-induced factors are very important. In this study; 70 contact/collision and 51 grounding type passenger ship accident reports which occurred between 1991 and 2015 were examined. In order to identify accident causes related human factor; Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) method was used which have been applied frequently in the literature in recent years. As a result of the study, HFACS-PV model has been developed in order to apply on cruise ship contact/collisions and grounding accident. HFACS-PV model is suitable for identification of human factor related accident causes. As a result of the accident analysis; environmental factors, preconditions for unsafe acts, and unsafe acts performed by team members, were identified as the most important accident triggers. The importance of crew selection and assignment criteria has been emphasized for the prevention of accidents. Also, was stated that internal audits and onboard trainings may prevent the formation of preconditions which lead to unsafe acts. Primarily, it was recommended to focus on; crew education and establishment of safety culture on board and at the company, in order to prevent accidents. Key Words: Passenger ship accidents, human factors analysis in maritime accidents, Human Factors Analysis and Classification System, HFACS-PV