Assessing human reliability in life raft inspection and maintenance to improve onboard ship operational safety

Aydın M.

OCEAN ENGINEERING, cilt.342, sa.3, ss.1-12, 2025 (SCI-Expanded)

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 342 Sayı: 3
  • Basım Tarihi: 2025
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1016/j.oceaneng.2025.123048
  • Dergi Adı: OCEAN ENGINEERING
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Scopus, Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Academic Search Premier, PASCAL, Aerospace Database, Applied Science & Technology Source, Aquatic Science & Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA), Communication Abstracts, Compendex, Computer & Applied Sciences, Environment Index, ICONDA Bibliographic, INSPEC, Metadex, Civil Engineering Abstracts
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.1-12
  • Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Ensuring operational safety is of critical importance for the protection of human life in the maritime industry.

One of the most crucial links in this safety chain is the proper execution of periodic maintenance and inspection

of emergency equipment, such as life rafts. This study presents a hybrid methodology to assess Human Error

Probabilities (HEPs) in life raft inspection and maintenance operations on board ships. The traditional Success

Likelihood Index Method (SLIM) is integrated with improved Z-numbers to more effectively model the uncertainties

and subjectivity inherent in expert judgments. Through Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA), the life raft

maintenance process was decomposed into fifteen sub-tasks, and Performance Shaping Factors (PSFs) were

identified for these tasks. HEP values for each sub-task were calculated based on the evaluations of a panel of

nine maritime experts. The analysis results indicate that tasks such as “Log and close-out inspection in maintenance

system” (HEP: 1.85E-02) and “Review service expiry dates and PSC remarks” (HEP: 8.21E-03) have the

highest error probabilities. The findings of this study identify the weakest links in life raft maintenance operations,

providing a concrete basis for measures in training, procedural improvements, and supervision. This

methodology represents a significant step towards enhancing ship operational safety by enabling a more precise

management of human-related risks in the maritime domain.