IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ecolab/v30y2019i4p549-565.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Organisational support and safety management: A study of shipboard safety supervision

Author

Listed:
  • Conghua Xue

    (Nantong Shipping College, China)

  • Lijun Tang

    (University of Plymouth, UK)

Abstract

Shipping is a safety critical industry where operational errors may lead to maritime accidents involving property damage, loss of lives and environmental pollution. As part of the trend towards self-regulation, the International Maritime Organisation has adopted a worldwide International Safety Management Code which made ship managers responsible for workplace health and safety. This study, based on interviews in two Chinese shipping companies, examines how ship managers use ship visits to monitor shipboard safety management. Interviews with managers from company offices and crew members indicated that managerial ship visits mainly take the form of inspections that focus on low-trust surveillance and disciplinary action rather than genuine support, being based on the safe person rather than the more effective safe place approach. From the perspective of crew members, because the managers visited ships only occasionally, they were unlikely to have sound knowledge of the specific situations and work routines on their ships. Consequently, managers’ interventions for safety compliance were seen by crew members as failing to address real risk factors, and leading instead to increased workloads, psychological pressure and fatigue, the very antithesis of safety management. Meanwhile a coherent, supportive system for reducing risk remains underdeveloped in the shipping industry. JEL Codes: J81, J83, L91, M54, N75

Suggested Citation

  • Conghua Xue & Lijun Tang, 2019. "Organisational support and safety management: A study of shipboard safety supervision," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 30(4), pages 549-565, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ecolab:v:30:y:2019:i:4:p:549-565
    DOI: 10.1177/1035304619869575
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1035304619869575
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1035304619869575?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sharon Clarke & Katie Ward, 2006. "The Role of Leader Influence Tactics and Safety Climate in Engaging Employees' Safety Participation," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(5), pages 1175-1185, October.
    2. David Walters & Nick Bailey, 2013. "Lives in Peril," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-137-35729-8, September.
    3. Angelos Pantouvakis & Maria Karakasnaki, 2016. "An empirical assessment of ISM Code effectiveness on performance: the role of ISO certification," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(7), pages 874-886, October.
    4. Lijun Tang & Syamantak Bhattacharya, 2018. "Beyond the management–employee dyad: supply chain initiatives in shipping," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(3), pages 196-210, May.
    5. Bhattacharya, Syamantak, 2012. "The effectiveness of the ISM Code: A qualitative enquiry," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 528-535.
    6. Angelos Pantouvakis & Maria Karakasnaki, 2018. "The human talent and its role in ISM Code effectiveness and competitiveness in the shipping industry," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(5), pages 649-664, July.
    7. Neil Ellis & Michael Bloor & Helen Sampson, 2010. "Patterns of seafarer injuries," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(2), pages 121-128, March.
    8. Tzannatos, Ernestos & Kokotos, Dimitris, 2009. "Analysis of accidents in Greek shipping during the pre- and post-ISM period," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 679-684, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Esra Yalcin & Gokcen Alev Ciftcioglu & Burcin Hulya Guzel, 2023. "Human Factors Analysis by Classifying Chemical Accidents into Operations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-16, May.
    2. Fan, Shiqi & Yang, Zaili, 2024. "Accident data-driven human fatigue analysis in maritime transport using machine learning," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ek, Åsa & Runefors, Marcus & Borell, Jonas, 2014. "Relationships between safety culture aspects – A work process to enable interpretation," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 179-186.
    2. Wang, Likun & Yang, Zaili, 2018. "Bayesian network modelling and analysis of accident severity in waterborne transportation: A case study in China," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 277-289.
    3. Helen Devereux & Emma Wadsworth, 2021. "Work scheduling and work location control in precarious and ‘permanent’ employment," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 32(2), pages 230-246, June.
    4. Angelos Pantouvakis & Maria Karakasnaki, 2016. "An empirical assessment of ISM Code effectiveness on performance: the role of ISO certification," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(7), pages 874-886, October.
    5. Carolyn AE Graham & David Walters, 2021. "Representation of seafarers’ occupational safety and health: Limits of the Maritime Labour Convention," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 32(2), pages 266-282, June.
    6. Yue Jiao & Maxim A. Dulebenets & Yui-yip Lau, 2020. "Cruise Ship Safety Management in Asian Regions: Trends and Future Outlook," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-15, July.
    7. Ryan Mullins & Raj Agnihotri, 2022. "Digital selling: organizational and managerial influences for frontline readiness and effectiveness," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 50(4), pages 800-821, July.
    8. Wróbel, Krzysztof, 2021. "Searching for the origins of the myth: 80% human error impact on maritime safety," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    9. Andrea Bazzoli & Matteo Curcuruto & James I. Morgan & Margherita Brondino & Margherita Pasini, 2020. "Speaking Up about Workplace Safety: An Experimental Study on Safety Leadership," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-22, September.
    10. Guizhen Zhang & Vinh V. Thai & Adrian Wing‐Keung Law & Kum Fai Yuen & Hui Shan Loh & Qingji Zhou, 2020. "Quantitative Risk Assessment of Seafarers’ Nonfatal Injuries Due to Occupational Accidents Based on Bayesian Network Modeling," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 40(1), pages 8-23, January.
    11. Carla S Fugas & Sílvia A Silva & José L Meliá, 2013. "Profiling Safety Behaviors: Exploration of the Sociocognitive Variables that Best Discriminate Between Different Behavioral Patterns," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33(5), pages 838-850, May.
    12. Weiliang Qiao & Yu Liu & Xiaoxue Ma & Yang Liu, 2020. "Human Factors Analysis for Maritime Accidents Based on a Dynamic Fuzzy Bayesian Network," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 40(5), pages 957-980, May.
    13. Wen Cheng Lin, 2022. "Maritime Environment Assessment and Management Using through Balanced Scorecard by Using DEMATEL and ANP Technique," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-13, March.
    14. Ramazan Özkan Yildiz & Soner Esmer, 2021. "Talent management related concepts and debates in container shipping industry by an emerging market perspective," Journal of Shipping and Trade, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 1-30, December.
    15. Anke Wagner & Ladina Schöne & Monika A. Rieger, 2020. "Determinants of Occupational Safety Culture in Hospitals and other Workplaces—Results from an Integrative Literature Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-23, September.
    16. Jiangang Fei & Jianjun Lu, 2015. "Analysis of students' perceptions of seafaring career in China based on artificial neural network and genetic programming," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(2), pages 111-126, February.
    17. Tom W. Reader & Mark C. Noort & Steven Shorrock & Barry Kirwan, 2015. "Safety sans Frontières: An International Safety Culture Model," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 35(5), pages 770-789, May.
    18. Lijun Tang, 2022. "Defending workers' rights on social media: Chinese seafarers during the COVID‐19 pandemic," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 110-125, March.
    19. Desai Shan & Pengfei Zhang, 2021. "Enforcing workers’ compensation rights for Chinese seafarers in human resource supply chains," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 32(2), pages 247-265, June.
    20. Hristos Karahalios, 2017. "Evaluating the knowledge of experts in the maritime regulatory field," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(4), pages 426-441, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Chinese chemical shipping; ISM Code; organisational support; safety management; safety supervision; self-regulation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J81 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Working Conditions
    • J83 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Workers' Rights
    • L91 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Transportation: General
    • M54 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Labor Management
    • N75 - Economic History - - Economic History: Transport, International and Domestic Trade, Energy, and Other Services - - - Asia including Middle East

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:ecolab:v:30:y:2019:i:4:p:549-565. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.