Why do they violate the procedures? - An exploratory study within the maritime transportation industry

This paper presents the results of an explorative study addressing conditions that may explain violations of safety-related procedures in the maritime transportation industry. The empirical basis is a study of domestic car ferries in Norway. The data was obtained using a self-administrated survey, a review of the Safety Management Systems (SMS) in use, and onboard observation and interviews. Our analysis shows that different combinations of characteristics related to type of work, the content of the procedures, the management of procedures and other aspects of the socio-technical context may contribute to enhancing violations among the seafarers. The identified characteristics correspond with findings in previous research on violations within other industries. This study adds to previous research by demonstrating the somewhat complex relationships between different conditions that contribute to different types of violations. Identifying interrelationships between different conditions is important in order to develope adequate measures to improve compliance and create more realistic risk models that include human actions. This paper also demonstrates the importance of studying violations in relation to actual work practice in order to advance an understanding of why people violate procedures.