Risk Assessment Checklists

Risk Ready Reckoner from Bob Couttie's Marine Accident Casebook

The Document above can be downloaded as a DOC file here -Bob Couttie has it as a PDF at his site (next link)

Update below:

Getting mariners to use yet another check list can be a tough sell. The Risk Ready Reckoner recommended by Bob Couttie however could literally be a life saver.

From Bob Coutie's Marine Accident Casebook:

Just because there are safety procedures in your ship’s safety management system and various bits of bumf aboard doesn’t mean that you can’t develop your own safety system, one that belongs to you and which you use. Say hello to the Risk Ready Reckoner.

Bob also has an example of a hidden risk at Engineer Scalded - Risk not Mapped. The risk in this case was a pipe to an open tank that was plugged and unexpectedly filled with steam. It would have been difficult to uncover the risk in this case with a simple risk checklist, perhaps only previous experience would have uncovered this hidden threat.

There are some more sophisticated risk assessment tools available at this site: Step Change in Safety - A UK gas and oil site. This site includes the Task Risk Assessment Check list which is considerable longer then but more comprehensive then the Risk Ready Reckoner. The Task Risk Assessment Guide also at that site, is even more involved but I think it would be worthwhile going over with the senior officers. It might increase appreciation for risk assessment.

A captain I once sailed with had a term for mariners who felt they were too good to use checklist but often used unsafe practices. He would say that they were "so good they're brain dead".

K.C.


UPDATE:

In comments, Bob Couttie has pointed out that the Risk Ready Reckoner is aimed at all crew members, not just senior staff I had missed this and is an important point. From the Marine Accident Case Book. Read Make 2009 a Year of Safety Ownership

2009 should be SOS Year: Seafarer Ownership of Safety Year, a year in which active and positive efforts are made to give seafarers a sense of ownership regarding their own safety, that of their crewmates and their vessel.