Critical Decision Making Lectures on DVD

For the last year or so I have been doing some reading on cognitive bias and Normal accident theory so when I saw both subjects listed on The Teaching Company lectures The Art of Critical Decision Making along with some concepts I had not heard of I was intrigued enough to order the DVDs to take to sea.

 I was skeptical about  academic lectures aimed at businessmen but  many of the lessons  could be applied to  ship operations. Some of the insights might mean the difference between  having a clear understanding of what need to be done and just muddling though in some situations.  For someone with training in business some of the material covered might be old hat but a lot of it was new to me.

There are reviews from customers here. There were a total of 24 lectures of 30 minutes each.

If you spend time at sea I recommend having a look at what is offered and see if anything catches your eye. It is nice to listen to a lecture rather then reading at the end of a long work day. Not to mention that entertainment choices on the ship are often limited. Last trip it was either  theses  DVDs or season one of  Desperate Housewives.

K.C.
                                              A list of the lectures on 1 of 2 DVDs

Thinking Like a Mariner - Managing the Unexpected

Managing the Unexpected by Karl Weick and Kathleen Sutcliffe is about so called High Reliability Organization..  I mentioned the book when I first purchased it here -US Airway Flight 1549 and High Reliability Organizations I think the book is worth reading and keeping for reference.  It was tough sledding at times, not because the ideas are complex but because  it didn't link the examples to the theory very well.

The book  didn't really change the way I think about ship operations, I think ship's masters generally  already think this way.  It did sharpen my understanding and learning the vocabulary has made it easier to communicate these ideas to other people.

There is a professional written review here.

Alaska Ranger - Sailed though loophole created by the Coast Guard

F/V Alaska Ranger - USCG Photo

Both the Coast Guard and the NTSB have now released their reports on the sinking of the Alaska Ranger. The Coast Guard's report can be found at the CG site Homeport - type "Alaska Ranger" into the search box to find the report. The NTSB's report can be found here.



The Alaska Ranger case is not complex. The hull of the vessel  was in such poor condition that, in typical Bering Sea conditions, water entered and flooded the entire vessel. The actual point of failure evidently was the Kort nozzles which were tacked onto the vessel in 1991.

The Coast Guard report claims that there was ambiguity in regulations regarding the Ranger status as a fishing vessel or a processor. Thirty-two of the forty-nine people aboard the Ranger were titled "Factory Processors", that makes it a processor.


The Coast Guard created a loophole in the law  called the Alternate Compliance Program which according to the Coast Guard

"allows exemptions to the class and Load Line requirements while at the same time creating improved safety requirements for these vessels, thereby avoiding the incentive to operate strictly as uninspected fishing vessels. ACSA vessel owners work with the Coast Guard"

In effect the Coast Guard put it's stamp of approval on a vessel which was not seaworthy but which carried thirty non-mariners onto the 32 degree waters of the Bering Sea.

This is a case of risk assessment, scrapping the Alaska Ranger would have risked adversely impacting the owner's bottom line.

K.C.