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FEATURESMaritime Safety through Human Factor StudiesBWy Singapore Maritime Instituteith the changing demands and One of them is the research collaboration complexity of port and between the Nanyang Technological shipping activities, the University (NTU), Singapore Polytechnicmaritime industry has implemented (SP) and the Fraunhofer Interactive Digital16|advanced complex port and ship systems in recent years. This technological trend has resulted in a greater need for better management of such complex systems.The maritime sector had been addressing this issue through higher end training to produce competent manpower with the critical domain knowledge and skillsets. Looking beyond proficient training of sea and shore staff, research into human factors is on the rise where it optimises the interaction between people and technology for safety and productivity best practices.The Singapore Maritime Institute (SMI) supported research projects by the public research performers in Singapore addressing maritime safety through human factor studies under the SMI Simulation and Mod- elling (SAM) Research Programme in 2014.Media @ NTU (IDM@NTU). Their research investigates the cause and effect of human errors in relation to typical ship design or operational practices (such as motion, noise and vibration) and human factors (such as physiological and psychological effects, cognitive and social performance).“Over the last decades, the maritime industry has focused its efforts on improving the reliability and performance of ship systems in order to reduce or eliminate the number of maritime accidents occurring”. The research team led by Dr Dimitrios Konovessis at NTU, Dr Olga Sourina at Fraunhofer IDM@NTU, and Captain Gopala Krishnan at the Maritime Institute @ SP (MI@SP) elaborated the context behind their research work.“However, regardless of these advancesin technology, the number of maritime accidents still remains high today, with some 80% attributed to human error as the root cause”, the research team added that the maritime community’s efforts primarilyDr. Olga Sourina (L) with Captain Gopala Krishnan (R)WAVES | ISSUE 51