A modified Maritime Human Factors Analysis and Classification System for towing vessel accident analysis

Human error and underlying factors play a crucial role in maritime accident analysis. This paper compares three versions of the Maritime Human Factors Analysis and Classification System model (HFACS-MA) and benchmarks them to a US Department of Defense (US-DoD) version. The first HFACS-MA version was chosen; further modified by adding one extra code, code (i.9), to account for “Equipment design and specification”; and applied to analyze (21) accidents, involving towing vessels on the US Gulf Coast between Jan. 1, 2019, and Dec. 31, 2020. The results show that the dominant latent failure factors include strong current; an estimate of the situation's inability; erroneous assumption, prediction, prejudice, inappropriate procedure, regulations, instructions; and maintenance check-ups, among others, whereas the dominant active failure factor was routine violations, in good agreement with previous investigations. <br>