Article
Cognitive Gap and Correlation of Safety-I and Safety-II: A Case
of Maritime Shipping Safety Management
Weiliang Qiao
1
, Yang Liu
2
, Xiaoxue Ma
2,3,
* and He Lan
2
Citation: Qiao, W.; Liu, Y.; Ma, X.;
Lan, H. Cognitive Gap and
Correlation of Safety-I and Safety-II:
A Case of Maritime Shipping Safety
Management. Sustainability 2021, 13,
5509. https://doi.org/10.3390/
su13105509
Academic Editor: João Carlos de
Oliveira Matias
Received: 12 April 2021
Accepted: 10 May 2021
Published: 14 May 2021
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4.0/).
1
Marine Engineering College, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian 116026, China; xiaoqiao_fang@dlmu.edu.cn
2
School of Maritime and Economic, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian 116026, China;
liuyang0120@dlmu.edu.cn (Y.L.); lh909@dlmu.edu.cn (H.L.)
3
Public Administration and Humanities College, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian 116026, China
* Correspondence: yq_wl@dlmu.edu.cn
Abstract:
In contrast to the conventional safety management principle, namely, safety-I, which fo-
cuses on “what goes wrong”, a new-born safety philosophy (safety-II) inspires people to investigate
“how and why things go right”. In the present study, the cognitive difference and correlation between
safety-I and safety-II in the maritime shipping industry are explored and investigated. For this pur-
pose, a questionnaire is administered to survey seafarers and maritime experts, and semi-structured
interviews are conducted to collect original data associated with safety-I and safety-II. Then, the
data from seafarers and maritime experts are further processed by empirical statistical methods
and fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) methodology. The results show that impacting factors
associated with individual aspects are usually accepted as dominant with respect to views of safety-I,
while organizational factors are more influential for safety-II, which is essential to developing an
organizational resilience capacity. Based on the findings and discussions, potential safety counter-
measures that integrate safety-I and safety-II are proposed in this article. The present study discusses
the new-born safety-II perspective to elucidate the safety issues associated with maritime shipping
operations, which can be seen as the main innovation of this work.
Keywords: maritime industry; safety-II; cognitive gap; correction analysis; safety management
1. Introduction
Maritime shipping plays a critical role in international merchandise trade in light
of the fact that approximately 90% of cargo is transported by ships [
1
]. Furthermore,
according to the prediction made by UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development), international maritime trade will expand at an average annual growth
rate of 3.5% over the period of 2019-2024 [
2
], although this figure could be lower due to
the unexpected appearance of COVID-19; nevertheless, the tendency toward increasing
international maritime trade will continue. In fact, over the past decade, the total number
of vessels and deadweight tonnage (DWT) globally has continued to expand, as illustrated
in Figure 1, in which the data comes from the review of maritime transport for 2010–2019
issued by UNCTAD. It is widely accepted that safety issues are combined with maritime
trade and that maritime safety issues will become more pressing with increasing numbers
of vessels. Therefore, the safety level of navigating ships and the prevention of pollution
from ships have become common concerns at national and international levels. For this
reason, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) continuously issues conventions,
codes, and guidelines to ensure the safety level of maritime shipping operations. For
example, as early as the 1970s, the IMO issued the well-known International Convention on
Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) to supervise
the unsafe acts of seafarers; in addition, the International Convention for Safety of Life
at Sea (SOLAS) was established to provide detailed guidelines for seafarers working on
board ships. Apart from the IMO, there are many other international organizations, such
Sustainability 2021, 13, 5509. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13105509 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability
