Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T08:25:22.031Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Risk Homeostasis Theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 September 2010

Santiago Iglesias Baniela*
Affiliation:
(Universidad de La Coruña, Spain)
Juan Vinagre Ríos
Affiliation:
(Vessel Surveyor)

Abstract

Statistics and information from the maritime industry show that the continuous advances in the safety of navigation do not reduce the occurrence of shipping casualties. This controversial fact leads the authors to analyse the applicability of the risk homeostasis theory to maritime transportation. With the aim of investigating this matter 2,584 ship incidents, which took place during the years 2005 and 2006, have been recorded and examined. The same variables which the Paris MOU usually employs to identify substandard ships (flag, classification society, age, type and size) have been used in this research to establish their level of safety in an effort to determine the relationship between that level and the occurrence of maritime incidents in the world cargo carrying fleet with appropriate statistical methods.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Navigation 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1.Philippe, Boisson (1999). Safety at Sea: Policies, Regulations & International Law. Edition Bureau Veritas, Paris.Google Scholar
2.Charles, Perrow (1999). Normal Accidents, Living with High Risk Technologies. Princeton University Press, New Jersey.Google Scholar
3.The Central Union of Marine Underwriters (CEFOR). Annual Report 2002 [available from www.cefor.no].Google Scholar
4. During the last ten years the number of ships of the world cargo carrying fleet increased round 12%. In the same period the number of serious casualties and total losses increased more than 100%.Google Scholar
5.Disastrous fifth-year of consecutive loss to jack marine insurance Premium, Central Union of Marine Underwriters (CEFOR), Press Brief, 10th April 2003 [available from www.cefor.no].Google Scholar
6. Risk homeostasis is a hypothesis about risk developed by Gerald J. S. Wilde, a professor emeritus of psychology at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. This hypothesis is elucidated in Wilde's book Target Risk.Google Scholar
7.Trimpop, Rudiger and Bernhard, Zimolong (1998). Risk Perception, Encyclopedia of Occupational Health and Safety (fourth edition), Volume II, Part VIII-59, ILO, Geneve.Google Scholar
8.Wilde, , Gerald, J. S. (2001). Target Risk 2: A New Psychology of Safety and Health. PDE Publications, Toronto.Google Scholar
9.Starkey, , David, J. and Gelina, Harlaftis (1998). Global Markets: The Internationalization of the Sea Transport Industries since 1850, Research in Maritime History N° 14, International Maritime Economic History Association, St. Johns, Newfoundland.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10.Stopford, Martin (2008). Maritime Economics 3rd edition. Taylor & Francis e-Library.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11.Ulrich, Beck (1999). World Risk Society. Policy Press, Cambridge, UK.Google Scholar
12.Maynard, , Alan, (1998). Economic Aspects of Occupational Health and Safety, Encyclopedia of Occupational Health and Safety (fourth edition), Volume I, Part III-20, ILO, Geneve [available from www.ilo.org].Google Scholar
13.Trimpop, Rudiger and Bernhard, Zimolong (1998). Risk Acceptance, Encyclopedia of Occupational Health and Safety (fourth edition), Volume II, Part VIII-59, ILO, Geneve [available from www.ilo.org].Google Scholar
14.International Shipping-Carrier of World Trade. World Maritime Day 2005, OMI, London, 2005.Google Scholar
15. For example, according to the Paris MOU Annual report 2008, the number of individual ships inspected and the number of inspections were 15,237 and 24,647 respectively.Google Scholar
16. Statistical calculations have been obtained with the program SPSS Statistics v. 17 (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) which is one of the most widely used programs for statistical analysis in social science. The bootstrap calculations have been obtained with the program R.Google Scholar
17. There are many vessels with no class recorded in the Lloyd's Register archives, most of them of small size. This fact is not considered relevant for the purpose of this investigation.Google Scholar
18. Official Journal of the European Communities, L19/17, 22.01.2002.Google Scholar
19.The Anatomy of Major Claims. A Mariners Guide (1992). The United Kingdom Mutual Steam Ship Assurance Association (Bermuda) Limited, London, p. 5 [available from www.ukpandi.com].Google Scholar
20.The Anatomy of Major Claims. A Mariners Guide (1992). The United Kingdom Mutual Steam Ship Assurance Association (Bermuda) Limited, London, p. 13 [available from www.ukpandi.com].Google Scholar