Send two inspectors to the same ship and you will get two different lists

Send two inspectors to the same ship and you will get two different lists.

The rules are written down. How they are interpreted is not. Every inspector looks through a different lens, shaped by different ships, different incidents, different sailing experience. The regimes have done real work on making interpretation consistent, but in my opinion we are not close to succeeding there yet.

We are all products of our experiences and of the decisions we have made, on board, ashore and in life overall.

The list, depending on how it is generated, still becomes the measure of the crew and of the ship’s condition. The office asks why the crew did not know better, because someone above is asking the same question, and the chartering of the ship is affected. Nobody in that chain is the villain. It is a circle of traps, and people get caught in it. The findings turn into statistics, and the people behind them disappear.

And the people behind the statistics are on rotation. A seafarer serves a contract, signs off, and may never sail on that ship again. What makes a person give their best to a ship they are about to leave?

I have been on both sides of the coin. A crew that walks away from an inspection feeling capable runs a safer ship than a crew that walks away feeling doubted.