THE interaction of the technological and psychological factors in the operation of ships was the subject of a lecture to the annual meeting of the Hong Kong Committee of Germanischer Lloyd (GL), held under the chairmanship of Chen Wu-po of Treasure Maritime.
The lecture, titled 'Ship Safety and the Human Factor', was given by Dr Hans Payer, a member of the executive board of GL.
He told the meeting that the new International Safety Management (ISM) code was an initial step in the direction of accounting for the human element.
He said that in addition to a newly formed and specially trained ISM certification team, GL had also set up an ISM advisory group to assist shipowners in setting up their ISM systems.
In his review of GL's activities to the members of the committee, Dr Payer said the last year had been the most successful year in the history of the society.
and that this year looked promising with many orders for the classification of new ships.