Spreker: Martijn Flinterman

Martijn Flinterman gave four keynote presentations on “safety in tanker shipping beyond checklists and procedures”. The talk was tailored for a German company in the tanker shipping industry. Martijn explained complex interactions between humans, technology, organization, and environment, and questioned the reliance on safety slogans like “Safety First”. Together with the audience, he explored the deeper realities of maintaining safety in dynamic, high-risk environments.
Martijn discussed common perceptions of safety, contrasting optimism (the belief that nothing will go wrong), pessimism (blaming others for problems), and realism (working together to ensure safety). Martijn argued that safety is a collective responsibility, achieved through communication, collaboration, and adaptability, rather than through rigid rules and individual blame.
In an interactive segment, Martijn asked how shipping crews handle uncertainty. Overconfidence or irrational fear are labels applied that we often apply in hindsight. Risk management requires a balance of optimism, realism, and data-driven decision-making. Using real-world examples, such as the Viking Idun vs. Chemical Marketer collision, Martijn illustrated how failures often result from a breakdown in communication; the discussion about risk has to be kept going.
A key insight was that safety cannot be guaranteed by rigid adherence to processes. Flexibility, experience, and the ability to recognize and respond to changing conditions are crucial. Crew members want to feel empowered to voice concerns and stop operations if necessary. The captain’s perceived competence and authority often make it difficult for junior officers to challenge his decisions.
The presentations were concluded by reinforcing that safety requires an ongoing process involving teamwork, communication, and constant adaptation to real-world conditions.

Martijn Flinterman’s talk on February 15th, 2024, was an exploration of the challenges faced in ensuring safety at the workplace. The client was a company that is active in the maintenance of wind turbines.
Martijn first discussed the problem of safety, which is often treated from a one-sided perspective of life-saving rules, blaming individuals, an overreliance on slogans, signs and targets. When this perspective is used, the adaptability required in dynamic situations is underestimated.
Martijn introduced modern neuroscience and debunked the myth of the left-/right-brain metaphor, which underestimates the importance of the unconscious. He also debunked the idea that “safety is a choice you make”. Safe decisions do not always result in safe outcomes.
Good process doesn’t guarantee safety, since daily adjustments in work are crucial. Sharing stories about close calls at work can lead to successful predictions. In a short workshop, members of the audience shared stories about situations that almost resulted in an accident.
Martijn then explained how expertise in safety-critical situations relies on experience, perceptual skills, and pattern recognition. The context is crucial, considering noise, lighting, interruptions, and other stressors. Intuition, mental simulation, storytelling, and analogical reasoning, can help us to collectively make sense of risk. Stress and uncertainty impact information processing, memory and attention, and trade-offs in decision-making are always being made between speed and accuracy. The audience then split up in subgroups to discuss strategies on supporting each other in recognising and reacting to unfamiliar, potentially dangerous situations.
Martijn finished the session by highlighting the lessons learned and the suggested actions.