Maritime casualties analysis as a tool to improve research about human factors on maritime environment

Resumen

It is commonly accepted that approximately 80 per cent of maritime accidents are due to human error. However investigation in human factors, main cause of such accidents, is beginning nowadays, and the methodologies to carry out such an investigation are being developed by several institutions. These methodologies, adopted from the investigation on risk analysis are frequently based on the estimation of risk levels, whose values, in the case of human factor investigation are not always clear. This article tries to develop a methodology that helps us to identify the human factors existing on a maritime accident with the aim of making them processable on a statistical basis, in any case the aim of the study is not to exchange the existing and well ¿established systems of accidents analysis, but to put more stress on the human element, that is included in the existing analytical systems.