Encouraging crew to speak up during Safety Delta dialogues

Effective communication between the crew and the shore-based staff is essential to building a resilient safety culture. Although most of the Safety Delta activities are conducted on board, its success requires participation and support from the office throughout the Safety Delta process, especially in the Dialogue stage.

A common challenge for the shore-based staff during the dialogues is encouraging the crew to speak up about the honest condition of the safety culture. So how do you organise the office staff to better support Safety Delta? In this issue of Among Us, let us learn how our safety partners at Navigator Gas use the Safety Delta tool to elevate ship-shore engagement and steer towards a resilient on-board culture.

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“When UltraShip ApS (a Navigator Gas company) started its first Safety Delta cycle in 2017, it was a steep learning curve for the organisation. It was a new tool for the crew and the office staff,” says Richard Chavez, Safety and Training Manager for Marine Standards at UltraShip ApS (a Navigator Gas company). At first, the Company entrusted the whole QA department to lead Safety Delta, but they realised that they needed a key person to drive the process within the organisation.

Green-Jakobsen CEO Erik Green agrees with this experience: “If you make everyone responsible, no one is really responsible.” It helps to have a Safety Delta key driver within the organisation who will work closely with the Safety Delta Admin team to ensure the progress of the Safety Delta cycle and assist the crew and office staff in case of challenges. Having a Safety Delta driver also increases the crew’s motivation and engagement as they know that the office is concerned not only about the job but also about the crew’s safety and well-being.

“Appointing one person to coordinate Safety Delta within the organisation works well,” agrees Richard, who has spearheaded Safety Delta activities within UltraShip (a Navigator Gas company) since 2018.

Before the pandemic, Richard would conduct ship visits to explain  the Safety Delta process to the crew. He has also tried different dialogue setups to encourage the crew to be more involved in the talks. At one point, the senior management was even invited to the dialogues to show the Company’s commitment to the crew. However, this setup posed a few challenges: It was difficult to find a time that suited everyone, and the crew were also hesitant towards speaking up in front of their bosses.

Since Richard was tapped to spearhead Safety Delta at Navigator Gas, he has tried several dialogue setups.

By the end of last year, Navigator Gas made a radical change: the dialogues now involve two office staff members, two junior officers, and at least two ratings, one each from the deck and the engine departments. A top four representative such as the Captain will join only at the beginning and at the end of the session. Moreover, the meetings are now conducted via Zoom, which still allows the participants to see one another and maintain a good interaction despite being far away.

Richard says this setup works very well as it gives the ratings and junior officers the opportunity to talk without pressure from the on-board leaders and office top management. This allows the company to better identify the important safety challenges that the on-board management can work on. The senior officers also seem to appreciate this arrangement.

“We believe this new setting will project a more inclusive atmosphere to the crew and could bring newer safety ideas from everyone in the fleet, especially from the lower ranks who are the ones actually doing the dirty work most of the time,” a Navigator Gas Captain tells Richard in a communication.

“During the ship-shore dialogues, we are not looking for correct answers or ‘vetting answers’. The aim is to direct the attention and reflect on substantial safety challenges related to the selected Safety Areas, and to align expectations. Also, we promote to share their good or positive stories and best practices.”

Linking Safety Delta to daily operations is vital. The idea is to discuss how to include Safety Delta activities into the vessel’s tasks and schedule. Also, the office staff should emphasise that Safety Delta is neither a compliance nor an appraisal tool, but a reflection moment on safety (like a ‘timeout’).  As a safety culture tool, Safety Delta allows the crew to diagnose through a survey the safety conditions on board, discuss and reflect on improvement opportunities, and develop their skills and behaviours through collaborative training.

It is essential to build trust and mutual understanding with the crew about the value of a proactive safety culture and how Safety Delta can help achieve this.

“During the ship-shore dialogues, we are not looking for correct answers or ‘vetting answers’. The aim is to direct the attention and reflect on substantial safety challenges related to the selected Safety Areas, and to align expectations. Also, we promote to share their good or positive stories and best practices.”

Linking Safety Delta to daily operations is vital. The idea is to discuss how to include Safety Delta activities into the vessel’s tasks and schedule. Also, the office staff should emphasise that Safety Delta is neither a compliance nor an appraisal tool, but a reflection moment on safety (like a ‘timeout’).  As a safety culture tool, Safety Delta allows the crew to diagnose through a survey the safety conditions on board, discuss and reflect on improvement opportunities, and develop their skills and behaviours through collaborative training.

Who attends the dialogues and how these dialogues are carried out matter. The dialogue setup can vary from company to company. But the most important thing is to build trust and mutual understanding with the crew about the value of a proactive safety culture and how Safety Delta can help to achieve this.

“It is important to clearly explain the Safety Delta concept to the whole organisation to ensure understanding of the purpose and philosophy behind it. It takes time. Also, it requires that the office staff believes in this, especially the ones with frequent communication and visits to the vessels. When the crew clearly understand why we are doing this and feel part of the same team, we get the truth,” Richard says.

UltraShip ApS, a Navigator Gas company, has been a Safety Delta user since 2017. To learn more about Ultraship ApS and Navigator Gas, click on the logo on the left. Do you want to be featured in the next issue of Among Us? Send us a message to safety.delta@green-jakobsen.com.ph or visit our website to learn more.