Question 1

During the oral exam you are asked: a new deckhand on your CTV appears reluctant to use the fall-arrest harness correctly when working on the foredeck during transfers, saying it "gets in the way" and that the experienced crew do not always use theirs either. How do you address this?

Accepted Answer

Address the immediate safety issue with the new deckhand directly and supportively, but also address the underlying problem — that experienced crew are normalising non-compliance — through reinforcing standards across the whole crew, as informal "this is how we really do it" cultures are a known precursor to serious incidents When new crew observe experienced colleagues not following procedures, an unwritten "real" standard develops that undermines the formal safety management system, and addressing only the newcomer while ignoring the underlying normalisation does nothing to prevent recurrence or future incidents. Effective leadership requires reinforcing the standard across the whole team — including addressing why experienced crew are not complying (genuine equipment/practicality issue, or complacency) — since gaps between procedure and practice are a recurring theme in incident investigations across the offshore wind sector.

Question 2

Gard's loss prevention guidance repeatedly highlights that many serious incidents follow a 'normalisation of deviance' — small departures from procedure that become accepted because nothing went wrong before. As Master, what's the most effective way to counter this on board?

Accepted Answer

Actively encourage crew to raise near-misses and procedural drift without fear of blame, and personally follow the same standards you expect of others Gard's guidance on human factors and safety culture identifies normalisation of deviance — where shortcuts that 'worked fine last time' quietly become the new normal — as a precursor to many serious casualties. The most effective defence is an open reporting culture for near-misses and minor deviations, combined with visible leadership from the Master, who sets the tone for what is and isn't acceptable on board.

Question 3

Gard's guidance on near-miss reporting notes that crew sometimes hesitate to report their own minor errors or close calls. As an OOW, why does Gard say this matters for the wider fleet, not just your own ship?

Accepted Answer

Near-miss data, shared and analysed across a fleet (and via schemes like CHIRP Maritime), helps identify recurring risks before they cause a serious incident elsewhere Gard's loss prevention work draws heavily on aggregated near-miss and incident data — including confidential schemes such as CHIRP Maritime — precisely because a near-miss on one vessel is often a warning sign for a hazard that exists across many similar ships. A culture where OOWs report close calls without fear of blame is one of the cheapest and most effective loss-prevention tools available.