Safety culture in maritime cargo transport in Norway and Greece: which factors predict unsafe maritime behaviours?

Abstract

The aim of the study is to examine the influence of national safety culture, sector safety culture and organizational
safety culture on safety behaviours among Greek (N=99) and Norwegian (N=93) crewmembers on cargo vessels,
and to discuss results in light of additional explanatory variables. We focus on three types of unsafe maritime
behaviours: 1) Violations/risk acceptance, 2) Working under the influence of alcohol, or while being hungover,
and 3) Non-intervention/non-reporting. Linear regression analyses indicate that organisational factors like
demanding working conditions and organizational safety culture are the most important predictors of
violations/risk acceptance and non-intervention/non-reporting. National safety culture is the most important
predictor of respondents’ tendency to work under the influence of alcohol, or while being hungover. National
safety culture is measured as descriptive norms and as values (“freedom to take risks at sea”). The study indicates
that safety culture at different analytical levels influence different types of unsafe behaviours.