The maritime industry is in the midst of a digital revolution, but with rapid technological advancements come persistent safety challenges. Despite stricter regulations and safety campaigns, accidents still occur, and people still get hurt. The root causes? Often, they’re not technical failures but human factors—poor decisions, insufficient training, and a lack of robust safety culture. This is where technology and regulation must converge to drive meaningful change.
The Workboat Code Edition 3, which came into force in December 2023, was designed to modernise safety standards, but its reception has been mixed. While the code introduces stricter requirements for vessel construction, maintenance, and crew competence, it has also been criticised for increasing the cognitive and administrative load on crews. More rules don’t always mean more safety—especially when those rules overwhelm the very people they aim to protect. Regulation must evolve beyond technical compliance and engage with the human element: how people behave under pressure, how they make decisions, and how they respond to risk in dynamic environments.
Take the commercial leisure RIB sector, for example. Despite a growing burden of overlapping codes and safety bulletins, serious injuries—particularly spinal injuries—persist. The Workboat Code 3, for instance, includes requirements for impact or hull stress monitoring devices, but only for remotely operated, uncrewed vessels. A recent MAIB report highlighted the need for real-time monitoring of forces experienced in the boat’s forward section to protect passengers and crew from vibrations and shocks. Yet, the opportunity to gather critical data and drive meaningful change in the commercial leisure sector has been missed.
Michael Cowlam, Director of Seacroft Marine, with 25 years of experience in high-speed craft for civilian and commercial search and rescue, underscores the challenge: “For most of my career in coastal and offshore search and rescue, the issues with whole-body shock and vibration have been well known and widely discussed at industry and corporate level but there has been little in the way of technology implemented in day-to-day operations in the sectors I have been exposed to. Training, awareness, experience and good judgement is invaluable but finding the balance of risk versus reward is often down to the attitude towards risk adversity or tolerance of the individual in command or at the controls.”
This reinforces the safety culture ethos, something that cannot be mandated by code or developed in a laboratory. The challenge is complex, but technology offers a path forward. The Intelligent Marine Assistance System (IMAS) from Hefring Marine, for instance, provides real-time predictive analytics and safety recommendations, helping operators make informed decisions and reducing the likelihood of high-impact events. By ingesting data from onboard sensors and external sources like weather forecasts, IMAS offers speed recommendations and risk indications, directly affecting fuel consumption, carbon emissions, and impact reductions.
When operators are equipped with meaningful insights about the conditions they encounter and their responses, they become active participants in their own safety. Once predictive systems are validated and personnel see the value as an active assistant at sea, a positive shift in the workforce is inevitable. Hefring Marine has nearly a million nautical miles of experience from vessels worldwide, each facing unique conditions that are recorded and used to refine the machine learning models. In the uncrewed surface vessel sector, IMAS provides direct compliance benefits, with fuel efficiency and motion/impact reporting giving remote operators a digital onboard presence.
The maritime industry stands at a crossroads. Regulation alone won’t solve the safety challenges we face. Technology, when integrated thoughtfully, can bridge the gap between compliance and culture, turning passive adherence to rules into active engagement with safety. The future of maritime safety isn’t just about more rules—it’s about smarter, more human-centred solutions.