ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of a basis for understanding some aspects of maritime social and cultural attributes and look at the causes of organizational failures. Culture has been described as the shared way of life, within a group of people, an organization, a profession, or a nation. It incorporates norms, attitudes, values, and practices that these groups might share. Professional culture concerns attributes of the profession and includes such factors as traditions of profession, training processes, associated risks, and responsibilities, as well as characteristics of persons making up the profession. Safety management systems are integrated collections of work procedures and practices used to examine and improve an organization’s safety and health. Safety culture is, of course, closely linked to the philosophy underlying safety management systems. The International Safety Management Code has had a major impact, causing shipping companies to make considerable changes to their company structures and to their approach to safety culture within the industry.
