ABSTRACT
The manner in which bridge operations are formulated and conducted is of fundamental importance to the safety of the ship. Studies conducted over many years continually identify weaknesses in bridge organization as significantly contributing towards casualties. Statistically, for every casualty there are of the order of 400 near misses, which leads one to believe that there is considerable scope for improvement. Since every watchkeeping officer is certificated as competent, it is not major failures that are leading to the accidents but small undetected failures which compound until eventual disaster.
