Psychological safety: Its effects on safety critical operations and its integration into Bridge Teamwork - A narrative literature review

Abstract

As the world becomes increasingly interdependent, organizations are focusing more on teamwork to improve both efficiency at work as well as safety. Psychological safety is an important part of a team’s efficiency. Psychological safety is defined as a climate in which a person is safe to highlight their ideas, report mistakes and speak up without fear of humiliation or blame. Teamwork efficiency onboard is recognized by the International Maritime Authority as a key element for safety. This paper analyzes whether and how psychological safety is integrated into the Standard of Watchkeeping at Sea (STCW) training and requirement for seafarers. This paper’s focus are two main points: The first is psychological safety’s implementation in safety-critical-24/7 operations, the second is whether and to what extent are the fundamentals of psychological safety implemented within the STCW which dictates the minimum requirements for professional seafarers. Psychological Safety within teamwork in safety-critical operations are outlined through a narrative literature review. The appliance of psychological safety in different safety critical domains is juxtaposed to The Bridge Resource management (BRM) guided by STCW. These are analyzed to see whether and how much BRM supports the fundamentals of psychological safety. Results indicate that psychological safety is well established within various safety-critical domains to enhance teamwork and thus safety. Within maritime and especially BRM-training it was found that psychological safety is not explicitly mentioned as theory, but many of its constituents are found within the course and training. As it is shown that many foundations of psychological safety are taught within the BRM course it is interesting that psychological safety is not present as a terminology. Further investigation to see if the phenomenon of Psychological Safety could improve the BRM training course is advised.