Effective Measure for Accident Prevention Onboard Sea Vessels—Improvements on 4M4E Analysis

Abstract

The 4M4E analysis is a type of root-cause analysis that can multilaterally pinpoint the trigger factors of an accident or disaster using its analytic capabilities and can clarify various countermeasures against each trigger factor. This study aims to reduce the number of vessel accidents and disasters involving seafarers by improving the practical use of 4M4E analysis. Vessel accidents or disasters involving seafarers, related to a mooring line, sometimes result in a fatality; therefore, this research area has attracted international attention. In consideration of this, we devised an analysis method for accidents involving a mooring line by adding prediction to the 4Ms of 4M4E, having first extracted the potential causes of an accident through brainstorming. The 4M4E+P analysis could obtain additional trigger factors that were not revealed in the 4M4E analysis. Thus, a measure of adopting these newly acquired trigger factors was evaluated. In addition, it is thought that 4M4E+P analysis can reduce the risk of vessel accidents and disasters involving seafarers.