This paper describes a project that arose from a serious maritime incident. In such circumstances there is always a difficulty in ensuring that generic lessons are learned (which could apply to many operations and types of equipment) and not being distracted by the specifics of the incident (the specific type of operation or equipment). For example, van Wijk, Taylor and May (2009) reviewed ten major incidents from many industrial sectors, and identified eight common organisational and cultural failings, which were independent of the specific technology or sector.Once the immediate aftermath of this specific maritime incident had passed, business leaders posed the question "could something like that happen again?". The approach taken was to simulate "something like that" -namely an incident with similar generic characteristics. It is common to simulate incidents for people directly controlling technical systems (e.g. putting pilots or control room operators in high-fidelity simulators), and to develop incident commanders' emergency response competence (e.g. Flin, 1996).
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