ERIKA: LESSONS LEARNED

摘要

The first thing that a classification society needs when one of its classed ships suffers a major casualty is a significant degree of humility. It has to be ready to take a long hard look at what it has done with respect to that ship, but also, and perhaps more significantly, how it runs its business overall. And it has to be ready to change if it needs to. It is natural to be defensive when under pressure after an accident. But defensiveness entrenches problems. What is important is to be open, to see scrutiny as an opportunity and to use the external pressure as a tool for beneficial change. That is easy to say, but hard to do when under intense media pressure. Every classification society has had this experience, some more than once.