The managing director of a non-profit technology accelerator firm has warned the maritime sector that lack of skills and investment are standing in the way of developing safety technologies in safety measures.
Speaking at a Financial Times webinar on the Future of Industrial Safety, Dr Maurizio Pilu, who is the managing director of non-profit Safetytech Accelerator, said funding was a ‘significant barrier to the adoption of safety technologies’.
“We hear too often that safety does not have the budget to innovate, but there are plenty of low-hanging fruit that can provide a safety benefit with an easily achievable ROI,” he said.
“We have been involved in a pilot using a sensor to monitor for fire which can alert 25-30 minutes ahead of statutory sensors onboard ships. This is a simple use of technology that could save money, lives, cargo and the ship itself.”
He said safety measures could become a matter for insurance companies and investors, and talked about fatigue monitoring for safety-critical jobs.
“We may soon get to a point where after a fatigue-related accident, employers may be faced with the question: why didn’t you invest in this?”
Pilu said these safety technologies could not be rolled out if there were a skills deficit, which was another hurdle facing the industry.
“The marine sector is caught between the buyers of technology who have great industry knowledge, but little technological know-how, and the technology providers who have the solutions, often pioneered in other sectors, but not the in-depth knowledge of the industry. The only way past this impasse is close collaboration,” he said
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