Social sustainability through human-centered risks management in maritime industry: A shipbuilding case study with actors’ analysis

Abstract

The maritime industry offers diverse employment opportunities for individuals interested in working on or near the water. Shipbuilding, a key aspect of this industry, is an area of opportunity and challenge. It involves various key actors, including ship designers, engineers, builders, outfitters, and inspectors. This study explores social sustainability by concentrating on human-centered risk management in the shipbuilding process. It investigates the main actors involved in the shipbuilding process, identifies human-centered risks, examines the relationships between actors and risks to prevent accidents, and analyzes risk interrelationships to determine root causes. To achieve this aim, an interval-valued spherical fuzzy (IVSF)-based MACTOR (Matrix of Alliances and Conflicts: Tactics, Objectives and Recommendations) approach is proposed for the shipbuilding process. The proposed approach is compared with both traditional and fuzzy-based MACTOR variants, and a sensitivity analysis is conducted to assess its stability and robustness. Findings indicate that human error is the most significant risk, followed by miscommunication, technical errors, and occupational hazards. Ship designers and ship inspectors are identified as influential actors in the shipbuilding process, while shipbuilding engineers are considered leading actors. Effective human-centered risk management within shipbuilding necessitates collective effort that hinges on the proactive involvement, collaboration, and commitment of all actors.