02
May 25

Blog | When Things Go Right - Are You Still Paying Attention?

Gareth Lock, an experienced human factors and risk expert, is bringing an interactive, engaging, and thought-provoking session to this year’s Safety Culture Conference that tackles this exact question. His approach challenges traditional compliance-focused thinking and instead encourages a learning mindset. Participants will walk away with a clearer understanding of the invisible threads holding daily operations together—and how to strengthen them. Here, he blogs on why the human factor is vital in embedding safety lessons:

Book now to secure your place at our Safety Culture Conference to hear more from Gareth and industry experts

The maritime and shipping industry is complex at all levels. Every day, teams of seafarers face challenges that require quick thinking, practical adaptation, and often, quiet ingenuity. But here’s the catch: most of the time, these interventions, workarounds, and adjustments go unnoticed—because the job gets done, and on the surface, everything seems fine.

But is "fine" really safe?

In high-risk, high-pressure environments like maritime operations, there’s often a significant gap between what should happen and what actually happens. These differences—between Work as Imagined and Work as Done—aren’t just happening at the “sharp end” with frontline workers. They occur at every level of an organisation, from port operations and engineering to senior management and regulatory bodies.

The reality is, when things go right, we rarely stop to ask why. We don't dig into the interventions people make, the risks they quietly mitigate, or the corners they have to round off to keep things moving. These gaps—if left unexplored—can hide the very vulnerabilities that lead to failure when the next challenge hits.

So how can organisations uncover these hidden risks and learn from them before something goes wrong?

To close the gap between ‘Work as Imagined’ and ‘Work as Done’, three things are critical:

  1. A shift in perspective – Move beyond compliance checklists and into a mindset of continuous learning and improvement.
  2. A safe environment for honest conversations – Psychological safety and a ‘Just Culture’ are essential for people to speak up without fear.
  3. A genuine curiosity – Ask questions, seek out the workarounds, and embrace the complexity instead of ignoring it.

Because if the secrets stay hidden, how can you ever fix them?

The Safety Culture Conference is designed for professionals at all levels in the maritime sector—whether you're on the deck, in the boardroom, or somewhere in between. It is especially for those whose attitudes and actions determine the culture within their companies, and not just those with safety roles. Come prepared to think differently, ask new questions, and leave with practical ideas you can take back to your teams and organisations. Don’t miss out, secure your place today.