Anglo-Eastern’s second annual Safety Day on 14 July brought ship and shore together with a collective goal: to build a culture where mistakes lead to learning rather than blame.
When a familiar job goes wrong, the first question is usually who made the mistake, not what allowed it to happen. This year’s Safety Day set out to change that order of thinking.
The theme, “Error is normal – Building resilient systems”, draws on Human and Organisational Performance (HOP) principles. Human error is inevitable. What matters is how an organisation anticipates it, manages it and learns from it.
The day’s central programme consisted of a global webinar, which brought together more than 700 seafarers and shore colleagues. Anglo-Eastern’s CEO, Bjorn Hojgaard, gave the opening address, setting out why culture matters more than any system or tool: “The greatest investment we can make is not in our technology. It is in our culture.” Perfection, he noted, is impossible because we are human. “But excellence is possible, because we can learn, every day, from one another, across every ship and every office. That is how great organisations are built.”
Two fireside chats put the theme into practice, each built around one of the day’s core messages. The first session, titled “Error is normal”, was moderated by Chief Commercial Officer, Niraj Nanda, and brought together Maria Zoumi, Assistant Crewing Manager, Aditya Dua, 2nd Officer, and Karl Bamiano, Able Seaman[MM1] [HY2] . They explored how everyday conditions shape the way work is done, and how understanding those conditions helps teams support one another and get the job done safely.
The second session, “Blame fixes nothing”, moderated by Chief Information Officer, Torbjorn Dimblad, featured Imran Vora, Vessel Manager, Tejvinder Kumar, Senior Operations Manager, and Vinay Surendran, QHSE Manager. They looked at how teams respond after something goes wrong and why blame gets in the way of learning.
The conversation did not end with the webinar. Over the two weeks around it, the same themes carried into group discussions, storytelling sessions and reflection exercises across the fleet and ashore. Each began with the same two questions: how is the work really done, and what would make the next job safer? The answers turned into practical commitments encouraging open reporting, responding constructively when mistakes happen, and strengthening collaboration across ranks and departments.
A just culture is not built overnight. It takes shape in everyday moments: how a bridge team reflects after a challenging passage, how a report is handled ashore, and how comfortable people feel speaking up before something goes wrong. The focus now is on carrying that mindset across the managed fleet and offices, so that every day is a safety day.
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