Safety TransfEr Methodology (STEM): a structured methodology for transferring safety innovation across sectors

This research sought to develop a structured methodology for transferring resilience resources and safety innovation across industrial sectors, specifically, from aviation to maritime. As transportation sectors struggle to adapt to new economic realities and seek to prosper in new operational contexts there is a need to preserve resources and invest in change initiatives which will derive meaningful impact. A structured methodology to guide a principled transfer of safety solutions across sectors would be a sustainable method of improving the resilience of the sector. An action research approach was adopted. A five-step methodology was developed in cooperation with three maritime organisations to identify challenges and resilience resources from aviation which could be feasibly transferred and implemented. Five steps were identified as being key to a principled transfer of resilience resources from aviation to maritime. They were as follows: (1) industry comparison and database of aviation resilience resources; (2) maritime user needs and gap analysis, and resilience resources evaluation and selection; (3) scenarios production and resources mapping onto scenarios; (4) feasibility analysis; and (5) implementation plan. The results highlight the utility of combining bottom-up (identifying problems) and top-down (identifying a database of resources) approaches at the outset. A comprehensive workshop-based feasibility analysis is also key to ensuring the identified resources can be effectively implemented in the destination sector.