Development of Bimodal Role of Air/ Marine Safety and Accident Investigator - Thesis Example

Investigation of accident involves activities that are concerned with determining the conditions or circumstances resulting in the occurrence of the accident. The objective of performing an efficient and effective investigation at the scene of an accident is more concerned with the reinforcement of the safety measures than any other issues. Accidents happening in the marine and aviation sectors have been identified as causing major concerns, particularly in military fields. There have been several reasons and speculations put forward as an explanation for this alarming trend with some viewing it as resulting from changes in climatic patterns responsible for adverse air and sea conditions.

The other reasons include global issues and challenges such as terrorism among others (Andriot 1973). Different from accidents involving automobiles whose investigation procedure and activities do not often involve a lot of complex processes and analyses, the air/marine accident investigation involves tasks that are more challenging as a result of the uniqueness in the aspects and features of the two modes of transport. The department for Marine Accidents Investigation in a country like Greece for instance is also involved with the activities of safety investigation as a way of ensuring that there is a reduction of accidents.

Department has the responsibility for the prevention of marine accidents as well and their investigation whenever they are reported whereas the Air Accident Investigation and Aviation Safety Board (AAIASB) is particularly involved with aviation accidents. The models for air/marine accident investigation currently being used are the IMO model for maritime accidents and the ICAO model for aviation accidents. These are models, which place a lot of emphasis on the safety of marine and aviation. There is, however, a need for a combined model that can be in a position to streamlines the two fields and be able to come up with a cohesive unit that will enable the Aviation Accident investigators to be able to perform the investigation of involving marine accidents and vice versa.

These principles for reasonable managing and investigation of air/marine accidents based on research studies into various fields as well as in-depth interviews with several key figures and professionals in the field of accident investigation. Several principles are a reflection of the goals and functioning of boards and departments in charge of the investigation of accidents as a whole (Bartsch, 2012).  

The bimodal role principles are very significant in the description of the actual investigation process as well as the relevant tools and skills required by the investigators to perform their tasks. To have a deeper understanding of these tasks, it is important to make use of an investigation process that aids in the description of the ideal situation with regard to a bimodal role where the most significant resources, as well as the existing taskforce, can be used in a more flexible manner, subject to individual’s qualifications and levels of experience.

Several research studies on this investigation part do not focus on the department of investigation as a whole but on the investigators working in the department. This has been able to bring about another guiding, which is the readiness for investigation operations. The context of accident investigation that is ever changing has to be reflected when it comes to skills necessary for an investigator-in-charge, the professional experts responsible in an organization to control and conduct an investigation.

The new fields of activities for the bimodal accident department of air/marine accident investigation coupled with the necessities and expectations in the investigation of complex systems, has brought about a lot of challenges as well identifiable necessary elements that are important in the qualification of the IIC (Blackman, 2005). 1.2 Problem Statement Presently different accident investigators separately carry out accident investigations involving the air and marine transports respectively.

This kind of setting is a rather expensive one. Within the Hellenic Navy organization, there are few personnel educational training and skills in aviation accident investigation. This is very significant since the navy is also involved in operations to do with aviation and by extension. As such, there is need to have an accident investigation professional to offer effective services whenever aviation accidents take place and vice versa. Due to this particular reason, the Navy has few aircraft accident investigators who have undergone appropriate training.

However, since the area of marine accident investigation shares many similarities with the investigation of aviation accidents, there is an urgent necessity for the Navy to introduce to use the services of aviation accident investigators as in the area of marine accident investigation without necessarily having to spend additional resources. The professional and experts who are competent and can be able to handle marine accident investigation are limited in number and it is therefore imperative that investigators who are concerned with aviation accident investigation be trained in matters and expertise to do with marine investigation.

In addition to this, there is currently a popular discussion going on with regard to competency of the IMO and ICAO investigation models in which case there are arguments that both do not have clearly defined roles and competency standards when it comes to accident investigation systems. Several training institutions have been able to offer aircraft and marine accident investigation studies separately but upon analysis, it has been established that there are many similarities with regard to their contents.

Because of this, a competency framework that outlines the required qualifications required has to be established so as to govern this field in a more beneficial manner in terms of resource sharing. 1.3 Research Question The research question that formed the basis for this particular research study is; “Are there possibilities for an investigator in aviation accidents to participate in or handle a marine accident investigation based on the content of their trainings? 1.4 Research Objective The objective of this research study was to determine the possibility of a single aviation investigator to participate in carrying out both marine and aviation investigations because of most of the common training content involved in the two fields. 1.