Maritime attorneys are concerned by the rising number of maritime accidents that show a correlation between increased access to technology and increased distractions and risks of accidents for vessel operators.

One incident, reported by the London P&I Club in its Stoploss Bulletin, a pollution incident recently was caused by the distraction of a duty officer. During his watch, the officer was trying to make a Skype call on his laptop, and the officer of the watch was listening to a news bulletin on his laptop. He missed the radar target and VHF warning call, which lead to the accident.

In a separate incident, the officer of the watch used the Automatic Radar Plotting Aid to track 99 shops that were transitioning an anchorage, overlaid with radar images from the Automatic Identification System. The massive information intake resulted in an overload that the officer could not process, resulting in a maritime collision.

The London P&I Club notes an increase in crewmembers’ access to technology on vessels. While this has many benefits, it also comes with a concern about the use of that technology while officers should be focusing on work. Using it at inappropriate time can distract the officers from focusing on navigating and operating the vessel and lead to maritime accidents.

Along with the increased technology on vessels, many officers find they are unable to process large amounts of information. The information overload can cause confusion as crewmembers are unable to process the data, leading to unsafe decision making.