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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

On a technological behemoth like a ship, in many cases the crew, or "human element" get little attention when planning the design and operations – a mistake, as statistics show: most accidents at sea can be traced back to human error, not technical error. The CyClaDes project brought the industry together and showed how more consideration can be given to the human operators and their contexts in the shipbuilding and operational process.

Ships are a safe means of transport. When something happens, ships are being planned and designed. How the crew can be included in the on-board procedures then either takes second chair or gets left out completely. "Established ergonomic concepts that improve the interaction between man and machine have, up to now, scarcely been implemented in the maritime industry. The reason often lies in the lack of communication or understanding between crews and engineers, who build the vessels and approve them. Even when there is a transfer of available knowledge, there are often still barriers to implementing it, such as extra costs and inherent risk in changes to a technically proven design," says Dr. Eric Holder of the Human-Machine System's Department of the Fraunhofer Institute for Communication, Information Processing and Ergonomics FKIE in Wachtberg near Bonn.

In the EU-sponsored CyClaDes (Crew-Centered Design and Operation of Ships and Ship Systems) project, the FKIE sat at one table with universities, professional organizations, shipbuilders, ship owners, government agencies and ship crews. The goal of the collaboration: To better integrate the "human factor" in the development phase and the life cycle of a ship – to make shipping even safer. The interdisciplinary team extensively analyzed the places on ships where human needs have been neglected up to now, discovered potential areas where processes could be improved and sent the latest research findings to the relevant parties involved.

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This knowledge is critical since these days architects and engineers seldom go to sea and sailors hardly have any opportunities to meet with them and exchange ideas. Government agencies can use the guidelines and checklists developed during CyClaDes in regulatory standards and design guidelines or directly in the ship design audit.

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