Despite technological improvements, the number of maritime accidents is still high. The human element still plays an important role in maritime operations and leadership and communication issues are two key elements that can threaten safety, as happened in the Costa Concordia and El Faro disasters. In this paper we investigate the possibility of introducing shared leadership principles in the current vertical model, interviewing 11 seafarers belonging to two international maritime associations. We conducted Skype interviews and we qualitatively analyzed them using the software Atlas.ti. We describe six elements – organizational culture and ship's climate, error isolation, leadership, mentoring, multiculturalism and teamwork – that, combined together, can foster or inhibit safety. Results highlight the dual role of the captain as mentor and leader, suggesting the need to share responsibilities among crewmembers. Additionally, results emphasize the pivotal role that organizations have in defining the safety environment for preventing errors. Therefore, this study advances the proposition that the maritime system could implement the shared leadership model into the vertical hierarchy.

尽管技术有所改进，但海上事故的数量仍然很高。人为因素在海上行动中仍然发挥着重要作用，领导力和沟通问题是可能威胁安全的两个关键因素，就像在哥斯达黎加康科迪亚和埃尔法罗灾难中发生的那样。在本文中，我们调查了在当前垂直模式中引入共享领导原则的可能性，采访了属于两个国际海事协会的 11 名海员。我们进行了 Skype 访谈，并使用 Atlas.ti 软件对他们进行了定性分析。我们描述了六个要素——组织文化和船舶气候、错误隔离、领导力、指导、多元文化和团队合作——它们结合在一起可以促进或抑制安全。结果突出了船长作为导师和领导者的双重角色，表明需要在船员之间分担责任。此外，结果强调了组织在定义安全环境以防止错误方面的关键作用。因此，本研究提出了海事系统可以在垂直层次结构中实施共享领导模型的命题。