Navigating Organisational Control: Senior Officers’ Professional Autonomy in Maritime Safety Management

Abstract

Shipping underpins the global economy and is among the most regulated and high-risk indus tries. Since the introduction of the International Safety Management (ISM) Code, the work of senior officers has become increasingly structured through documentation, checklists, and com pliance routines. While formally intended to enhance safety, these systems are experienced as administratively demanding and contribute to checklist fatigue. Drawing on eight qualitative interviews with captains and chief officers on Scandinavian-flagged cargo vessels, the thesis analyses these dynamics through Evetts’ distinction between occupational and organisational professionalism and Power’s analysis of audit practices as ever-expanding and carrying sym bolic weight. The findings show that customer demands and economic pressures intensify pro ceduralisation and limit officers’ scope for professional judgement. Officers adapt formal rules through pragmatic shortcuts and collegial authority, which can be understood as professional ising practices. The analysis points to the commodification of safety, where compliance routines serve as symbolic signals to external actors, with implications for professional autonomy at sea.