Speakers
Ethics in Shipbuilding and Maritime Engineering
Regulation is often treated as the benchmark for safe ship design. In practice, regulations are the baseline and, in some cases, an insufficient one. Historical failures such as Titanic, Herald of Free Enterprise, and Derbyshire demonstrate that compliance with the rules of the time does not equate to safe outcomes. In each case, risks were either not fully understood or not adequately addressed within the regulatory framework. While regulations have evolved in response, they remain inherently reactive.
This is still the case for modern ship designs. Examples such as large windows on passenger ships highlight how innovation can outpace prescriptive requirements, leaving areas where rules are missing, incomplete, or open to interpretation. Designers cannot rely on compliance alone. Ethical engineering requires scrutiny of the assumptions underpinning rules, identification of gaps, and a willingness to act beyond minimum requirements where safety is concerned.
This talk examines the gap between regulatory compliance and ethical responsibility in ship design, and the role of the designer in bridging that gap.
Lizzie has extensive experience in structural rule development, regulatory implementation, and ship design appraisal. Her work spans key technical areas including loads for ships and special service craft, structural integrity, additive manufacturing, and goal‑based standards, alongside active participation in international regulatory forums. Over her career at Lloyd’s Register, she has contributed to a broad range of projects covering ship structures, safety and regulatory updates, and engineering assessments, and has previously served as Technical Secretary to the IACS Hull Panel. Her perspective centres on how regulatory frameworks shape design decisions, particularly where gaps, interpretation, and accountability place increasing ethical responsibility on designers.