After a 38-year career in maritime, which includes almost 20 years conducting marine accident investigations, Alan Blume looks forward to his retirement in January 2026. Alan’s career has not only shaped marine safety investigations and procedures, but also contributed to improving international standards for protecting safety of life at sea, the marine environment, and safe vessel operation.
When Alan joined International Registries, Inc. (IRI) in September 2007 as a consultant after 20 years with the United States Coast Guard (USCG), the inspections division oversaw investigations, inspections, and technical operations.
“Investigations were seen as parallel to inspections and technical support,” said Alan. “However, having investigations as part of inspections and technical support, which are focused on compliance, obscured the true purpose of marine accident investigations, which is to learn from incidents and identifying lessons learned.”
Alan’s experience with the USCG played a significant role in his ability to help develop an independent investigations division and in 2013 he started as the Registry’s first full-time Marine Investigations Manager.
Alan views investigations with a holistic lens, recognizing that there are typically multiple factors that contribute to an incident. With this in mind, Alan and his team developed internal protocols, processes, and standard operating procedures that look at the whole system without apportioning blame or determining liability. Through transparency, competency, and information sharing, Alan forged professional working relationships with other flag and port State accident investigation organizations, ship managers, and industry groups, resulting in a shift in how investigations are perceived.
“The perception of investigations has been transformed,” Alan noted. “When I started, the culture was one of ambivalence or even unwelcoming to investigations. Today, investigations is seen as a respected partner, including among ship managers and designated persons ashore (DPAs), who respect our desire not to place blame, but rather to focus on continuous improvement by understanding why something happened and how to prevent it from happening in the future,” said Alan.
Alan’s career has been motivated by a personal belief that each investigation should honor the life of the seafarer(s) lost by helping to prevent another tragedy.
“It’s a feeling I carry with me through every investigation. Even when an incident repeats despite what we have learned from the past, I hold onto the fact that maybe this investigation will protect someone else,” commented Alan.
Reflecting on his career, Alan is proud of the close-knit relationships across the investigations sector, and the cases that he has worked which have influenced regulatory change. He credits his colleagues around the world as mentors and role models who shaped his thinking and approach. In addition to his tenure with investigations, Alan was elected Assistant Chair of the Marine Accident Investigators’ International Forum (MAIIF) in 2012 and was then elected Deputy Chair in 2015, serving until 2024. Alan also chaired the Casualty Analysis Working Group during the last two sessions of the Sub-Committee on the Implementation of International Maritime Organization (IMO) Instruments.
As Alan steps into this next chapter, he is looking forward to pursuing some deferred hobbies: building a sailboat, hiking, volunteering with a local land trust, and spending more time with his family.
“I retire with a sense of pride, optimism, and gratitude. It’s the right time to make space for others to grow, and to those continuing on I say – be curious, ask tough questions, and always listen,” Alan concluded.
