“You can tell by the atmosphere in the office if a complex operation is going on somewhere in the world. Knowing that something difficult is being done out there keeps men up at night here. This shows that ‘looking after each other’ goes beyond the workplace alone, and in a salvage team it literally comes down to ‘I take care of you, you take care of me’.

This concern and commitment also becomes evident in the passion people have for their work. Salvors are emotional people. If there is a row in our division, it is a Row with capital R. If something ultimately works out as planned, such as the righting of the Modern Express, people are Proud with a capital P. I have been working here for two years now and I find it beautiful to see this passion and to be part of it.

Wealth of experience
The main influence of safety on my job is in sharing lessons learned and explaining the choices we make, for example regarding equipment. I notice that other divisions consult us more and more frequently about technical issues. Within Salvage, we have a wealth of experience with all kinds of situations, which enables us to offer unexpected solutions for problems. This way of sharing knowledge usually takes place informally, based on personal relationships.

Of course we also have to put it into writing to ensure that our knowledge is retained for the long term, but a database can never replace the open atmosphere of communication that we have. When facing a dilemma, what better help could you wish for than talking with someone who’s an old hand at that game?”