Parliament's Temporary Committee on Safety at Sea was told that the EU's response to recent maritime disasters had missed the key point - the human factor. Eduardo Chagas, of the Maritime Transport Section of the European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF), explained that the prime causes of tanker casualties were not structural but human. Grounding and collisions accounted for almost 50% of incidents, whereas only around 11% were related to hull failure. According to Chagas, human conditions in the maritime sector should be taken more seriously, especially in EU legislation. Flags of convenience and false certificates for merchant navy officers were the issues that most needed to be tackled.