Modern warship design is facing a number of drivers in terms of design, procurement and operation and these have both direct and indirect impacts on issues such as survivability and the human element. Guidance has been developed regarding Human Factors Integration (HFI), but this has generally focussed on detail design and fatigue. The UK MOD HFI Initiative describes HFI with 7 more holistic domains which are seen to have wider ship design impacts. This paper considers three current drivers on warship design for their impacts on survivability in the context of the human element. There were seen to be some interactions between different aspects of modern warship design and operation that again require a more holistic assessment of HF issues. The paper concludes that, although a more holistic approach is required, the increasing computerisation of the preliminary ship design process should allow tools to be developed to support this.1.