To investigate the human-related factors associated with suffocation on ships during docking repair, a comprehensive analysis model composed of a Bayesian network (BN) and a complex network (CN) is proposed in the present study. The principle of event tree analysis (ETA) is firstly applied to identify the hazardous events involved in the accident according to the accident report, based on which the CN would then be developed with the logic relationships among the hazardous events. The improved K-shell decomposition algorithm is utilized to determine the criticality of nodes in the CN, the results of which are then used to develop the BN model within the framework of a human factor analysis classification system (HFACS). Then, the developed BN model can be simulated with the probability distribution of all the nodes within the BN, which are obtained on the basis of node criticality. Finally, the results of the BN simulation are interpreted from the perspectives of a brief analysis, backward analysis and sensitivity analysis. The results are verified with existing studies and the accident investigation report issued by authority, which are presented as evidence to verify the effectiveness of the proposed methodology to evaluate the human-related risk involved in the suffocation on ships. The methodology proposed in this study integrates the advantages of BN and CN to investigate the human-related hazardous events involved in maritime accidents, which can be seen as the main innovation of this work.