WAYPOINT - Having it both ways
Dr Andy Norris, an active Fellow of The Nautical Institute and the Royal Institute of Navigation, looks at how a navigational assessment can work both ways
Navigation assessments offer the most benefits to all involved when they act as a multiway exchange of knowledge and experience, helping to ensure continuous improvement of safe navigation at sea. That way, everyone can learn and improve from the process; not least those sitting at ‘head office’. Importantly, the results and key learnings from these assessments can also help influence future training of seafarers, detailed design of equipment and the layout of ships’ bridges.
During the assessment process, bridge staff should have the opportunity to bring up any perceived deficiencies that they see as having a negative influence on safe and efficient navigation. The assessor may be able to explain why things are done in a certain way and demonstrate that any apparent problems can be readily overcome by knowledgeable use of the equipment. However, if there is a problem that cannot be solved by better onboard practice, the assessor is in a good position to report any issues back to the company.
As a general rule, before bringing up anything of this nature to an assessor, less experienced staff should have already asked similar questions to others on the bridge, not least the Master. However, if earlier discussions do not result in a satisfactory explanation, it may be something that does need to be considered more widely.
Technological takeover?
Younger bridge staff can bring quite different insights into previously established perceptions concerning the use of technology and its interaction with the physical world. It is likely that their whole life experience to date has been centred around the use of highly sophisticated digital systems running on mobile phones, tablets, computers and TVs. Paper-based information may have played a rather less important role.
TRAINING, EQUIPMENT DESIGN AND PRACTICES MUST EVOLVE CONTINUOUSLY TO ENSURE THAT WE CAN ALL BENEFIT FROM OUR EVER-DEVELOPING WORLD
At present, many of the detailed requirements for the user interface, training and operation of ECDIS, for example, are based on the assumption that the user’s mindset is based on familiarity with paper charts. In fact, most newer entrants into the maritime navigation world have a mindset which is based on their leisure use of mapping apps. For instance, when zooming into a digital map, they naturally expect more details to become visible. Importantly, although younger people generally expect to be able to see their own position accurately depicted, they know by previous experience that this is not always the case. This forms an inbuilt, highly useful mindset that older navigators had to learn.
On many vessels today, paper charts are still seen as the best backup solution for a failed ECDIS. In my opinion, in earlier years this made good sense, but today the emergency use of paper charts is generally no longer assisted by people being familiar with their use. Even older staff may not have used a paper chart for years. Perhaps navigation assessments will help point out that this is no longer an optimum solution.
Effective and rapid understanding
Good bridge assessment procedures should give the shipping industry, equipment suppliers and legislators a more effective and rapid understanding of the issues facing actual users, in addition to allowing bridge users to be become more aware of their own personal strengths and weaknesses. Training, equipment design and practices must evolve continuously to ensure that we can all benefit from our ever-developing world.
The civil aviation world appears to have profited from their own ‘two-way’ assessment process for many years and the maritime world is now poised to greatly benefit from something similar.
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