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Warsash Maritime Academy can provide specialist research and consultancy
services to the maritime industry, particularly in the field of
maritime human factors. For further information and papers, please visit www.solent.ac.uk/mhfr
Maritime Human Factors
The development of maritime human factors research
at Warsash Maritime Academy has been in three main areas:
- Research
that underpins the Academy’s core business of
maritime education and training to reduce accidents and improve
safety. Core research interests include human error and
accident causation, the cultural aspects of maritime safety and
human fallibility; decision-making in crisis; and the evaluation
of human and organisational performance in a maritime context. UK
funded projects have included:
- The use of simulators in training
and assessment (MCA: 1994)
- The
situational awareness skills required during escalating emergencies
and crisis (MCA: 2000)
- The mitigation of human error in automated
systems (MCA: 2005)
In addition, pedagogical research has
been pursued through various EC funded projects. For
example, the Academy has contributed to the development
of CBT, virtual reality and distance learning systems for
seafarers. (EC: 1997-2001).
The
development of a leading-edge consultancy to the London
insurance market in the risk assessment of shipping companies
has led to an ongoing interest in organisational behaviour
(1997 – 2002).
- Research in seafarer employment and human
resource management issues. A wide-ranging and long-term research programme
was commenced in 1997 into recruitment, selection and retention
of seafarers. In addition to shipping company sponsors,
the programme has attracted funding from several organisations
including MNTB, Trinity House, NUMAST, ECSA, ETF and the ISF. Individual
projects have included:
- The development of retention tools (1998)
- Marketing seafaring
careers (2000)
- Cadet terms and conditions (2202)
- Alternative manning structures
(2002)
- The training and supply of senior Filipino officers (2002)
- A
national survey of UK cadets (2004) and career path mapping
(2005)
- Research
and consultancy in the Human Factors analysis of casualties,
development of near miss and incident reporting systems. The
full mission bridge simulator can be used for reconstructions
of collisions and groundings. Often such reconstruction
gives insights to the investigation that are not obvious from
other evidence sources. Previous customers included individual
shipping companies, flag states, government agencies, marine
accident investigators, legal firms and Harbour Masters. This
work has also involved staff as expert witnesses.
Other consultancy areas include:
Port Development Projects
This work includes examining the operational aspects of changes
in a port such as realigning existing berths, examining proposals
for new berths, testing against specific combinations of meteorological
conditions and investigating tug requirements and techniques. Proposed
berths, channels and other elements of a port can be built from
drawings to achieve pilot and tug master familiarisation prior
to the completion of the infrastructure.
The operational needs and procedures for new ship types and sizes
can also be investigated on the simulation.
For further information, please email: wma@solent.ac.uk
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