Ship Simulator and Bridge Teamwork

1. REVIEW OF BASIC PRINCIPLES

NAVIGATION

 Shall be planned in advanced and checked before the voyage commences

 During the watch ensure that the ship follows planned course
 Know the location and operation of all safety and navigational equipment
 No other duties shall be assigned to the officer of the watch

NAVIGATIONAL EQUIPMENT

 Effective use of all navigational equipment

 Provisions on the use of radar contained in the applicable regulations for preventing collision at sea
 Shall not hesitate to use the helm, engines and sound signaling apparatus
 Understand the capabilities and limitations of the navigational aids and systems being used and
continually monitor their performance;
 Uses the echo sounder to monitor changes in water depth;
 Uses dead reckoning techniques to check position fixes;
 Does not become over reliant on automated navigational equipment such as GPS, and plotting these
onto charts
 If chart datum differs from datum used by GPS, a datum shift will have to applied to the position
coordinates before they are plotted on the chart;
 In coastal waters, the OOW should be aware that ship’s routeing & reporting systems may exist.

NAVIGATIONAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

The Officer of the Watch

 Shall not leave the bridge until properly relieved

 Responsible for the safe navigation of the ship
 Notify the master when in doubt of the situation
 Not to hand over his watch if in doubt of the fitness of the relieving officer;
 Shall satisfy him that the relieving officer is physically fit, mentally fit and emotionally fit.
 The OOW needs to maintain a high level of general awareness about the ship and day to day
operations.

Note: This include monitoring a general watch on the ship’s deck, people working on deck, cargo
handling equipment’s, control of machinery & ships safety systems.

The Relieving Officer

 Shall satisfy himself as to the ships estimated or true position, intended track, course and speed and
note any danger to navigation expected to be encountered

Note: Proper record shall be kept of the movements and activities during watch

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 The OOW needs to maintain a high level of general awareness about the ship and day to day
operations.

Note: This include monitoring a general watch on the ship’s deck, people working on deck, cargo
handling equipment’s, control of machinery & ships safety systems.

REGULATION VIII/1 of STCW Code/Annex

Fitness for Duty

REGULATION 8/1;

 Require Flag States to establish rest periods for watch keeping personnel.
 Require that watch systems are so arranged that watch keeping personnel are not impaired by
fatigue.

Note: The primary focus of the STCW is to ensure that qualified and fit personnel under all
circumstances maintain an effective watch on all seagoing ships.

Section A-8/1;

 States that watch-keeping personnel shall be provided a minimum of 10 hrs of rest in any 24-hrs
period. The period of rest may be divided into two periods, one of which must be at least 6 hours.
Also, the watch schedule is to be posted where it is easily accessible.
 This applies except in an emergency, a drill or “in other overriding operational conditions.” The 10
hrs of rest may be reduced to a single period of 6 hrs for up to 2 days, as long as the seafarer
concerned is provided at least 70 hrs of rest each seven-day period.

2. FAMILIARIZATION WITH THE BRIDGE

(Please go to “BRIDGE” for full familiarization).

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3. STANDARD MANEUVRES

EMERGENCY MANEUVERS

SINGLE TURN DOUBLE TURN

SCHARNOW TURN WILIAMSON TURN

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CRASH STOP TURNING CIRCLE

BACKING & FILLING MANEUVER

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1. Half Ahead/Hard Right

2. Half Astern/Hard Right
3. Half Astern/Hard Left
4-5.Half Ahead/Hard Right
Turn Complete

4. WIND AND CURRENT EFFECTS

FACTORS THAT AFFECTS SHIPHANDLING

Wind and Current Effect

1. The effects of wind & current on navigation & shiphandling increase dramatically as a ship’s
speed decreases
2. The effects of wind in maneuvering will depends on the Trim & Disposition of the
superstructure while the current effect is the same in all vessel’s condition
3. When the vessel is underway and being drifted, give leeway

EXAMPLE:

a. In Dover: we have the low & high water, which can have a tremendous effect on the speed

 Speed: 6 kts – 0 kts : Against Current

 Speed: 12kts – 20 kts: Favoring Current

b. Kuroshio Current
c. Gulf Stream Current
d. Agulhas Current

5. ATTITUDE

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Recognizing Stress

 Strange behavior
 Acceleration – over activity
 Jump to different solutions & ideas
 Expectation becomes certainty
 Tunnel vision
 Concentration on irrelevant details
 Denying facts & reality
 Perception of time

Stress is a state of extreme difficulty, pressure, or strain

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Handling Stress

 Anticipation – mental rehearsal

 Regular breathing
 Slow down – we don’t have time to be in a hurry
 Structured approach to the crisis

6. CULTURAL AWARENESS
Increase safety by:

 Becoming more culturally aware

 Questioning attitudes
 Treating people as individuals
 Finding flexible solution

Factors of Cultural

1. Region and Religion

2. Spoken Language
3. Body Language
4. Job
5. Education
6. Travel
7. Age sex
8. Social Class
9. Personality
10. Other factor

Keep an open mind and don’t stereo type people, they’ll probably surprise you.

The Cultural wheel

Respect

Understanding Learn

Name Interpreter

Consistent Procedures Explain

Increase Cultural Wheel by:

1. Respect – other people’s culture for good communication

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2. Learn - what motivates people as individuals and as members of their culture

3. Interpreter – pay careful attention to body language and to reaction. You may need a
cultural interpreter familiar with the culture who can act as a link between cultures.
4. Explain - actions and give clear message in simple language
5. Procedures - check understanding. Use written checklist to reduce misunderstanding
6. Consistent – keep a consistent approach and attitude. Cultural communications is two-way.
If a receiver can understand your culture this can bring you both closer to each other.
7. Name – use person’s name. This helps communications in most if not all cultures.
8. Understanding – work at increasing your understanding of the culture.

7. BRIEFING AND DEBRIEFING

(Please see Simulator Exercises)

8. CHALLENGE AND RESPONSE

Automation Awareness

AUTOMATION

 Give us different levels of help

 An example of a low-level of Automation Bridge is whether
helmsman can be replaced by an autopilot.
 With the medium level of automation we’re still in the middle
and in full control. But we’ve got more help we can call on.
 But in highly automated environments, example: modern ships
bridges, the automation may take action on its own and keep us
out of the loop.
 Automation, in fact the computers it consists of, is there to help
you and has many powerful properties.

BASIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN AUTOMATION AND HUMANS

AUTOMATION

 Good at monitoring data for years without getting tired

 Computers can store, handle, retrieve large amounts of data at
high speed
 Perform many tasks at the same time
 Decisions based on programming

HUMANS

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 Bad at monitoring data and get bored and tired easily

 Not so fast and reliable
 Only one or two tasks at the same time
 Anticipate and improvise

Automation – will support us with data and warnings, provided we understand and communicate properly
with it.

AUTOMATION CHARACTERISTICS

1. MODES (sets of instructions from you or from another system)

a. Normal – when an automated system is working properly. They minimize workload. You get
training and hands-on practice
b. Abnormal – when something goes wrong

2. AVAILABILITY VS. OBSERVABILITY

a. Availability –data are available physically, but it may be difficult to detect or it may be silent
b. Observability – data may be too observable with too many noisy alarms so you immediately
switch them off

Some characteristics of automation:

Automation gets stronger when it can carry out longer sequences of actions without humans.
It gets increased authority when it can override operator input
Automation can be difficult to control because it may be difficult to change mode, especially in
very rare abnormal modes.
 Automation can be complex
 Automation can be so good that we trust it, have confidence in it, and we become dependent on
it.
1. Automation affects workload
 In normal modes, workload decreases when automation increases.
 From manual to fully-automated navigation and steering system
 You can get stuck trying to understand and correct the problem and forget the navigation.
 This is sometimes called the Automation Trap.
 Someone stuck in the Automation Trap will counteract the escape from a critical situation.

2. New types of errors

 Automation also affects the timing of errors. Errors in pre-programmed routes may not be
noticed for hours.

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3. Misunderstanding
 We may also misunderstand parts of the system for abnormal modes.
 We only see what we know about or want to see.
 We may have checklists and recipes of what to do, but do we know how the system really works
and how it links to other systems? We may also lack practice.

4. Attitudes to automation
 We may have inappropriate attitudes to automation

o Superior to machines – might lead to hazardous thoughts, you may mistrust what they are
saying even if it’s true.

o Inferior to machines – might lead to overconfidence in the automation decreasing your need
to question and double-check You may rely too much in the machines and be frightened to re-
adjust them, in case something goes wrong.

Note: Automation is really a member of the bridge team. It carries out delegated instructions, it
communicates and challenges you.

Relationship of BRM to Automation

1. Communication and Briefings

 Automation makes communication more important.
 Don’t let team member’s work independently with different systems.
 This can lead to confusion and mode conflicts.

2. Challenge and Response

a. You should challenge your concept of the automation’s modes and the automation should
challenge you by warning about differences between your concept and what’s really
happening.
b. If the automation challenges you by triggering an alarm, make sure that you verify or deny the
challenge by using third source.
c. Don’t just respond by canceling the alarm and hoping the problem will go away.

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3. State of the Bridge

a. Automation in abnormal modes may push you in the +2 or even +3 states or it may let you
drift into the –1 and –2 states. Your workload and awareness level may have decreased. Take
care. The most dangerous state is –3 (inattentive at a critical phase).
b. You have delegated everything to the computers and you are not checking.
c. You can easily flip to the alarm state in an automation surprise.

4. Judgment and Decision Making

 Judgment is important with automation, especially for instant decisions in a crisis, with no
time for short-term strategy.
 The automation can apply hidden pressure by giving you an uneasy feeling, giving too many
alarms or just by being there, expensive if you damage it, complex and frightening.

5. Authority and Assertiveness

 Who is in the authority role and who is assertive? Normally a balance of power between you
and the automation is the safest combination but of course, you are in command.
 At times, you must overrule the automation but never let the automation overrule you.

6. Workload to Automation.
 The automation can apply hidden pressure by:
o giving you an uneasy feeling
o giving too many alarms or just by being there
o expensive if you damage it,
o Complex and frightening.
 You can reduce workload by pre-planning automation inputs and outputs and by delegation to
the automation.
 Knowing which tasks to delegate, to which systems, in which modes is an art that needs
practice and experience.
 In learning a new automated system, don’t panic.

9. SHALLOW-WATER EFFECTS

Shallow Water Effect

When Vessel moves into relatively shallow water, the hydrodynamic interactions between the Sea
bed and the hull affect the ship handling in several ways. The effects become appreciable when the
depth of water is less than 1.5 x the draught of the ship

 Squat – reduction of under keel clearance

 At moderate speed, most vessels will tend to trim by head
 With high speed may cause a rapid change to a trim by the stern. Therefore, speed should
be moderate because a risk of grounding may occur in shallow water

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Signs that ship enter shallow water

1. Wave increase at the forward end of the ship

2. Ship becomes more sluggish to maneuver
3. Changes of draft
4. Decreases rpm to about 20%
5. Drop in speed

a. 30 % at open water
b. 60% at confined channel

FINAL DRAFT COMPUTATION

GIVEN: Speed = 10 kts; Cb = 0.70 cm; Deep draft = 20.0 m

How to get the Block Coefficient (Cb) of a vessel

Cb = Volume of Displacement Cb = 63,000

Length x Breadth x Draft 150x30x20

Cb = 63,000 Cb = 0.70 meters

90,000
IN CONFINE WATER

2 2
SQUAT = Cb x Speed x 2 SQUAT = 0.70 x 10 x 2
100 100

SQUAT = 0.70 x 100 x 2 SQUAT = 0.70 x 2

100

SQUAT = 1.4 meters

FINAL DRAFT = 1.4 m + 20 m = 21.4 meters

IN OPEN SEA

2 2
SQUAT = Cb x Speed SQUAT = 0.70 x 10
100 100

SQUAT = 0.70 x 100 SQUAT = 0.70

100

FINAL DRAFT=DEEP DRAFT + SQUAT

= 20 meters + 0.70 meters

= 20.70 meters

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10. BANK, CHANNEL AND INTERACTION EFFECTS

I. Bow Cushion & Bank Suction

In a restricted channel, there is a tendency for the bow of a ship to be pushed away from the bank.
It is caused by the pressure field by the bow, forcing the bow away from the bank. This effect is
known as Bow Cushion.

The tendency of the vessel to be attracted bodily towards the bank caused by the loss of pressure
associated with the increased velocity of water in restricted space between the vessel and the bank
is known as Bank Suction.

II. Interaction Between Passing and Overtaking Ships

Overtaking is more dangerous than meeting end on. The overtaking larger ship will exert the most
influence. The bow of the smaller ship will swing towards the path of the larger ship.

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How a Passing Ship Affects A Moored Ship

 A passing ship can get into a very discomfiting position where little can be done to keep away from
the other.

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Polarity of Vessel Passing Each Other

 A ship passing one another especially in a channel will have an effect to each other due to ship’s
polarity.

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11. PLANNING
 Preparation
 Execution

 Preparation: is Appraisal & Planning

 Execution: Organization & Monitoring

No Go Areas:
Areas where the ship cannot go should be hatched or highlighted taling care not to obscure any
navigational marks or object. In confined water, where tidal height may have large influence, such no go
areas will depend on time of passage. All areas showing charted depths of lesson than the draught plus a
safety margin should be considered no go areas.

Margins of safety:
A safety of margins is required around the no go areas at a distance that in the worst probable
circumstances, the ship being navigated will not pass. Margins of safety will show how far the ship can
deviate from the track, yet still remain in safe water. As a general rule the margins of safety will ensure
that the ship remains in waters of depths greater than the draught plus 20%.

This may need to be increased in case of following cases;

a) The survey is old and not reliable
b) Where the ships is rolling & pitching
c) Possibility that the ship may experience squat.

Irrespective of the safe UKC, a ship in a situation where the nearest navigation danger is to starboard
must allow manouvering space to allow alterations of the course to starboard for traffic avoidance.

Passage Planning:

Safe Water:
Where the ship can deviate safely and the limits are bound by the margins of safety.
Distance Off:

a) The draught of the ship relative to depth of water.

b) The weather conditions prevailing; a strong offshore wind, onset of fog will require an increase in
distance off.
c) The direction & rate of the tidal stream.
d) The volume of the traffic.
e) The availability of the safe water.

 Where the coast shelves & offshore sounding increase gradually, the track should ensure
that adequate under keel clearance is maintained.
 Irrespective of the safe UKC, a ship in a situation where the nearest navigation danger is to
starboard must allow manouvering space to allow alternations of the course to starboard for
traffic avoidance.

Under Keel Clearance:

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A normal rule is that 10% of the deepest draught. The OOW should be aware that if less than 10%
the OOW should be aware to reduce the speed.

Tidal Window:
In tidal areas adequate UKC may only be attainable during the period that tide has achieved given
height. Outside that period the area must be considered “no Go”. Such tidal windows must be clearly shown
so that the OOW is not in doubt as to whether or not it is safe for the ship to proceed.

 OOW must carefully monitor the ship’s position and adjust the course steered to maintain the
planned track.

Wheel Over:
In the open sea & offshore coastal waters when navigating on small scale charts, course alternations
will usually coincide with planned track interactions. In confined waters when navigating on large scale
charts and where the margins of safety may require the ship to commence altering course at the wheel over
position some distance before the track intersection in order to achieve the new planned track.

 Planned wheel over positions should be determine from the ship’s manouvering characteristics and
marked on the charts.
 Suitable visual & radar cues then be chosen to determine when the ship is at the wheel over
positions.

Parallel Indexing:
The parallel indexing is useful method of monitoring cross track tendency in both poor & good
visibility.

Aborts & Contingencies:

 ABORTS: in constrained waters the ship may be in a position beyond which it will not be
possible to do other than proceed, termed the point
 A position can be drawn on the chart showing the last point at which the passage can be
aborted and the ship not commits herself.

 Machinery failure
 Instruments failure
 Dangerous situations ashore
 Any situations where it is deemed unsafe to proceed.
Reasons for aborting may be one of the following
 Deviation from approach line.
 Machinery failure
 Instruments failure
 Dangerous situations ashore
 Any situation where it is deemed unsafe to proceed.

Contingencies:
Having passed the abort position & point of no return, bridge team still needs to be aware that
events may not go as planned & that the ship may have taken emergency action. Contingency plans will have
been made at the planning stage & clearly shown on the chart.

12. AUTHORITY

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AUTHORITY AND ASSERTIVENESS

 Are major hazard in shipping perhaps because of history and tradition?

 Understanding it can help to limit its negative effect.

Authority

 The master has formal authority because of his legal and company responsibility
 He may also have personal authority. Formal and Personal Authority are linked.
 If Personal Authority is weak, then Formal Authority must be used. But if Personal Authority is
strong, then a good master has little need to use his Formal Authority.
 In this lesson was not talking about formal, legal and company authority but about Personal
Authority. The level of authority that others see may be different from what was intended.

Assertiveness

 Giving your ideas whether they are right or wrong.

 It can come from confidence, knowledge, skill, experience or just personality.
 Understanding it can help to limit its negative effect.

Note:

 Authority and Assertiveness are very similar. We associate Authority with the master and the
person in-charge and Assertiveness with the officers, junior members of the team or the crew.
 Most people would agree that a Balance between the authority and assertiveness of any two
members gives the safest situation.
 Everyone must be assertive enough to contribute to and, if necessary, challenge the situation.

REASONS FOR DEVIATING FROM THE BALANCE LEVELS

A. TOO HIGH AUTHORITY of Master or Pilot

 Total command expected –he thinks that total command is expected of him – “that’s the way it is at
sea.”
 Lacks communication skills – unaware of the need to communicate effectively.
 Can’t delegate – gives orders and only expects officer’s physical not intellectual help. Also because
he doesn’t see the need or doesn’t know how to delegate (or send another person as a
representative of himself).
 Performance oriented – he is too performance-oriented. More interested in results than people.
 Needs to prove himself – he is newly appointed and feels unsure, so he needs to prove himself

B. TOO LOW ASSERTIVENESS of Officer is more common

 Silenced by master’s authority – he feels silenced by the master’s authority.

 Unaware of what’s expected of him– he was not adequately briefed
 Lacks communication and management skills – he was not being trained in communication and
management skills. He may not be aware of the need for such skills.
 Personality clash – cannot get along well with each other

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DANGERS OF THE FOUR EXTREME COMBINATIONS

1. High Authority – Low Assertiveness – The team does not participate in decision-making.
2. Low Authority – High Assertiveness – least dangerous situation. High assertiveness can compensate
for low authority.
3. High Authority – High Assertiveness – can lead to a clash of personalities. What would happen if
there was an emergency while they were arguing? It will also take time and emotional effort to
repair the bad feeling for the rest of the voyage.
4. Low Authority – Low Assertiveness – Nobody recognizes the problem. Decisions may not be made;
they may be made too late or incorrectly.

Conclusion:

 Be aware of your own level of authority or assertiveness and the effect you have on others.

13. MANAGEMENT ON THE BRIDGE

MANAGEMENT STYLE

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TIGER
(Characteristics)

 Authoritarian style  One man band

 One way communication  Good leader in crisis
 Does not like challenges

(Effect of this Style)

 Quiet and defensive bridge team  Decline in performance

members  Low Morale
 Poor communication and few challenges

PENGUIN
(Characteristics)

 Uses too much unimportant  He is too supportive to bridge team

communication members
 The challenge & response is weak  Lower standards tolerate

(Effects of this Style)

 General lowering of professional standards  Little on the job

 Low Morale  Low respect for the leadership

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The ideal manager is somebody who is very concerned with performance but at the same time
makes best uses of his bridge team. He uses bridge Resource Management tools. Communications and
briefing are carried out in the correct way. He established a good challenge and response environment, and
always uses the short term strategy when appropriate.

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14. WORKLOAD AND STRESS

Workload

There are dangers of too low and too high workloads and should be avoided systematically using methods
like task analysis, delegation and rotation of work.

Expected tasks

 Passage plan  Supplies

 Loading  Crew scheduling
 Unloading  Emergency drills

Unexpected tasks

 Bad weather  Accidents

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Resources

 Time
 Financial
 Man Power

People Skills

 Experience
 Attitude
 Technical Skills

DIRECTLY UNDER YOUR CONTROL

 Voyage planning  Training

 Briefings  Experience
 Checklists  Defining procedures

INDIRECTLY UNDER YOUR CONTROL

 Management support  New technology

 Company standing orders

Delegation

Everyone agrees that delegation is a good idea, but few people do it and ever fewer people do it well.

Why is that?

Hazardous Thought about Delegation

a. Quality:
If you want a job done properly
do it yourself

True it takes time to learn a new job. But you have to learn.

b. Time: By the time I showed him

I could have done it twice.

Again, speed with quality won't come right away.

c. Comfort:
I like doing the job
and I do it well.

But with practice you'll also get to like the job of delegation

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d. Risk:

Sometimes you need to let people make mistakes. Mistakes are not usually critical.

e. Power:
But I’ll lose control. What will
be left for me?

You will actually increase your control because you can get more done in the same time.

Delegation Checklist

 Which task?  Let go

 To whom?  Monitor
 Briefing  Reward

State of the Bridge

Our ship’s instrumentation tells us:

 The State of the bridge

 Speed and Course etc..
 Message of checking the component of human being as to how we are performing and reacting.

State of the Bridge

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 The state of manning the bridge.

 It is generated by the combination of the bridge team member’s personal state of the mind.

When combined, the ff. factors give personal state of mind and general state of bridge when combined:

 Stress  Response to change

 Experience

Indicators to measure your state and the state of the bridge as a whole:

1. At +1, you are alert, attentive and performing well. There are no technical problems and no people
problems. The weather is fine, and everybody feels fine.
2. At +2 states, a problem has developed making you feel concerned, sometimes it’s not clear what the
problem is, but the feeling is real and it is beginning to affect your performance. More problems may
occur, workload may start to increase.
3. At +3 state, when you feel that the situation is getting serious, then the workload or the level of
stress can cause a strong sense of alarm even danger.
4. If you feel that you’re becoming bored and small errors are starting to occur, then you’re slipping
into a –1 state.
5. At –2 state:

 Monitoring is not getting done

 The instrument may be uncontrolled and
 You may be relying on them completely, and
 May not recognize the problem.
 You may daydream, make careless errors and get bad-tempered.

6. At –3:

 You are in a really dangerous situation

 In critical situations, you may notice and suddenly wake up.
 Inattentiveness can be even more dangerous than a more recognizable emergency.

FACTORS THAT AFFECT STATE OF THE BRIDGE:

1. Work Load 6. Health

2. Personality 7. Change
3. Motivation 8. External
4. Experience 9. Technology
5. Tiredness

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6 STATES OF THE BRIDGE

NOTE:

 Your actions are affected by how you feel about the state of the bridge.
 This may not be the real state whether you feel happy with the situation, concerned, alarmed, bored
or inattentive. That feeling will affect your performance.

SUMMARY:

 –1 / +1 = Take extra care to avoid situation getting worse.

 –2 / +2 = Take action to correct the situation.
 –3 / +3 = Avoid the critical extremes at all costs. But if you find yourself in them, take action to get
out immediately.

Human Involvement in Errors

 Some incidents and accidents are caused only by acts of God.

 But human error usually plays a major part. Actually its human involvement in errors because there’s
often not one but a chain of errors.
 It’s easier and costs less to blame seafarers, pilots, or VTS solving the real causes takes much longer.

UNDERLYING FACTORS leading to the hazards and risks:

 Increased competition and emphasis on cost cutting.

 Increasing age of the world’s fleet. This can lead to new and strange technical problems
 Crews from mixed cultures

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 Frequent new crew turnover

2 TYPES OF ERRORS:

A. EXTERNAL ERRORS – outside one’s direct control

Types of External Errors

1. TECHNICAL

 Engines  Component malfunctions

 Design faults  Maintenance errors
 Hull stresses
2.

1. INFORMATION

 Manufacturer’s manuals  Language

 Inaccurate charts  VTS
 Company procedures

B. INTERNAL ERRORS – Inside our head

1. EXAMPLES OF INTERNAL ERRORS

 Boredom – inattention  Lack of knowledge

 Edge of routine – doing the  Lack of training
same task repeatedly
 Fatigue

THREE TYPES OF RESPONSE TO AN INCIDENT OR ACCIDENT

Type 1 – PREVENT

 Prevent it happening again by making the combination of situations impossible.

 For example to prevent collisions in a dangerous fairway, the fairway authorities could allow only
one vessel on the fairway at a time.
 Type 1 solutions are often technical and take time to introduce

Type 2 – MINIMIZE THE PROBABILITY

 If prevention is impossible then minimize the probability of the same combination happening
again.

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 An example is the introduction of separation schemes to minimize collisions.

Type 3 – TRAIN TO RECOGNIZE, AVOID, MINIMIZE THE CONSEQUENCES

 If type 2 is difficult then train how to recognize and avoid the situation.
 An example is rules of the road. In the worst case train how to minimize the consequences of the
situation if it happens because you often need a type 2 and a type 3 response.
 Try a safety check when you look at safety, item-by-item, concentrate on what you can do.

SUMMARY

 There are so many sources of error external to the bridge and inside our heads that we will never
be able to guarantee absolute safety. There are many FACTORS UNDER YOUR CONTROL.
 You can have a SAFETY POLICY to reduce errors.
 When others or we make mistakes, we should have a policy of deliberately learning from them by
reading, debriefing and using personal experiences. We should make the best type of response to
errors.

15. ANCHORING AND SINGLE-BUOY MOORING

ANCHORING
 Sand or shingle provides good holding ground, soft mud is poor and rock flukes cannot bite into
the ground
 For the anchor to be most effective an amount of chain equal to about twice the depth should
be placed well in the water and the brake screwed up.
 When anchoring in depth of over 30 meters, the cable should be walked out until about 10
meters from the bottom.
 Depth of over 60 meters windlass should be kept in gear and the cable to be walked out.
 Test have shown that if the pull or the cable lead 5° above the horizontal, the holding power is
reduced by one quarter and if the direction of pull is 15° above the horizontal, half the holding
power is lost.

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a. Proceed in slow speed

b. Check anchorage position
c. Check depth of water
d. Remove lashing of both anchors

2. How to Anchor:

b. Find & locate for the best place to anchor

c. Check wind & current direction
d. Head for the wind & if calm, against current
e. Lower your anchor above the water
f. Put your engine astern until quick water is amidship
g. Brought out length of chains 5 to 7 x depth of water
h. If bad weather allow more chain or proceed to sea

3. Terms Used in Anchoring:

a. Chain up & down;

b. Slack;
c. Moderately tight;
d. Tight; e. Very tight

4. Direction of the Chain: (Base on the Clock)

Ex. Chain leading 12 o’clock, 3,6,9 o’clock

5. Don’t let go anchor all the way straight bottom if depth is between 60 to 100 meters. Walk out your
anchor by gear to avoid losing your anchor.

6. RULE OF THE THUMB

 Pay Out 5 to 7 times the Depth

Japanese Safety Management System

 In Good Weather: Pay Out 3 times the Depth plus 27 meters

 In Bad Weather: Pay Out 4 times the Depth plus 40 meters

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Find Radius of Swing (ROS)

Example: Vessel anchored 7 shackles on the water, depth of water is 27 m & LOA is 170 m. Length of chain
(LOC) is 192 m.

Formula: ROS=SQR (LOC2-DEPTH2) + LOA

= SQR (1922-272) + 170

= SQR (36864-729) + 170
= SQR (36135) + 170
=190 + 170
= 360 meters

16. HUMAN FACTOR IN ERROR

CHAIN ERROR
INDICATION OF CHAIN ERROR

A – AMBIGUITY
B – BREAKDOWN COMMUNICATION
C – CONFUSION / INADEQUACY
D – DISTRACTION
E – EXISTING RULES VIOLATED
F – FOLLOWING ORIGINAL PLAN NOT ACHIEVED
G – GONE!!! WHO HAS THE CONNING

Weaknesses in bridge organization

1 – Not calling additional lookout in poor visibility.

2 – Give ample time in calling the master.
3 – Posting lookout – in order not to alter your duties.
4 – Manning the wheel – in restricted and congested area. Put to hard steering.
5 – Overconfidence – does not ensure (double check) the safety of the vessel.
6 – Failure to take visual position.
7 – Failure to identify navigational lights.
8 – Unable to check other position (not

informing other officers).

CAUSES OF CHAIN ERROR

FOR

F - FATIGUE

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O - OVER CONFIDENCE
R - RESOURCES NOT ENOUGH
IM SAFE

I – ILLNESS
M – MEDICATION
S – STRESS
A – ALCOHOL
F – FATIGUE
E – EAT PROPERLY

17.DECISION MAKING
Judgment & Decision Making

Good judgment can be learned but this isn’t easy. It takes time and experience.

JUDGMENT is defined as processing information to produce a decision and a decision as the conclusion of
the judgment process, showing the action to be taken.

CATEGORIES OF DECISION

a. Routine decisions
 Often simple choices.
 For example the vessel’s speed through restricted channels or how many tugs to use.
 They are usually covered by company guidelines or by your experience or are obvious.

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b. Instant decisions
 Are when there’s no need or little time for judgment.
 Some instant decisions involve high risk and possibly high stress.
 For example the threat of grounding, they need fast reactions.

c. Considered decisions
 Need a lot of judgment
 They could be linked to one or more short-term strategies to solve the problem
 But they don’t have to involve problems. They could be important decisions that need careful
thought from the whole team.

Example:

 Deviating
 Who’s going to maneuver the vessel?
 Entering or leaving port in bad weather
1. Information
 Find all the available information.

2. Processing

 Next, process it weighing the options. Consult with people throughout.

3. Decision

 then comes the decision

 You’ll need to summarize the options, make the choice, and then get agreement to go with it.

JUDGMENT

 Is involved in choosing the pieces of information and in processing them to build up the picture.
 Is a chain of decisions? You can think of each decision as a switch between 2 options.
 Each decision can involve good judgment or poor judgment.

Information regarding judgment and decision-making:

 Larger decisions can always be broken down into smaller ones.

 One poor judgment usually leads to another as more and more options become closed. This can
give a poor judgment chain possibly leading to an incident or accidents.
 If we make a poor judgment we probably have an incorrect concept of the situation through
misinformation, missing information etc.
 If possible, go back to take the right action but if impossible, make the best compromise. This may
mean that the final decision is not ideal.
 But when you can go right back to the first wrong decision, you can switch to the good judgment
chain.
 When deciding between option A and option B, you are in an area of uncertainty. Your personal
feelings can have a major influence.

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 Judgment can be clouded by 4 major factors that affect us as humans:

o Uncertainty
o Complexity of the situation
o Lack of time
o Stress caused by risk or high workload
o Our own personality – Biggest human factor affecting judgment

COMMON FACTORS AFFECTING JUDGMENT

1. Hidden Pressure
 One factor that often affects our judgment
 Hidden because unnoticed; Pressure because it gradually increases.
- Not immediately obvious. Hard to detect and cure.
- Not always bad. Sometimes it points to factors that we really haven’t noticed or given enough
weight to.

Example:

 Personal reasons to get home  Company costs and profit goals.

2. Not so hidden pressure

Example:

 Weather
 Technical problems

Dealing with Hidden Pressure

 Be aware of it as a possible problem and be alert for it

 Separate facts from emotions

TYPES OF DECISION

1. Bad decision despite good judgment. A decision is only as good as the information on which it’s
based. Garbage in, garbage out. So, continually check the quality and relevance of information.
2. Decisions that require instant reactions

 train yourself to act quickly

 Discipline yourself to act slowly. Count to ten.
3. When you decide to leave things as they are, this is a conscious decision. A decision has been
made and you should clearly communicate this fact
4. If you unconsciously fail to take a decision for whatever reason, this does not occur at any
particular point in time, this can be serious.

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CONCLUSION

Skills & Technical Knowledge + BRM Management skills + Collective Experience = IMPROVED DECISIONS

18. CRISIS MANAGEMENT

EMERGENCIES & LEADERSHIP

EMERGENCIES





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 Situations that require special attention

 They need good judgment and strong personal abilities.

LEADERSHIP

 Important all the time but it’s essential during emergencies

TYPES OF EMERGENCY

1. Prepared – with a procedure already designed to handle it.

Ex. Fire, evacuation, man overboard
2. Unprepared – no planned procedure
Ex. Collision, explosion
3. Anticipated – either you are expecting it or there’s enough warning.
Ex. Icebergs
4. Unanticipated – you are not expecting it
Ex. Equipment malfunctions

Two types of reaction to an unanticipated emergency

 Slow reaction – you have time to respond carefully

 Fast reaction – a reflex reaction

Prepared, Anticipated, Slow Reaction Emergency – easy to handle

Unprepared, Unanticipated, Fast Reaction Emergency – most difficult to handle

 The situation can often be confused or unclear.

 If things are stable, then play safe and don’t act too fast until you’re sure you’re doing the right
thing.
 If unstable, you have to rely on past experience, ability and technical skills to take immediate
action.
 Prepare and anticipate different situations by mentally rehearsing: What if this happens? What
would we do?
 Keep alert and get ready for possible emergencies even unlikely ones.
 Changing reaction speed may sometimes be impossible.
 Once you’re in an emergency situation, you just have to react. The time to build your defenses is
before the emergency.

Technical Training – having a personal development plan and timetable to increase technical knowledge,
skills and experience

Management Training – using BRM Methods to increase management skills

 What you put into your Personal Development is what you get out. In an emergency you’ll
probably get out only a part of what you put in.

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 So put a lot more in than you need to take out.

LEADERSHIP

 Emergencies demand leadership

 There may be little time to consider a short-term strategy or discuss management style
 But leadership is always important.

Right Conditions on Leadership: by using all BRM Tools such as:

1. Good Communications
2. Open Challenge and Response Style
3. Short Term Strategy
4. Controlling Workload
5. Management Style

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GOOD STYLE OF LEADERSHIP

1. Leadership by first action – common style. Shows you accept responsibility

2. Setting a good example – essential. If you don’t how can you expect others to set high standards
and have a positive attitude.

 If the leader’s performance is very superior to the other officers then they may feel they can
never reach it
 A leader with nobody following him is not a good leader

By instruction

 To make sure everyone is following, a good leader checks understanding and explains.
 Best learning opportunities occur in real life, not in classrooms

3. By motivation and goals

 Motivation is not simply a pat on the back now and again

 A good leader tries to understand people and respects them as individuals and professionals.
He really involves them in the operation
 You cannot lead unless you know where you’re going. Setting and communicating clear goals
is important

Ex. Goals are related to: schedules, towards quality, training and general safety or costs

4. By delegation – as a leader, you don’t have to have all the answers. But you must be prepared to use
all resources at your disposal to get. By delegating, you get the best performance from the team as a
whole.

5. CROWD & MANAGEMENT

6. When BRM principles fails and accident did happened, we steel need to handle the situation using
crisis & crowd management

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7.

19. PLANNING AND CARRYING OUT A VOYAGE

PASSAGE PLANNING

Responsibility for Passage Planning:

In most deep sea it is customary for the master to delegate the initial responsibility for preparing the
passage plan to the officer responsible for navigational equipment and publications.

Plan Appraisal

Before planning can commence, the charts and publications and other information appropriate for
voyage will need to be gathered together and studied.

Information Sources

1. Chart Catalogue 11. Radio signal information (including VTS

2. Navigational charts and pilot service)
3. Ocean Passages for the World 12. Climate information
4. Routing charts or pilot charts 13. Load-line chart
5. Sailing Directions and Pilot Books 14. Distance tables
6. Light Lists 15. Electronic navigational systems
7. Tide Tables information
8. Tidal stream atlases 16. Radio and local warnings
9. Notices to Mariners (Navareas, 17. Draught of vessel
Hydrolants, Hydropacs) 18. Personal experience
10. Routing information 19. Mariners Handbook

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CHARTS:

Collect together all the charts for the intended voyage, putting them into the correct order.

NO-GO AREAS:

Coastal and estuarial charts should be examined and all areas where the ship cannot go carefully
shown by highlighting or cross-hatching, taking care not to obliterate information –e.g., a navigation
mark or a conspicuous object.

MARGINS OF SAFETY:

Before tracks are marked on the chart the clearing distance from the no-go areas needs to be
considered.

WHEEL-OVER:

In the open sea and offshore coastal waters when navigating on small scale large area charts, course
alterations will usually coincide with the planned track intersections. This will not be the case in
confined waters where margins of safety may require the ship to commence altering course known
as wheel over allowances.

MARGINS OF SAFETY:

Before tracks are marked on the chart the clearing distance from the no-go areas needs to be
considered.

WHEEL-OVER:

In the open sea and offshore coastal waters when navigating on small scale large area charts, course
alterations will usually coincide with the planned track intersections. This will not be the case in
confined waters where margins of safety may require the ship to commence altering course known
as wheel over allowances.

PARALLEL INDEXING:

The parallel index (PI) is a useful method of monitoring cross-track tendency in both poor and good
visibility.

WAYPOINTS:

A waypoint is a position, shown on the chart, where a planned change of status will occur.

ABORTS & CONTINGENCIES:

No matter how well planned and conducted a passage may be, there may come the time when, due
to a change in circumstances, the planned passage will have to be abandoned

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ABORTS:

The position where the ship enters water so narrow that there is no room to return or not possible
to do other than precede, it is also known as abort point or point of no return.

CONTINGENCIES:

Having passed abort position & point of no return. The OOW still have to prepare emergency action
in the event that it may not go as planned. Contingency planning includes:

1. Alternative routes 3. Waiting areas

2. Safe anchorage 4. Emergency berths

CLEARING MARKS:

Clearing marks can be used to ensure that a ship is remaining within a safe area

HEAD MARK:

Often the ship is required to follow a track in narrow waters without the benefit of a leading line. A
suitable head marker should be selected

CLEARING BEARINGS:

In the event that no clearing marks are available a single identifiable charted object may be similarly
used

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SHIP’S ROUTEING:

The used of ship’s routeing measures should form part of the passage plan & can be adopted
internationally by IMO. Mandatory ships routeing schemes should always be used unless the ship
has compelling safety reasons for not following them. IMO routeing schemes will be shown on
charts. Details are described in Sailing Directions & Ship’s Routeing and Amendments to Ships
Routeing.

Ship’s Routeing Measures in coastal waters:

 Reduce the risk of collision between ships in the areas of high traffic densities
 Keep shipping away from environmentally sensitive sea areas
 Reduce the risk of grounding in shallow waters

Elements used in routeing systems:

 Traffic separation scheme

 Traffic lane
 Separation zone
 Roundabout
 Inshore traffic zone
 Recommended route
 Deep water route
 Archipelagic sea lane
 Precautionary area

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