Accident investigation is a painstaking and often painful process and, more often than not, theoutcome is a raft of new policies and measures to avoid reoccurrence.
Yet, if well thought out and established company procedures are followed in the first place, tragic consequences can be avoided. In response to the renewed focus on training in this area Videotel has launched a new training series, Leadership and Team Working Skills, which takes as its foundation the importance of good resource management and how it can be achieved. “With continuing improvements in technology, human factors feature more and more frequently in the causal chain,” explains Nigel Cleave, CEO of Videotel Marine International. “Forty years ago, the average cargo ship was manned by 40-50 crew – nowadays, even on VLCCs, we are seeing crews numbering in the low twenties. Individuals are required to operate ever more efficiently adding further pressure on board. This series addresses many of the key issues defined by the STCW and SOLAS conventions, which provide a framework for safe and effective working practices.”
Produced in conjunction with The Steamship Mutual Underwriting Association (Bermuda) Ltd Leadership and Team Working Skills is aimed at all sea-going personnel, having special relevance to the work of the watchkeeping officers in both deck and engineering departments, and is available on DVD and Interactive CD-ROM. Topics include The Voyage Plan; both Bridge and Engine Room Watchkeeping; Working with Pilots; and Resource Management and Accident Prevention. There is also a module featuring case studies of five incidents where the bridge team failed to keep the ship out of danger as a result of poor resource management. Incidents are re-created using actors and showing the data available to the bridge team. The audience are invited to view each incident and then to stop and analyse what went wrong and discuss how things could have been done better.