Human Factors 2024

A System for Measuring, Documenting, Quantifying, and Evaluating the Effect of Simulator Training

Rami Zghyer, HVL – The Western Norway University of Applied Sciences

Simulator training is an established practice in seafarers’ education and is required by the STCW. Ship simulators are now common in maritime education facilities and have become a norm for nautical students. There is wide agreement that simulator hours are helpful and save a considerable amount of sea time for candidates. Recently, various types of simulator fidelity have been researched, and it appeared that several considerations affect the impact of training such as visual fidelity, physical fidelity, behavioural and functional fidelity. Given that the effect of simulator training is a variable dependent on multiple factors, having a system for measuring, documenting, quantifying, and evaluating this impact is necessary. This article investigates the KPIs of such a system.

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Crisis Management in the Merchant Navy.

Christopher Lish, Warsash Maritime School

This paper analyses the current mandatory requirements in emergency training undertaken by ships officers and aims to establish if they are adequate and appropriate. Accidents continue to occur on vessels and while some draw considerable attention others remain relatively unknown despite great loss of life.
A great deal of focus in accidents is often on the technological faults with design changes made as a result, but with analysis of the incident there needs to be more focus not only on human factors but also on how to resolve them. This could then determine if the current training along with the systems for dealing with emergencies onboard are suitable and ascertain whether a more effective or different training approach such as simulation would better benefit officers.
This paper shows that there is a lack of understanding within the maritime industry of the current key risks but that individuals are generally satisfied with the current levels of training. Case studies reveal the effects of poor strategic management within the emergency format and the implications of some of the decisions made.
Current training could be improved by more high-level learning focus to bring a greater depth and understanding to the subject areas. Emergency training is too segregated with the non-technical skills not being recognised and integrated into a more blended multi skilled environment. The standards for the industry could be better improved by recognising the benefits of this training and incorporating these skills which may lead to a better all rounded emergency response.

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Integrating human-centred design into maritime design practice.

Dhwani Oakley, University of Southampton

The application of human factors and ergonomics knowledge and techniques in ship design has generally failed to gain widespread acceptance and application across the maritime industry. There is growing evidence to suggest that adopting a human-centred approach in the design of ships can mitigate design-induced error and improve safety outcomes at sea. However, albeit increasing, examples of successful HCD adoption remain isolated and unable to integrate into common design practice.

This paper investigates varying perceptions and practices of human-centred design (HCD) within shipping. It reports selected findings from the author’s doctoral research to date, which has been conducted in partnership with a global shipping company and represents a case study, and more significantly, a body of empirical evidence revealing key opportunities and challenges for the integration of human-centred design principles in the context of the ship design process, within shipping organisations, and across the ship lifecycle.

In particular, it finds that technical design teams currently lack the confidence and proficiency to apply human-centred design principles without the aid of subject-matter expertise or interpretation. This in turn reveals a need to 1) translate current HCD standards into specific guidance and design criteria to understand and embed user requirements into design solutions at an early stage; and 2) develop methods, tools, and techniques to help designers integrate human factors and ergonomics knowledge into the ship design process in a simple and effective way.

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An online, real-time, collaborative, immersive approach to early-phase, operation-centric design of maritime applications

Etienne Gernez, The Oslo School of Architecture and Design, Ocean industries concept lab

Early-phase, operation-centric design enables iterative and incremental concept development in a realistic context. This is important for the design of maritime applications because of the complexity of the context to design for, such as ship bridges, and the difficulty for designers to experience maritime operations first-hand. Currently, common approaches used to recreate the conditions for early-phase, operation-centric design include the use of maritime training simulators, and the use of field studies on ships. We propose a novel approach which leverages mixed-reality technology to build upon previous work on virtual reality-reconstructed operational scenarios. We give an example of use of the approach in which we reconstruct a docking scenario onboard a Ro-Ro ship. The scenario combines the perspectives of multiple users (captain, navigating officer, pilot) engaging in coordinated docking operations across connected workstations (main bridge console, wing bridge console) throughout a detailed scenario (sailing, final approach, docking). An online, collaborative 2D user interface (UI) design tool is used to sketch new concepts of UIs aiding the docking operations. The 2D UIs are rendered in a reconstructed 3D space in which experts are immersed to evaluate the UI concepts. Thanks to the online and real-time features of the 2D and 3D design collaborative tools (Figma, Bezel, Unreal), the designer and evaluating experts can quickly iterate on the concept in a variety of situations. We argue that our approach is well suited for the needs of human-centred, early-phase, operation-centric design processes thanks to its low-cost, low participation threshold, fidelity and pace of iteration.

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A Field Study of Augmented Reality for Team Decision-Making during Ship Navigation

Floris Van den Oever, University of Bergen, Norway

Background: It is crucial to have high-quality collaboration between team members in safety-critical operations. In the safety-critical operation of ship navigation, key components of that collaboration are shared situation awareness, team decision-making, and communication. Augmented Reality (AR) has the potential to improve collaboration during ship navigation. Thus, it is necessary to study this. Besides that, the usability and potential advantages and disadvantages of AR for ship navigation must be understood before it is
implemented.
Method: An AR prototype for collaborative ship navigation will be tested on several voyages in Norwegian fjords in different weather and traffic circumstances. This will be done on one or more vessels. Different AR features of the prototype will be studied. Usage of AR for ship navigation by the ship crews will be observed and the crews will be interviewed. Team decision-making and shared situation awareness will be examined with thematic analysis based on theory. Situation awareness will also be measured by a SART. Usability will be measured with the System Usability Scale and in the interview. Perceived advantages and disadvantages, as well as suggestions for the development of AR for ship navigation, will be measured in the interview.
Results: Results will give insight into how AR can improve communication, shared situation awareness, and team decision-making during ship navigation. The usefulness of different AR features will be described. Advantages, disadvantages, and suggestions for development will be listed.
Discussion: Findings may inform the development and research of AR applications for collaboration in safety-critical operations like ship navigation.
Key Terms: Augmented Reality; Shared situation awareness; Team decision-making; Communication; Ship navigation; Safety-critical operations

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“Any fool could tell how bad the ship was”: The importance of employee voice in safety culture

Dr Ian Bron, Toronto Metropolitan University Centre for Free Expression
Co-Authors: Ronald Pelot, and John W. Dalziel, Dalhousie University

“Any fool could tell how bad the ship was.” Fourteen years after the sinking of the MV Princess Ashika, the words of Sione Mafi Kavaliku, a Marine Officer in Tonga’s Ministry of Transport, have not lost their power.

How could this have happened? Did no one know? Why did no one do anything?

After a disaster, many questions are raised by the public about how the incident could possibly have happened. Weren’t there procedures, standards, rules, and laws in place to prevent this? Weren’t there safety inspectors who were obligated to protect the public safety?

Standards, procedures, rules and laws exist to maintain public safety in our increasingly complex world. But, as many maritime disasters and other incidents such as the deadly Grenfell Tower fire, painfully demonstrate, these standards count for little unless there is a Safety Culture to ensure accountability, and that standards, procedures, rules and laws are applied and enforced.

The authors, drawing on research and their extensive maritime and regulatory experience, explore these issues. They explore the pressures on the members of the safety network to “look the other way” and allow non-compliant and unsafe practices to continue. The pressures on those who try to maintain standards and protect the public safety are explored; the failure of their co-workers and society in general to support them is exposed.

Solutions to these safety culture issues will be proposed.

“Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth. Sooner or later that debt is paid.” (‘Chernobyl’ miniseries, 2019)

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How can we support uncrewed Maritime Autonomous Surface Ship operators in their decision-making?

Kirsty Lynch, University of Southampton

Uncrewed Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) are operated from Remote Control Centres (RCCs) either onboard another ship or located shoreside, which may make decision-making for MASS operators more difficult due to their relocation from onboard the ship, therefore they will lack proximity to the ship they are operating and may have reduced situational awareness. The Schema World Action Research Method (SWARM) will be used to explore the decision-making process of MASS operators and the challenges associated with operating uncrewed platforms within and beyond the line of sight. Seven MASS operators were interviewed using SWARM about their decision-making process during an environmental survey operation. The interview responses will be coded using the Schema Action World (SAW) Taxonomy and mapped onto the Perceptual Cycle Model (PCM) framework and used to understand the key decisions operators need to make during a survey operation and how the information they gather, and their schema inform those key decisions. The MASS operators’ decision-making processes will be analysed to explore what design requirements could be suggested for future MASS systems and training to better support an operator’s decision-making process by ensuring that they have the necessary information and schema to make informed decisions.

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Realizing larger click surfaces for maritime user interfaces using function grouping.

Kjetil Nordby, AHO

Maritime regulation establishes a minimum button size of 15 mm for most maritime digital interfaces with touch screens. However, there’s a contention that this minimum size might be to small for efficient operation in challenging maritime environments. Notwithstanding these concerns, many interfaces continue to adopt the 15mm size.

In this study, we introduce a novel design concept that notably amplifies click surface areas. This enhancement is achieved by clustering multiple functions within more extensive zones and by refining sub-menus to improve readability, thereby offering expansive click surfaces for all integrated functions within a singular view. This reimagined structure diverges from conventional maritime interface designs, optimizing user accuracy in targeting specific surface areas. Additionally, our method streamlines keystroke interactions, enabling users to traverse the interface with fewer clicks and presenting more generous click surfaces suitable for mouse or trackball use.

We provide a comprehensive description of our proposed concept and evaluate it using Fitts’ law. Furthermore, we critically examine the potential shortcomings and advantages of our design proposal. In summary, we argue that our design concept likely paves the way for reduced errors and streamlined interactions, particularly beneficial for users experiencing situational impairments at sea.

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Agent transparency and human performance in the context of autonomous collision avoidance

Koen van de Merwe, DNV

Transparency is a design principle intended to make the inner workings of agents visible to end-users. It is relevant in situations where humans need to evaluate the reasoning behind agent decisions and actions, e.g., when supervising autonomous ships or when using decision support systems. That is, by providing users with observability and predictability of the system through transparency, it is anticipated that the availability of this information, directly perceivable on an interface, expedites the information processing for the user and improves situation awareness (SA). However, there is limited research regarding the applicability of transparency in the maritime domain. To address this, a project was initiated to investigate the effects of transparency on key human performance variables in the context of autonomous collision avoidance. Its main results indicate that providing insight into the agents’ reasoning behind its actions becomes a key consideration in supporting future supervisors in verifying agent performance. It was also found that Human Machine Interfaces employing levels of transparency, depicting the agent’s perception, analysis, and decisions, can provide a plausible basis for aiding supervisors in understanding the agent’s planned actions. Finally, experimental evidence indicates that improvements in SA can be expected when applying these transparency principles, without increasing mental workload. However, future work should investigate transparency’s applicability to time critical applications due to heightened information processing requirements with increased transparency. Still, our overall findings indicate that agent transparency has merit as a design principle in supporting safe and effective human-autonomy system oversight.

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Interorganizational simulator training for aeronautical and maritime SAR personnel

Oda Schliebusch-Jacob, Deutsche Gesellschaft zur Rettung Schiffbrüchiger (DGzRS)

In order to effectively handle major maritime emergencies, seamless collaboration between aeronautical and maritime units is essential at all times. This necessitates regular, realistic training which, in reality, can be costly and logistically challenging. Modern simulation environments offer a solution, enabling SAR operations training that is not constrained by local conditions or external circumstances, and adheres to international standards and procedures.
However, simulation-based training for aeronautical and maritime SAR personnel was previously only possible in isolated simulation environments. The AMARIS (Aeronautical and Maritime Innovation Environment for Interorganizational Simulation) project addresses this shortcoming. AMARIS has introduced a new level of complexity, by allowing multiple ships and helicopters to interact simultaneously in a shared simulation world. This is achieved technically by coupling the Air Vehicle Simulator (AVES) of the German Aerospace Center with the SAR simulator of the German Maritime Search and Rescue Service.
The AMARIS project is pioneering in its approach, being the first to link simulation environments across organizational boundaries and different domains. This is complemented by a research-based, custom-made training concept aimed at fostering mutual understanding of operational specifics and communication patterns between ship and helicopter units. The goal is to ensure that smooth cooperation, prevent misunderstandings, and equip personnel to handle critical situations appropriately.
To further enhance the safety and efficiency of cross-domain search and rescue operations, we collect empirical data to explore and explain collaboration dynamics and inform continuous training improvements. Initial research findings and practical implications for similar simulator collaborations will be presented.

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Are We Relevant? Linking Maritime Studies Curricula to Evolving Industry Practice

Steven Mallam, The Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland

Students across differing maritime studies programs are expected to learn and perform a range of physical, cognitive, and social skills, required for their domains of specialization and future professional activities. The tools, environments, and perspectives associated with performing these skills well on the job are constantly being updated and necessitate evolving skillsets and competency development. Factors such as advancing technologies, development of work systems requiring reorganization of people and tasks, evolving regulatory frameworks and changing organizational culture can influence the needs and demands of industry, and thus what and how education and training facilities program and update their curricula. The dynamic nature of the maritime domain requires that industry, education and regulatory stakeholders interact in an interdependent relationship to best address current and future needs of its workers. In this paper we explore how educational curricula are tied to regulatory requirements and industry practice across several maritime program areas, including naval architecture and maritime systems design, nautical operations, marine engineering and maritime management. Using transfer of training, human factors, and adult education perspectives we highlight areas where these connections can be strengthened. By better addressing approaches for increased interdisciplinary collaboration between key stakeholders’ education and training offerings can more effectively develop curricula and produce graduates with the required skills
and knowledge to meet constantly evolving industry challenges.

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Human-Centric Cyber Resilience in Maritime Operations: Bridging the Gap Between Human Factors and Cyber Security

Yasin Burak Kurt, University of Strathclyde

The integration of technology into maritime operations has resulted in enhanced efficiency; yet, it has also presented new risks, particularly in the realm of cyber security. While sophisticated technological countermeasures have been the primary focus in addressing these vulnerabilities, the role of human factors in cyber resilience has received insufficient attention. This research seeks to bridge this gap by examining the influence of human-related elements on the maritime industry’s cyber security posture. Utilizing a blend of methodologies, including surveys involving maritime professionals and an analysis of past incident, the study aims to provide a holistic view of the intricate relationship among maritime operations, human factors, and cyber security. By fostering a comprehensive understanding of cyber security in maritime operations, the study proposes an integrated approach that guides maritime professionals in cyber awareness.

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The Perils of the Human Operator in Maritime Autonomous Systems

Alistair Frizell, BMT

This technical paper explores some of the Human Factors (HF) challenges surrounding the transition to the deployment of highly autonomous vessels, with an emphasis on the Defence domain. The paper explores the significance of the human operator as a safety influencing factor, and the importance of allocation of function. The issues raised will be of relevance to all maritime vessels that incorporate a high degree of autonomy, but still depend on some degree of onboard crewing or offboard control. This paper considers how we might define the levels of autonomy within a complex system, using a warship as an example, and identifies human-autonomy relationships to be avoided. It further considers the cultural changes required to ensure that the challenges of autonomy can be overcome.

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Maritime Innovations and Regulations–Synergy for Sustainability and Safety

Bhavana Singh Bondili, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (HVL)

The maritime industry is often described as old-fashioned and slow to adopt change. Given global challenges there is a need to increase the sustainability, safety, and competitiveness of shipping through innovation while making sure that the users of innovative technologies can be effective and safe. To ensure the safety and effectiveness of these innovations, regulatory authorities are encouraged to maintain flexibility and adaptability in response to the dynamic nature of evolving innovations. In the maritime context, prosperity hinges on the synergy between possibilities of innovation and permeabilities of regulation. Furthermore, regulations are perceived by innovators as unnecessarily limiting, while regulators struggle with interpreting regulations that are not keeping up with technology. For this reason, we explore the relationship between innovations & regulation, by focusing on gaps, overlaps, tensions as well as different drivers and impacting factors. To study the relationship between these processes, stakeholder maps are constructed and work as the basis for selecting interviews with representatives of central stakeholders. A case study follows the route of maritime innovation and the contacts with regulation. A systemic approach is carried out to understand both innovators and regulators perceptions, limitations, and responsiveness. It requires viewing regulators and innovators as complementary forces, they are work in progress rather than counterparts.

Keywords
Innovations; Regulations; Gaps; Perceptions; Responsiveness; Limitations; Stakeholders; Safety; Sustainability

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Improved Navigational Decision-making

Margareta Lutzhoft, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (HVL)
Co-Author: Aly Elsayed (HVL, NI)

The objectives are to identify significant factors conducive to effective and correct decision-making relevant to navigational challenges, to provide operational input in the form of design guidelines, targeted towards novel technological options.

Classical decision-making (DM) research is normative, logic and probabilistic, rational and optimal. An alternative is Naturalistic Decision Making (NDM), which rejects the notion of decision making as choosing among alternative courses of action and instead describes sequential option generation and evaluation based on pattern matching, situation awareness, and story construction.

The method is based on research in NDM and is called ACTA: applied cognitive task analysis. ACTA consists of a set of interview methods and specific questions and probes aimed for use by practitioners and is critically discussed.

Ten senior officers were interviewed. The results show that seafarers plan a great deal before embarking on a voyage or encountering a particular situation. This indicates that many decisions are made before a situation occurs – the decision-making in effect consists of recognising a situation, and applying the best course of action, using experience.

In conclusion, the analysis shows several cognitively challenging tasks which the paper will discuss.
Interviewees voice concerns about data overload, new officers over-trusting and overusing technology, and to a very large extent the issue of too many alarms. This is a serious risk to safe navigation as it disturbs, stresses, distracts and even reduces that bridge team by appropriating a crew member to manage it.

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“Fit to Fight”: delivering people and equipment from ship to shore in future amphibious operations

Dennis Watson, BAE Systems

Western militaries are reassessing operating concepts for amphibious operations, with a common theme being towards a larger number of smaller and more dispersed force elements, launched further out from land, and with greater speed.

Amphibious forces will continue to employ small and medium landing craft to carry personnel and equipment to littoral access points – including (but not limited to) beaches. By operating further out to sea – in excess of 100nm – these craft will be exposed to higher sea states for considerably longer periods.

Such operating concepts raise the human factors issues associated with delivering people and equipment “fit to fight” on arrival. In addition to acute and chronic physiological injuries due to Whole Body Vibration (WBV), there is also a risk to Embarked Military Forces (EMF) of neurological
and psychological injuries, including nausea, annoyance, fatigue, anxiety, loss of visual accuracy and hand-eye co-ordination. Given the potential implications in combat, such human factors issues are likely to be more of a driving constraint than outright craft performance.

This paper provides an overview of the operating conditions that future amphibious forces are likely to encounter – including wave height and wave period, providing an insight on the likely implications for traditional landing craft designs. These figures are compared to existing literature on the causation of physiological, neurological and psychological injury.

Finally, a concept for a novel landing craft is proposed – drawing on emerging technology from other sectors – which puts human factors at the centre of the design process alongside performance.

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Lessons learned from the COVID-19 crisis: Impacts on seafarers and safety at sea

Maria Carrera Arce, WMU

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on crew well-being due to lack of shore leave, contract extension, financial difficulties, increased workload and fatigue have been widely reported. The COVID-19 crisis has seemingly accentuated occupational health and safety deficiencies at sea. However, “if safety at sea has been impacted and how” during the crisis and long-lasting effects lack analysis.
The paper examines the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects on seafarers’ working and living conditions and safety at sea. The paper relies on the results from the research project “Effects of COVID-19 panDEmic on sEafarers and shiPping” (DEEP). The study conducted semi-structured interviews with 19 seafarers and 28 maritime stakeholders (e.g., shipping companies, authorities, surveyors, etc.) to map the effects of the COVID crisis on safety. It also deployed a survey completed by 3900 seafarers concerning workload, work and rest hours and manning during the COVID-19 crisis.
The study’s findings illustrate an uncaring industry that has been unable to protect its workforce and the concomitant effects of the revealed bleak aspects of shipping on safety onboard. Direct and indirect impacts of the pandemic on safety on board are mapped, and illustrative examples are discussed. The existing reactive paradigm of measuring safety solely in terms of how many accidents or incidents occur hampers the identification of the contributory factors to safety. It prevents the industry from implementing a safety learning culture.

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Human Centered Design

Heike Diepeveen, MARIN

The size of deep sea container ships has increased dramatically over the past decades. The loss of containers and their impact on the marine and coastal environments raised public and politic concerns on the safety and environmental impact of modern container ships. Authorities and industry are urged to evaluate container securing and improve regulations and practices to avoid such loss of containers at sea. An important cause of container loss are off-design conditions, such as parametric rolling. To help mitigate this problem, this research paper focusses on the following question: How can we support the bridge crew in understanding and recognising off-design conditions and which support can be given in taking effective corrective decisions? The basis for this research is a widespread questionnaire among seafarers, simulator evaluation and prototype decision support system design.

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Human Performance as part of a risk management model

Martijn Schipper, MARIN

In this world, major transportation of cargo is done by ships, both across the globe and more locally via inland waterways. These ships vary in size and type, dependent on type of cargo (e.g. oil, containers, grain, passengers), areas of operation and amount of cargo to be transported. With ships getting larger and larger in the past century, and more and more ships are operated all over the globe, the complexity of the maritime operation has been increased. In this highly complex maritime operational environment there is a growing need to (1) oversee the level of shipping safety at sea, (2) Take effective and efficient measures to keep shipping safety at sea at an acceptable level and (3) be transparent to the public about the level of safety, future developments that affect this level and about the perceived effectiveness and efficiency of measures that are or will be implemented. In this study we defined the level of shipping safety as an accumulation of risks, whereby risks are being strongly related to the human operator’s ability to perform his or her tasks on board ships and in operational centers and remote control centers ashore. We have used Mica Endsley’s framework of Situation Awareness, Decision Making and Action Planning and the known threats to these constructs, to identify risks. In this way we were, up to a certain level, able to distinguish between risks that can effectively and efficiently be mitigated through measures taken by the authorities and those risks that cannot.

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From Research to Design: Applying Human-Centered Design in a Future Ship Bridge Design Case Study

Yemao Man, ABB

Human-centered design (HCD) is crucial in the development of human-system interaction across various industries, focusing on the early integration of end-users' needs throughout an iterative design process. However, the application of HCD throughout the entire life cycle in the maritime domain remains rare and underexploited, particularly for envisioning and developing future systems (e.g. digitalisation, automation functions, work environment). Previous research within the maritime human factors domain has highlighted significant gaps in applying HCD principles, pointing out the challenges of integrating new technologies without fully considering the end-users' needs. Such issues may lead to operational inefficiencies and an increased risk for operator error, suggesting there are lost opportunities for successful innovative designs.

This paper investigates how HCD practices can influence the development of future maritime systems to fulfil mariners’ evolving needs amidst technological advances using a bridge design case. It employs the conceptualization of a future ship bridge design as a practical applied context to explore and demonstrate the applicability and value of HCD principles in creating a futuristic maritime work environment. Utilizing qualitative data collected through contextual inquiry to understand the end-users’ needs and the operational context, alongside iterative design and evaluation phases, this work has developed innovative solutions that define the next generation of maritime operational environment and actionable design insights for technology manufacturers and ship builders. The derived insights highlight the critical role of understanding user-system interactions, physical ergonomics, and technology integration. These factors are essential in enhancing the functionality, safety, and user satisfaction of future maritime systems, contributing meaningfully to the discourse on HCD application in complex system design.