Increasing effectiveness of simulator training using a Human Factor & Ergonomics Perspective

The actual situation on board heavy lift vessels is that most of the education of the operational team takes place on board. Due to commercial pressure on the primary process, exercise time is limited to harbour waiting time. Hence, only hoist operations can be trained and not complex tandem lifts, which include ballast procedures, communication and co-ordination. Real operations are used to educate crew members to coordinate the lift and ballast operation. However, the actual workload is too high for an optimal training effect. With more than one vessel sailing for the same company such a training program can lead to different operational practices. For example hand signals or communication phrases on board may differ from ship to ship, despite of the existence of international guidelines for hand signals. When educated on board of one vessel and working on another vessel, this could lead to miscommunications with possible dangerous situations as a result.