In the interest of maintaining and im-proving
safety standards, there is a cru-cial
need to equip crews with the skills
needed to carry out tasks in increas-ingly
more complex systems. As part
of Kongsberg Digital’s commitment to
embracing collaborative ways of work-ing,
the company has engaged with an
EU Horizon 2020 project - ENHANCE.
The ENHANCE project is based on
knowledge-sharing activities between
the process and maritime industries.
Over a four-year period, it will bring
together the academic and industrial
expertise of engineers, psychologists,
human factors specialists, maritime
professionals and operators from seven
countries to generate solutions to mar-ry
with technological developments.
Kongsberg Digital’s Partnership with
Liverpool John Moores University
Kongsberg Digital’s involvement to date
has been to facilitate research into en-hancing
human performance with mari-time
simulation training, focused on the
topic of maritime navigation. As a doc-toral
researcher from Liverpool John
Moores University’s (LJMU) Logistics
Offshore Oil and Gas Maritime (LOOM)
research centre, exploring human fac-tors,
risk management and perfor-mance
in the maritime field, I have been
seconded to Kongsberg Digital’s office
in Horten, Norway this autumn.
A Voyage of Discovery
Accidents give partial insight into the
subjective and retrospective perceived
understanding of events when they go
extremely wrong. However, it is impor-tant
to remember there are significantly
far more occurrences of near misses
- known as incidents - than there are
accidents. Significantly, key academic
researchers estimate there to be 600
times as many near-misses, than there
are more serious incidents.
An effective safety culture can often
be taken for granted. A truly efficient
safety culture is made up of persistent
daily professionalism, but we are harsh-ly
reminded of the latent risks when
an event occurs to indicate something
has gone wrong. Understanding what
circumstances and behaviours caused
an incident which became an accident
is vital. But even more importantly, per-haps
we need to focus on what went
right and prevented a disastrous esca-lation
if we are to enhance human per-formance
in the maritime domain. It is
with this positivist and human-centred
perspective that the secondment work
plan has been designed.
Knowledge Mobility
Kongsberg Digital’s Research Manager,
Stig-Einar Wiggen, has jointly approved
a plan which keeps maritime profes-sionals
at the heart of the organized
research, including a structured work-shop
bringing together experienced
navigators and simulation trainers from
the Norwegian maritime community
to gain key insights into ‘expert knowl-edge’
and capture experiential knowl-edge
from the participants.
“It was clear from the outset that Hazel
shares Kongsberg Group’s eagerness
to analyse some of the more difficult
questions related to an increasing level
of automation and autonomy in order
to take maritime digital technologies to
the next level by embracing coopera-tion
PAGE 18 THE MARITIME SIMULATION NEWSLETTER | DECEMBER 2019
between industry and academia,”
comments Stig-Einar.
The objective was to find ways to train
the watchkeeper better, whether that
be related to navigation, the engine, the
control room, or DP watches. The start-ing
point has been based around the
context of navigational watchkeeping.
My efforts under this project have been
dedicated to knowing what needs to be
done to get tacit, nuanced, insider, and
experienced insider knowledge trans-ferred
to those who need it.
Simulation training
It is a known fact that simulation train-ing
provides an initial safe basis on
which to facilitate learning in a little-to-no
risk environment. Finding a tailored
simulation training solution, with a ro-bust
assessment system, for the high-risk
maritime and process industries
is a long term goal of the ENHANCE
project. It was clear from the outset
we needed to know what the high-risk
operations in each discipline are and
how the operators currently manage
and mitigate the risk. Only then can we
strive for a more “world class” stan-
RESEARCH PROJECT
ENHANCE - research project to enhance
human performance in maritime industry
BY: HAZEL BRYAN SIVORI, PHD CANDIDATE, LIVERPOOL JOHN MOORES UNIVERSITY
PHOTO: Hazel Bryan Sivori, a doctoral researcher from Liverpool John Moores University’s (LJMU)
Logistics Offshore Oil and Gas Maritime (LOOM) research centre. Hazel has been seconded to
Kongsberg Digital’s office in Horten during her study as part of the EU’s ENHANCE project.