Bridging the gap in training

01 Oct 2014 The Navigator

The bridge TEAM is the place where Together Everyone Achieves More, and an effective team onboard a ship is the most valuable resource of shipping today. So investing in the right Bridge Resource Management training is crucial to keep it working cohesively. Capt. J Dakic, Capt. D Milinic and Capt. S Tripovic of the BTM team at Azalea Maritime LLC discuss the value of effective shore-based training and look at what such a course should cover

Bridge Team Management (BTM) is a course originally developed for the airline industry's Crew Resource Management. Its main focus is to change attitudes by establishing a safer and more efficient teamwork onboard ships. It aims to create good team leaders and team members by addressing issues related to leadership, management styles, cultures, communication, automation, stress ad fatigue, etc. (Source: INTERTANKO)

Bridge Team Management(BTM), also called Bridge Resource Management (BRM) is a team approach, where all available materials and human resources are used to achieve safe operation. Bridge team members are trained to be aware of their responsibility, prepared to recognise workload demands and other risk factors, and able to handle any situation. Weakness in bridge organisation and management has been cited as a major cause of marine casualties around the world. BTM reduces that risk by helping a ship’s crew anticipate and correctly respond to the changing situation of their ship.

When BTM is practised correctly onboard, the result should be a bridge team that:

  • Maintains its situational awareness
  • Continually monitors the progress of the vessel, making proper adjustments and corrections as necessary, to maintain a safe passage
  • Acquires relevant information early
  • Appropriately delegates workload and authority
  • Anticipates dangerous situations
  • Avoids becoming pre-occupied with minor technical problems and losing sight of the big picture
  • Undertakes appropriate contingency plans when called for Recognises the development of an error chain
  • Takes appropriate action to break the error-chain sequence. (Source: Dept. of Ecology, WA)

BTM training in a training centre/institute ashore addresses all the challenges faced by the bridge team onboard ship on a daily basis. The way these subjects are addressed is the key element to effective BTM training, resulting not only in a successful “lesson learned” at the end of the course, but, more importantly, that these lessons are put into practice in real life onboard ship.

The best way of addressing these topics may be summarised by an old Chinese proverb: “Tell me and I will forget, show me and I may remember, but involve me and I will understand.”

The key issue in BTM training is to involve the trainees. This allows them not just to be spectators in the theoretical part of the training and mere participants in the simulator training, but to actively promote discussion during the workshops (rather than lectures) and in the active discussion, experience and opinion sharing after each simulator exercise. This helps them to point at the lesson learned.

Been there, done that?
Navigation has not been a one-man show for a long time now, and the idea of the BTM training is to create a defence mechanism against the one-person-error type of incidents and accidents.

Sometimes, course participants have an issue with the fact that the trainees have already “been there, done that”. Even in those cases, good workshops, well facilitated by the instructors, are an excellent place to exchange experiences, thoughts and ideas.

Unfortunately, there have been a lot of incidents, accidents and near misses reported. Discussing them as a part of the BTM training is an excellent tool for involving all the trainees in the operation, from the experienced Master to a future officer that has just completed his cadetship onboard ship. A well-facilitated discussion covering BTM topics can sometimes continue after hours during breaks or over dinner, with everybody taking an interest and becoming involved. Good exchange of information and experience is essential. Unreported near misses experienced by the trainees themselves often emerge during the workshops too, and can be efficiently used for improvement.

The vast experience of the senior officers participating in the training has proven to be a major resource when discussing subject topics. Conversely, junior officers, even those reluctant to do so in the beginning, often “open up”. They begin to interact with the senior ones, thus promoting good communication, which is essential for a wellfunctioning team. Junior officers refreshing their BTM skills stated that the experience during their first round of training helped them gain confidence when they first joined the ship as junior officers. They were more willing to feed information, put forward opinions and “challenge” their superior officers. Senior officers, in turn, confirmed the need for feedback from all team members, in order to delegate and distribute workloads.

Screen tests

Another important issue addressed during training is the integration of the pilot into a bridge team, both in workshops and simulator exercises.

One of the biggest challenges of modern navigation is the quantity of resources that require management on a daily basis. These include sophisticated electronic equipment, charts and publications, environmental factors, Vessel Traffic Services (VTS), passage plan, internal and external communication equipment, persons with local knowledge (pilot) and bridge team.

The 21st-century seafarer is faced with a large quantity of information to process, most of which is shown on various screens on the bridge. The seafarer must be able to filter the relevant ones and use those that are actually needed, using good, oldfashioned common sense, always keeping in mind that the most important screen onboard a ship is THE WINDOW!

A well-trained bridge team is essential to meet these challenges. Communication is the principal thing to be improved and must be worked on continually, as this leads to everything else working better.

Unfortunately, there are too many examples of things not functioning properly. One example is the Tricolor case, where poor standards of watch-keeping, too few watchkeepers, heavy workloads, poor bridge organisation, partial processing of nautical safety and reduced awareness of what was happening outside the bridge windows in a highly frequented and well-regulated sailing area led to two collisions and over 100 near misses before the wreck was dispersed.

Regular BTM refresher courses are an important, valuable tool for enhancing skills, from both the trainer’s and trainee’s perspectives. As one senior officer said, “It does not matter how many times I attend Bridge Team Management training, there is always something new to learn.”

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