Every year, the UK P&I Club deals with thousands of claims using the expertise and experience of its professional claims handlers, ex-seafarers and lawyers. With decades of research into loss prevention issues, the Club has developed a formidable body of technical material on maritime risks. The Club wanted to find a way to disseminate this experience in a simple and concise format to assist the shipping community in avoiding similar incidents across personal injury, navigation,pollution and cargo.
The modern maritime industry is in reality the beneficiary of the hard-won experience of those that have gone before us, ever since mankind first took to the sea in ships. The process still continues and it is an unfortunate fact that many of the rules, procedures and practices that have been adopted to improve safety at sea and protect the environment are often a response to past failures. Although it is now almost universally accepted that the shipping industry requires a more proactive attitude to safety, it is also recognized that better use should be made of the lessons that can be learned from when things do go wrong.
Lessons Learnt: Reflective Learning
From discussions with Members, it became clear there was concern over the time commitment required for many training materials and courses. Long detailed presentations and reports, originally designed for classroom training ashore, are not achieving their purpose in the pressurized and time constrained environment onboard. Reflective learning animated videos are more likely to appeal to seafarers from a wide range of nationalities for whom English is not a first language. Animation will always have a greater impact compared to more conventional training materials, and the addition of translated captions (currently Mandarin and Japanese) help reach a wider audience.
The initiative was developed and designed with crew in mind, to develop a tool which would enable seafarers to learn not just by their own mistakes, but by the mistakes of others. Making the videos freely available to the shipping community, and not just UK Club Members, gives these vital safety messages enormous reach.
There is nothing new about the “lessons learnt” concept as a learning platform. What distinguishes the UK Club’s project is that they are derived from the Club’s own database of claims, rather than from incident reports published in the public domain. The simple, concise format is deliberate and always structured in the same way – incident description, analysis and “lessons learnt” bullet points. The videos are aimed at seafarers of all ranks and at the end of each video, the seafarer is invited to reflect upon lessons learned arising from the incident and how they could apply to their own shipboard working practices or systems. The videos are designed to be short and to the point, leaving sufficient scope for both seafarer and trainer to consider the underlying root causes of the incident.
Since the first video, which tells the tragic story of a bosun who died during a routine lifeboat drill, the Club have continued to receive positive testimonials from Members and ship managers, who are using the videos as part of their crew training programmes onboard and ashore. The feedback details how crew appreciate the modern animation and real-life case studies, allowing for animated discussions. One Member utilized a video as a preventive measure after the analysis of a fleet vessel near miss, another has stated that since receiving the videos, they have changed their approach to training and training materials for their fleet going forward.
More recently the initiative won the ‘Excellence in Safety and Training’ award at the Lloyd’s List Europe Awards. The judges welcomed the accessible tone of the animated content which has allowed these important messages to go viral throughout the global fleet in a way that is far more effective than any written notice.
Human element training – CAE
The UK Club has recently partnered with CAE, the global leader in civil aviation training, on a human element safety training initiative based on aviation standards. The initiative will make available CAE’s comprehensive Maritime Crew Resource Management (MCRM) learning materials and Train the Trainer support to all UK P&I Club Members.
CAE’s MCRM trains vessel teams to identify and use all available resources in everyday situations and for occasions that require deep collaborative problem solving in complex and rapidly changing environments onboard ship and between ship and shore. Key CAE MCRM learning includes: optimal decision-making, situational awareness, communications and team working based on aviation standards.
CAE’s MCRM has a long history in maritime human element training having developed the industry’s first Bridge Resource Management (BRM) course and subsequently CAE’s MCRM, training for the whole vessel team. The recently completed major update of CAE’s MCRM learning materials and comprehensive Train the Trainer preparation also reflects its human element expertise and training standards in aviation pilot training.
“As the global leader in aviation training, our mission is to enhance safety, efficiency and readiness”, said Nick Wilcox, CAE Business Leader Maritime Training. “UK P&I Club promotes best practice and innovation in the maritime industry, and CAE is delighted to be partnering with an organization that shares similar values”.
Stuart Edmonston, Director of Loss Prevention at UK P&I Club, said
We are excited to have the opportunity to work with CAE to enhance the UK Club’s leading loss prevention initiatives supporting Member safety. The human element regularly features in maritime incidents handled at the Club and we’re pleased to introduce our Members to aviation’s approach to safety, problem solving and communication, reflected in CAE’s MCRM learning programme.