Post by ferryfast admin on May 7, 2012 13:10:58 GMT -5
Simulation system could boost skills at B.C. Ferries
The new $1.5-million program aims to help prevent human-error accidents
By Matthew Gauk, Daily News May 7, 2012
www.canada.com/Simulation+system+could+boost+skills+Ferries/6577407/story.html
Crew training on complex bridge simulation systems brought in by B.C. Ferries will wrap up within the next month, and this summer's peak season should show whether the devices are making a difference.
The computerized simulators were piloted last September, took their first intake in October and so far have trained upwards of 150 bridge crew members at Departure Bay in Nanaimo, Swartz Bay in Victoria and Tsawwassen in the Lower Mainland.
The approximately $1.5-million simulator program was developed in the aftermath of the Queen of the North disaster and ferry officials hope the intense, scenario-driven learning will help prevent accidents like that or the "hard landing" of the Coastal Inspiration at Duke Point in December.
There are many more crew members yet to be trained and B.C. Ferries won't begin to figure out if the simulators are reducing operational risks until they audit the vessels' real-life bridges starting in June.
"It's a very serious thing, it's not a game- the main purpose is not to enjoy," said instructor Capt. Majid Safahani.
"You should have come yesterday when we had this course.
"They come out with lots of stress, lots of stress."
In the depths of the administration building at Departure Bay, the simulator was demonstrated for the Daily News by Safahani, one of three trainers for the program.
An experienced maritime lecturer, Safahani has had many years at sea in the merchant marine and was hired in June 2011 to help run the simulations.
"You see, the ship has docked now," Safahani said, standing at the controls as what appeared to be a Spirit-class ferry manoeuvred into an impressive likeness of Departure Bay.
"That ferry, I don't know why she is moving," he said, gesturing at another vessel edging out of the dock.
The simulator consists of one darkened room, shut off from the outside, featuring an instrument panel, a dashboard with electronic charts, diagnostics, radar and echo sounder, and a series of monitors forming a 180-degree imitation of the view from a ship's bridge.
Safahani watches the crew members - there is usually an entire bridge team in there at once -from a closed-circuit camera that transmits video to the control room next door, where he sits at another bank of monitors. Here, he can observe the crew members' real-life actions and the results of those actions on the computerized simulation.
Besides errant sailboats, bridge crews have to deal with a wide variety of weather conditions.
"If you want more safety, then you do this," said Safahani.
All three simulators are identical and were purchased from the Norway-based Kongsburg Gruppen for $600,000, including equipment and software.
B.C. Ferries pursued the simulators as part of its SailSafe initiative, a collaboration between the corporation and the ferry workers' union designed to change the safety culture in the system.
SailSafe was developed in 20072008, right after the 2006 sinking of the Queen of the North on the Prince Rupert to Port Hardy run, which resulted in the deaths of two passengers. Before the simulator program began, the only simulated training was done at a facility at BCIT.
"It's pretty generic and it meets (regulatory) requirements, but what we wanted to do is take it one step further by doing specific training our officers needed on our routes, our types of ships and our types of situations," said Capt. Jamie Marshall, B.C. Ferries vice-president of operations. "That's what the simulator does. It fills the gap."
B.C. Ferries has so far developed one training level, called Bridge Operations Skills and Systems 1, which teaches improved closed-loop communications and allocates roles and responsibilities between bridge crew members. There will be five BOSS levels, Marshall said, including one that will use voice-recorder data from real-life incidents and near misses and put bridge crews into challenging scenarios like the Coastal Inspiration's crash into the dock at Duke Point.
The 400 officers and masters that will eventually be trained will go through three days of simulator training over a period of two years, Marshall said.
He said the feedback has been excellent.
"I was just in Nanaimo yesterday and I was in the simulator myself, we were running one of the bridge teams through from the Skeena Queen," said Marshall.
"It was their first time in there, and they were just really impressed with how real it felt to be driving that (vessel) into Fulford Harbour when you're actually in a simulator."
Hydrodynamic (the interaction of the ship with the water) models have been developed for 13 B.C. Ferries ship classes, which accounts for most of the fleet.
Marshall said one of the major advantages to the new training system is the ability to develop hydrodynamic models for new ships being built for service.
"Crews can have a feel for the ship before the ship even hits the water," he said.
Training on the simulators will start each September and run through to May, as the corporation doesn't have the resources to train through the "100 days" of summer.
B.C. FERRIES FACTS
Smallest vessel in fleet: Nimpkish
Vessel length: 34 metres
Nimpkish's passenger and crew capacity: 125 people
Vehicle capacity: 16
Horsepower: 680
Maximum speed: 20 km/hr
Biggest vessel in fleet: Spirit of British Columbia
Vessel length: 168 metres*
Spirit of British Columbia's passenger and crew capacity: 2,100
Vehicle capacity: 410
Horsepower: 20,912
Maximum speed: 36 km/hr
___________________
BC Ferries
www.bcferries.com/
The new $1.5-million program aims to help prevent human-error accidents
By Matthew Gauk, Daily News May 7, 2012
www.canada.com/Simulation+system+could+boost+skills+Ferries/6577407/story.html
Crew training on complex bridge simulation systems brought in by B.C. Ferries will wrap up within the next month, and this summer's peak season should show whether the devices are making a difference.
The computerized simulators were piloted last September, took their first intake in October and so far have trained upwards of 150 bridge crew members at Departure Bay in Nanaimo, Swartz Bay in Victoria and Tsawwassen in the Lower Mainland.
The approximately $1.5-million simulator program was developed in the aftermath of the Queen of the North disaster and ferry officials hope the intense, scenario-driven learning will help prevent accidents like that or the "hard landing" of the Coastal Inspiration at Duke Point in December.
There are many more crew members yet to be trained and B.C. Ferries won't begin to figure out if the simulators are reducing operational risks until they audit the vessels' real-life bridges starting in June.
"It's a very serious thing, it's not a game- the main purpose is not to enjoy," said instructor Capt. Majid Safahani.
"You should have come yesterday when we had this course.
"They come out with lots of stress, lots of stress."
In the depths of the administration building at Departure Bay, the simulator was demonstrated for the Daily News by Safahani, one of three trainers for the program.
An experienced maritime lecturer, Safahani has had many years at sea in the merchant marine and was hired in June 2011 to help run the simulations.
"You see, the ship has docked now," Safahani said, standing at the controls as what appeared to be a Spirit-class ferry manoeuvred into an impressive likeness of Departure Bay.
"That ferry, I don't know why she is moving," he said, gesturing at another vessel edging out of the dock.
The simulator consists of one darkened room, shut off from the outside, featuring an instrument panel, a dashboard with electronic charts, diagnostics, radar and echo sounder, and a series of monitors forming a 180-degree imitation of the view from a ship's bridge.
Safahani watches the crew members - there is usually an entire bridge team in there at once -from a closed-circuit camera that transmits video to the control room next door, where he sits at another bank of monitors. Here, he can observe the crew members' real-life actions and the results of those actions on the computerized simulation.
Besides errant sailboats, bridge crews have to deal with a wide variety of weather conditions.
"If you want more safety, then you do this," said Safahani.
All three simulators are identical and were purchased from the Norway-based Kongsburg Gruppen for $600,000, including equipment and software.
B.C. Ferries pursued the simulators as part of its SailSafe initiative, a collaboration between the corporation and the ferry workers' union designed to change the safety culture in the system.
SailSafe was developed in 20072008, right after the 2006 sinking of the Queen of the North on the Prince Rupert to Port Hardy run, which resulted in the deaths of two passengers. Before the simulator program began, the only simulated training was done at a facility at BCIT.
"It's pretty generic and it meets (regulatory) requirements, but what we wanted to do is take it one step further by doing specific training our officers needed on our routes, our types of ships and our types of situations," said Capt. Jamie Marshall, B.C. Ferries vice-president of operations. "That's what the simulator does. It fills the gap."
B.C. Ferries has so far developed one training level, called Bridge Operations Skills and Systems 1, which teaches improved closed-loop communications and allocates roles and responsibilities between bridge crew members. There will be five BOSS levels, Marshall said, including one that will use voice-recorder data from real-life incidents and near misses and put bridge crews into challenging scenarios like the Coastal Inspiration's crash into the dock at Duke Point.
The 400 officers and masters that will eventually be trained will go through three days of simulator training over a period of two years, Marshall said.
He said the feedback has been excellent.
"I was just in Nanaimo yesterday and I was in the simulator myself, we were running one of the bridge teams through from the Skeena Queen," said Marshall.
"It was their first time in there, and they were just really impressed with how real it felt to be driving that (vessel) into Fulford Harbour when you're actually in a simulator."
Hydrodynamic (the interaction of the ship with the water) models have been developed for 13 B.C. Ferries ship classes, which accounts for most of the fleet.
Marshall said one of the major advantages to the new training system is the ability to develop hydrodynamic models for new ships being built for service.
"Crews can have a feel for the ship before the ship even hits the water," he said.
Training on the simulators will start each September and run through to May, as the corporation doesn't have the resources to train through the "100 days" of summer.
B.C. FERRIES FACTS
Smallest vessel in fleet: Nimpkish
Vessel length: 34 metres
Nimpkish's passenger and crew capacity: 125 people
Vehicle capacity: 16
Horsepower: 680
Maximum speed: 20 km/hr
Biggest vessel in fleet: Spirit of British Columbia
Vessel length: 168 metres*
Spirit of British Columbia's passenger and crew capacity: 2,100
Vehicle capacity: 410
Horsepower: 20,912
Maximum speed: 36 km/hr
___________________
BC Ferries
www.bcferries.com/