SITUATIONAL AWARENESS FOR SEAFARERS-

“The need of the hour”

Cadet Harsh Kumar Jha* and Cadet Akshay Soman**

*Final Year B.Tech Marine Engineering, Kunjali Marakkar School of Marine
Engineering, CUSAT
** Final Year B.Tech Marine Engineering, Kunjali Marakkar School of Marine
Engineering, CUSAT
Email:* harsh1981@hotmail.com , ** akshaysman@gmail.com

Abstract
The rapidly growing influence of human element in the shipping industry and the impact of human
error causing heavy losses in shipping industry has become a matter of paramount significance.
Situational awareness on board ocean going vessels is one of the most important aspect regarding
safety and security.

Situation awareness is promoted among seafarers before they join any sea going vessel. This was
made compulsory as a part of STCW Convention so as to make familiarize the seafarers regarding
various safety and security measures in perilous situations to combat panic attack.
This paper discusses the severity of various situations that can arise before a seafarer and also
highlights how to tackle those situations in the best effective way to promote safer shipping.
INTRODUCTION
Situation Awareness (SA) is “the accessibility of a comprehensive and coherent situation
representation which is continuously being updated in accordance with the results of recurrent
situation assessments”. SA is defined as ‘being aware of what is happening around you and
understanding what that information means to you now and in the future’.

Situation assessment is a combination of information acquisition and interpretation, which consists

of four distinct but integrated stages:
1. Perception: acquiring the available facts.
2. Comprehension: understanding the facts in relation to our own knowledge of such situations.
3. Projection: envisioning how the situation is likely to develop in the future, provided
it is not acted upon by any outside force.
4. Prediction: evaluating how outside forces may act upon the situation to affect our projections.

Stage 1: Perception—use your senses

Build a mental picture of your environment, using vision, hearing and touch to scan the
environment. Then direct your attention to the most important and relevant aspects of your
surroundings and compare this experience with knowledge built up in your memory.
For example, gather passage plan data, including safe navigational tracks, available depths of
water, weather, sea state, current and tides, fuel reserves, speed.

1 Situational Awareness for Seafarers: “The need of the Hour” | Harsh Kumar Jha & Akshay Soman
 Stage 2: Understand—create a mental picture
Understanding is a combination of real world observations, knowledge and experience.
By matching observations with knowledge and experience you develop an accurate mental picture
of your environment. Keep the mental picture up-to-date with inputs from the wide range of real
world information available to you.
For example, understanding voyage plan data, including deviation from the plan, safety/legal
requirements, boat capability and operational requirements, fuel reserves, course deviations and
speed deviations.

Stage 3: Thinking ahead—projection

Understanding allows you to think ahead and project into the future environment. For example,
projected voyage plan data including sailing time, estimated time of departure, deviation, fuel
usage, refuelling stops, estimated time of arrival.

LOSING SITUATIONAL AWARENESS

Many factors can cause you to lose situational awareness. Errors can occur at each level of the
process previously described.
 Level 1: Perception
Data not observed, either because it is difficult to observe or your scanning of the environment is
deficient due to: passive, complacent behaviour, high work load, distraction and interruptions.
Visual illusions.
 Level 2: Understanding
Use of poor or incomplete mental picture due to: deficient observations, poor
knowledge/experience.
Use of a wrong or inappropriate mental picture.
Misunderstanding perceived information: expecting to see something and focusing on this belief
can cause you to see what you expect rather than what is actually happening.
For example, applying an internal fuel transfer procedure without realising that there is a fuel
leaking in the engine room.
 Level 3: Thinking ahead
Over reliance on the mental picture and failing to recognise that the mental picture needs to
change. For example, expecting to berth the boat in a particular way without realising that the
surrounding environment may have changed since departure.

BARRIERS TO SITUATIONAL AWARENESS

The following barriers reduce our ability to understand the situation.
• Perception based on faulty information processing.
• Excessive motivation.
• Complacency.
• Overload.
• Fatigue.
• Poor communications.
Challenges in the Maritime Safety and Security Domain
 The first challenge is gathering information on vessels. The amount of extra information
from these sources can easily result in an overload. It is often quite cumbersome to relate
information from information sources.
 The second challenge is identifying critical situations.

COMBINING INFORMATION
Operators need to interpret and reason on a lot of information to make the correct decision. This
process is coined the OODA loop: Observe, Orient, Decide and Act.
The process has the following steps:
• Observe: know what is happening.
• Orient: understand the meaning of what was observed.
2 Situational Awareness for Seafarers: “The need of the Hour” | Harsh Kumar Jha & Akshay Soman
 • Decide: weighing the options available and picking one.
• Act: carrying out the decision.

MODEL OF SITUATION AWARENESS

ACCIDENTAL EVENTS ON BOARD SHIPS (CATEGORY-WISE)

3 Situational Awareness for Seafarers: “The need of the Hour” | Harsh Kumar Jha & Akshay Soman
 SITUATIONS
 Abandon ship
Abandoning a ship may seem to be the most practical option out there to survive a catastrophe, but
as challenging as it may seem, it might not be the last alternative.
The master of the ship is the overall in charge of the vessel at all times, even when he and
his crew has to leave or abandon the vessel due to accidents such as fire, flooding, or collision.
Duties to be performed:
1. Inform the EOW (Engineer On Watch) by the ship’s telephone that ship is to be abandoned.
2. Transmit orders ‘Abandon Ship’ on the Public Addressing system done only by the Master
3. Send out a distress call.
4. Activate the EPIRB and carry the SART onto the survival crafts.
5. Collect all relevant documents from the bridge (if time permits) – Logs and records which might
come in use in accident investigation
6. The Master can arrange the collection of all the documents of the ship’s crew such as
CDCs, Passports, CoCs, STCW certificates etc. This would also entail the Master to carry any cash
that remains.

 Aground
The vessel can be refloated only after patching the breaches of the hull and also after pumping out
the water from the holds.
Real Life Accidents:
Vessel Makes Contact and Runs Aground Under Pilotage Due to Restricted Visibility,
Improper Bridge Procedures And ECDIS Use Causes Grounding of Ship.

Corrective/preventive actions
1. Arranged for the vessel’s bridge officers, and company’s Designated Person
(DPA) and marine / nautical superintendent to attend an equipment-specific training course
on the ECDIS type fitted on board
2. Arranged for the fleet’s bridge officers to attend a bridge resource management course

4 Situational Awareness for Seafarers: “The need of the Hour” | Harsh Kumar Jha & Akshay Soman
  Rough Weather

The following are some basic precautions to be taken when in rough weather:
Steering control
In open sea, vessel is normally in auto pilot. It is advisable to change over to hand or manual
control to avoid excessive hunting of the rudder.
If one motor is running, switch on other motor and run both of them together to get maximum
available torque to turn the rudder.
Sufficient man power including senior officers to be present in the bridge.
Machinery control
If engine room is on UMS mode, man the engine room and make sure sufficient man power is
available.
Monitoring all the parameters of the main propulsion plant and auxiliary power plant machineries.
After getting rough weather warning, all the spares in the engine room are to be stowed and lashed
properly.
In bad weather, propeller will come in and out of water and will fluctuate the main engine load.
Hence rpm is to be reduced.
Always make sure for correct sump level of all the machineries as during rough sea ship will roll,
resulting in false level alarm which can even trip the running machine and lead to dangerous
situation in bad weather.
Level of all the important tanks is to be maintained so that pump inlet should not loose suction at
any time.
Stand by generator is to be kept on load until the bad weather situation stops.
Water tight doors in the machinery spaces to be closed.
Sky light and other opening to be closed.
All trays are to be avoided from spilling in event of rough weather
Other common precautions
It is to be instructed to the crew not to go out on open deck in rough weather.
All the deck items like mooring ropes, lashing equipments, drums etc. to be stored and lashed
properly after their use.
All openings in the deck for cargo and other spaces to be kept shut.
All opening to the accommodation to be kept shut.
Every one must be aware of his/her duties pasted in the muster list.
Elevator to be switched off as during rolling and pitching trip may occur and can cause trapping of
the person inside.
Always wear all the PPE’s and use railings and other support while walking through any part of the
ship to avoid trips and fall.
Be alert and work in team.

 Blackout Situation on a Ship

Understanding Blackout Condition

Blackout condition is a scenario on a ship, wherein the main propulsion plant and associate
machinery such as boiler, purifier and other auxiliaries stop operating due to failure of power
generation system of the ship – Generator and alternator.
With technologies and automation, measures are provided to avoid such blackout situation by
means of auto load sharing system and auto standby system in which the generator set that is
running in parallel or standby comes on load automatically if the running diesel generator fails.
What to Do in Case of a Blackout?
In case of Blackout following precautions and actions should be taken:
Never panic in such situation, be calm and composed. Emergency generator will restore the power
in no time.
Inform Officer on bridge briefly about the condition.
Call for manpower and inform the chief engineer.

5 Situational Awareness for Seafarers: “The need of the Hour” | Harsh Kumar Jha & Akshay Soman
 If the main propulsion plant is running, bring the fuel lever to zero position.
Close the feed of the running purifier to avoid overflow and wastage of fuel.
If auxiliary boiler was running, shut the main steam stop valve to maintain the steam pressure.
Find out the problem and reason for blackout and rectify the same.
Before starting the generator set, start the pre- lubrication priming pump if the supply for the same
is given from the emergency generator; if not, then use manual priming handle.
Start the generator and take it on load. Then immediately start the main engine lube oil pump and
main engine jacket water pump.
Reset breakers and start all the other required machinery and system. Reset breakers that are
included in preferential tripping sequence. (Non-essential machinery).

 Ship Collision Accident

The main reasons for accidents are negligence, incompetence and miscommunication.
Things to be done on collision:
1. Inform the Master and Engine room
2. Immediately Send Distress Signal
3. Record Important Data
4. Sound the Alarms
5. Assess the Damage
6. Take the Soundings
7. Take Immediate Action In Case of Damage
8. Check for Oil Spill
9. Reach the Nearest Port, If Possible
10. Abandon the Ship Only if Everything Else Fails

 Financial Mistakes Seafarers Make

Needless to say, as seafarers we make a lot of financial blunders, which eventually boil down to
following common ones:
1. Dependence on Shipowners
2. No Medical Insurance
3. No Life Insurance
4. Wrong Type Of Insurance
5. No Contingency or Emergency Fund
6. No Proper Plan For Savings
7. Locking Into High Value Houses / Apartments At Inappropriate Terms
8. Trusting Various Finance Personnel Easily
9. Spending Too Much On Things You Use Little
10. Not Keeping in Touch With Developments in Respective Countries

 Professional Mistakes Seafarers Should Never Make Onboard Ships

1. Never follow Illegal or Irrelevant Orders

2. Never Hide a Problem or a Mistake
3. Make Correct Paper Work Entries
4. Don’t Ignore Alarms – Every Alarm is a sign that Something is Wrong
5. Don’t allow Anyone to Have Access to Your Cabin
6. Don’t be a “Parcel Boy”
7. Never Get Involved in Physical Fights- Be Calm
8. Don’t Drink and Drive – Not even a Ship
9. Be on Time, Don’t Miss Your Ride

6 Situational Awareness for Seafarers: “The need of the Hour” | Harsh Kumar Jha & Akshay Soman
  Fire
Find the origin of fire, inform to chief engineer and all engine room member, restrict fire to prevent
spread out if possible and extinct it on the spot with portable extinguisher or by another means.

In case of fire ,emergency preparedness manual provided onboard explains the procedure to follow.

 First aid and emergency

Working on a ship can involve a substantial amount of risk to a seafarer's life. Numerous hazardous
agents on a ship can be risky and even life threatening.
Telemedicine
Telemedicine is a technology that uses modern methods such as email, face-to-face video, and
audio communication to treat a diseased or injured person on a ship.

 Important Points For Safe Helicopter Operations Onboard Ships

Helicopter operations are commonly used on ships for crew changes, pilot embarkations and
disembarkations, medical and other emergency lift offs.
1. Check Weather Conditions Properly
2. Go Through Checklists Thoroughly
3. Maintain Efficient Communication
4. Keep a Constant Watch On Ship’s Course and Speed
5. Prepare Landing/Winching Area With Utmost Care
6. Be Ready With Inventory Of Items Used for Helicopter Operations
7. Make All Adequate Preparations
8. Monitor The Operation Closely And Keep Necessary Items Ready
9. Never Ever Neglect Safety Procedures
10. Take Proper Familiarisation And Training

 Engine Room Flooding

Engine room flooding can affect the water tight integrity of ship. The engine room flooding can
take place due to mainly three reasons:

1) Leakage from Equipment and system

2) Cases of leakage from Overboard Valve
3) Flooding due to crack in the hull or small hole in the hull

In case of flooding ,emergency preparedness manual provided onboard explains the procedure to
follow.
Chief engineer has to be reported immediately in such condition without any delay.

 Machinery Failure

Things Marine Engineers Must DoTo Know Their Machinery Inside Out
Mentioned below are few key points which can help marine engineers for understanding
their machinery and systems in a better way.
1. Understand Starting / Stopping Procedures
2. Read The Machinery Manual Thoroughly
3. Learn From The Machinery Records
4. Find out Details on All Major Maintenance
5. Keep a Track of Running Hours
6. Know Your Machinery Clearances
7. Check If There is any Alteration Done in the Used parts by Referring Past Records
8. Know the Required Spare parts
9. Know All Important Tests
10. Find Out Past 3 months Log Book Parameters

7 Situational Awareness for Seafarers: “The need of the Hour” | Harsh Kumar Jha & Akshay Soman
  Man Overboard Situation
Man overboard is a situation where in a ship’s crew member falls out at sea from the ship, no
matter where the ship is sailing, in open seas or in still waters in port.
A man overboard is an emergency situation and it is very important to locate and recover
the overboard person as soon as possible as due to bad weather or rough sea, the crew member can
drown or else due to temperature of the cold water the person can get hypothermia.

In cases of man overboard ,emergency preparedness manual provided on board explains the
procedure to follow.

 Piracy

#NB: FAMILIARISE YOURSELF WITH THE ANTIPIRACY SYSTEMS FITTED ONBOARD

THE SHIP.
In case of pirate attack ,emergency preparedness manual provided onboard explains the procedure
to follow.

 Problems Seafarers Can Face While Traveling to Foreign Land

Frequent traveling from one country to another to reach destination ports and ships makes lives of
maritime professionals physically and mentally stressing. Moreover visiting new countries having
different rules, customs, and traditions means dealing with a new set of laws every time.

1. Loss of important documents

When you are moving outside your native country, official documents are your only identity. It is
therefore important to take all necessary precautions to not only avoid losing them but also to act
without panic by keeping a backup with a set of photocopies in case you do lose them. If you are a
tech-savvy person then you can also scan the documents and put them in your smartphones, tablets,
laptops and other electronic gadgets. You can also keep them in a “cloud system” or “google drive”
so that they are available from anywhere.
In case you lose your documents in foreign land, inform your agent immediately and also file
a complaint with the local police department. You might also be required to contact your
country’s embassy in certain situations
2. Missing of flights
In order to reach their respective ships or while returning to their home land, seafarers are
required to take several connecting flights. In case you miss your flight, immediately approach the
airport administration and ask until what time you can stay at the airport. This is because some
airports require transit visas after staying for a certain period of time at the airport. Contact your
local office personnel of your country to explain them the situation and informing about the transit
visas, if required. Most of the time, the officer personnel will be able to arrange an alternative flight
or a return flight, in case ongoing flights are not available.
3. Luggage stolen or lost
In case your luggage is stolen/lost, file a complaint with the airline and provide details of your
foreign agent and shipping office. In case your luggage is found it will be delivered to the agent,
who will then hand it over to you. Also, don’t forget to claim “stolen luggage” allowance once you
are back on ship.
4. Security check problem
Problems during security check at airports are increasing every year. There have been cases
registered wherein seafarers were detained and and even jailed for not following the local laws.
Visiting new countries means dealing with new laws and cultures. If is very common for seafarer to
be not aware of the local laws while visiting or transiting new countries. This often lands them in
trouble. As a matter of precaution, ensure that you check the laws of the country you are visiting in
order to avoid any kind of trouble (Ask your company/agent).
5. No agent to pick you up at airport

8 Situational Awareness for Seafarers: “The need of the Hour” | Harsh Kumar Jha & Akshay Soman
 In such cases, just wait for the agent before taking any steps. Don’t panic and take a taxi for your
destination. They will arrange a replacement for your agent to pick you up.
Note: Don’t leave the airport premises at any cost. It is always the most secured place in a
new country.
6. Immigration problem
The most common problems that are faced during immigration checks are errors in joining,
appointment, and “ok to board” letters. Don’t forget to check these documents thoroughly
once you are assigned with them. Always keep your seafarer’s documents and passport in
good condition as some immigration authorities can create problem if the passport is torn
or is stapled or pasted with company sticker.

CRISIS MANAGEMENT IN EVENT OF MULTIPLE SITUATIONS

 Enhance knowledge and human behaviour in emergencies.

 Organise shipboard emergency procedures and drills for multiple situations.
 Familiarise all the emergency resources available.
 Muster list should be made in such a way that it awares the duties of the crew members on
perilous conditions of multiple situations.
 The resources to be used in emergencies should be sufficient enough to handle multiple
situations simultaneously.
 Multi-purpose equipments should be developed to handle different situations at the same
time.
 Automation of equipments to be used in emergencies should be promoted.
 Other vessels assisting the ship in distress should be capable of handling multiple situations.

ENHANCING SITUATIONAL AWARENESS-MODERN TECHNIQUES

In order to prevent a lack of situational awareness, its causes must be eliminated. Eliminating
fatigue is impossible, as there are numerous factors contributing to it, varying from medical to
psychological and life-style related causes. Monitoring fatigue is the best way to prevent it from
causing accidents.

For this, eye-tracking is the best solution, although it might require changing a bridge's lay-out, as
this system does have some limitations.The major advantage of eye tracking is the way it doesn't
influence the watch keeper in any way, allowing him to work without even noticing he is being
monitored for fatigue. The major downside however is the way the current systems work, as these
heavily restrict a person's mobility as the devices need to be able to see the officer's eyes at all
times. Eye tracking is a system that could be taken into account in future vessels by designing the
bridge in such way that it is suitable for eye tracking devices, meaning all necessary equipment
centred around one central spot. If this system can be implemented effectively it will greatly reduce
the risk of incidents caused by fatigue.

To prevent fatigue, using blue light at night is a possibility, as it influences the melatonin levels in
someone's body, which in turn influences the sleep pattern. Blue light does have some side-effects,
so further in-depth research is certainly required. However this is only a temporarily and
unsuccessful solution as it doesn’t solve the problem of fatigue, but merely postpones the tired
feeling of the watch keeper, which could result in more fatigue. Another problem that comes along
with the use of blue light is that it reduces the watch keeper’s visibility when looking outside. Blue
light is an effective way to keep a watch keeper awake during his watch, but the disadvantages
make this system ineffective to use.

Another way to prevent a watch keeper from lacking situational awareness is to change the way the
information from the outside is presented to him. This is done by data processing, which means

9 Situational Awareness for Seafarers: “The need of the Hour” | Harsh Kumar Jha & Akshay Soman
 the combining of data received from all the different on board-systems such as GPS, Radar and AIS
and presenting them to the watch keeper in a clear way. This can be done by using augmented
reality, which makes it easier for the officer of the watch to respond to the information he is given,
increasing his situational awareness. Data processing has many future possibilities, such as
reducing crew size and creating an autonomous sailing ship.

The best way to reduce situational awareness is by combining all these system in a new bridge
layout, in which all necessary equipment is centred around two central spots (seats) and in which
all three systems could be implemented, i.e. the eye tracking system, data processing system and
blue light. Combining these new systems with old, existing systems will make the officer of the
watch more situationally aware.

There needs to be more research into the effect of the watch cycle on the rest times of the crew.

CONCLUSION
Situational awareness is the accurate perception of factors and conditions that affect the vessel
during a specified period of time. The level of situational awareness needed increases
proportionally with risk to the vessel’s safety and demands on the mariner. Generally, the closer to
land you are, the greater the risks and demands, and thus the greater the need for situational
awareness. Not surprisingly, most maritime incidents occur in or near coastal waters.
Loss of situational awareness by mariners during critical moments of navigation has led to a host of
marine incidents.
Situational awareness is accomplished when you have an accurate perception of the events internal
and external to your vessel. In other words, you are able to recognize a change in the situation. You
understand the full impact of the change and you are able to accurately predict or project your situa-
tion in the near future. A higher level of situational awareness results in a lower level of risk. A low
level of situational awareness is a key factor in the development of an error chain. The Seafarer
must analyze these observations, recognize developments, recognize developing problems, assess
their severity, determine an appropriate remedy, take action to rectify the problem and, finally,
monitor the results.

REFERENCES
 www.marineinsight.com
 www.brighthubengineering.com
 Safety and security at sea -D.S.BIST
 Technology and safety of marine systems -A.Pillay & J.Wang
 PAPER-‘Situation Awareness At Sea’ -Prof. Dr. Vladimir Loginovsky
 Maritime Safety Queensland
 Enhancing situation awareness -Mauro Pico

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10 Situational Awareness for Seafarers: “The need of the Hour” | Harsh Kumar Jha & Akshay Soman