North Launches New Member Benefit from SureNav: Remote Navigation Audits

The voyage data recorder (VDR) is a vital piece of ship’s equipment.

The primary purpose of the VDR is, as stated in SOLAS, to assist in casualty investigation. The VDR gathers and stores information from a variety of bridge data sources and these can be retrieved and analysed by investigators following an incident.

Surely, there are more uses for this powerful tool?

Learning from aviation

In the airline industry, their equivalent of the VDR, known as the flight data recorder or “black box” has been in use since the 1950s.

However, in the 1970s, some airlines realised that data recorder can offer so much more than being a post-casualty tool. They began to routinely check the recorded data to identify any gaps in crew performance or problems with their procedures.

According to research conducted in 1996, the airlines that routinely analysed their black box data had a lower incident rate than those who didn’t.

The maritime industry is learning from this.

Bridge team management

We frequently analyse high-value admiralty claims that arise from collisions, groundings and other contact incidents. One of the most influential contributory factors to these incidents is a failure in bridge team management.

Shipping companies do of course take bridge team management seriously. They send their bridge officers on a bridge team management courses and they develop and provide strong bridge procedures. But still the same issues remain time and time again.

Assessing real-life performance

Bridge team management courses are an essential foundation, but they have their limits. In the same way that your car driving lessons are a foundation of best practice, people then head out alone, they adapt and change their driving style unknowingly.

Think back to when you last participated on a bridge-simulator course. Despite the immersive technology, it is very likely that you knew you were in a simulated scenario, and this would have influenced your behaviour. But when you’re on the bridge of a real ship, under real pressure, do you perform in the same way?

Also, the bridge team can only perform to their very best when they are supported by strong procedures that are relevant and easy for the crew to follow. It is unlikely that the bridge procedures are put under the microscope during a simulator training course.

Navigation audits

To check that bridge teams continue to follow best practice away from the simulator, companies have carried out bridge team navigation audits.

However, these can prove difficult. These may be carried out only once a year as part of the ISM audit. Also, this requires sending an auditor on board, which can be costly and create logistical issues.

Beware also of the “white coat syndrome”. If an assessor stands next to you with a clipboard watching your every move, you won’t act entirely as you usually would!

What is this assessor checking? They’re checking the passage plan, the use and set up of bridge equipment, the communications between the bridge team members and the communications with the pilot if one is present. They are checking that the team follows the procedures. But is the person with the clipboard really needed every time?

Using VDR as an auditing tool

An alternative or supplemental means of carrying out navigation audits takes advantage of the valuable data recorded by the VDR. Analysing the data collected from nav-aids along with the voice recordings on the bridge, can paint a picture of what happened during a routine operation.

Importantly, this analysis can be carried out remotely.

SureNav Member benefit

North is pleased to announce a new Member benefit with remote navigational audit experts SureNav.

Members will receive a 45% discount when signing up for a package of 5 remote audits.

Benefit highlights include:

• Five remote navigation audits, all conducted by experienced master mariners. Remote navigation audits check both the VDR data alongside supporting evidence such as copies of the charts used, checklists, log entries and voyage plans.
• Evaluation of compliance with procedures in the vessel’s safety management system.
• The audits can be used at any time or on any of their vessels.
• A full report will be issued for each audit, complete with and any support material (video or sound files).

About SureNav

SureNav are dedicated to promoting safe navigation and to improving standards across shipping. They have been conducting remote navigation audits for some time and were pioneers in the field working alongside OCIMF and other industry leading parties to pave the way for the use of this facility.

They have conducted audits for some of the largest shipping companies in the world, and the repeated use of SureNav by these companies demonstrates their professionalism and excellent standard of their product.

More information on SureNav.