Risk-Based Measurement Tool Improve Maritime Decision-Making

At the recent Nautical Institute Annual General Meeting in San Francisco, Captain Bill Anderson, Director of MITAGS-PMI, West Coast, made a presentation about the gap between maritime training and real-life situations and offered a risk-based technology solution that is delivering impressive results.

The maritime industry has long struggled to find a concrete way to measure the performance of mariners beyond Coast Guard testing. In search of a solution, MITAGS-PMI began using standardized and repeatable measurement criteria while assisting pilot organizations in prescreening candidates. In conjunction with Boeing and several government agencies, it then launched the Navigational Skills Assessment Program (NSAP), a risk-based method of evaluating an individual’s strengths and weaknesses under pressure.

“We create stressful situations to measure the mariner’s normal experience level,” Anderson said. “If the mariner makes bad choices under duress, we teach them how to make better choices.” Anderson points out that common mistakes by mariners include a failure to set basic safety contours on ECDIS equipment or to properly tune the radar, and too many put their vessel in potentially dangerous situations when forced to alter course because of an approaching vessel.

To correct this, NSAP employs full-mission simulators and real-life scenarios that focus on the specific skills required in potentially dangerous situations. The results are evaluated by qualified subject matter experts. To date, MITAGS-PMI has accumulated data from more than 1,500 mariners, and the NSAP assessment program has been pivotal in enhancing performance and teaching mariners how to react better in real-life situations.

Anderson emphasizes that advanced maritime training has to integrate both book knowledge and real-world applications and that modern technology provides the wherewithal to train and deliver the most skilled workforce. For a full description of the NSAP program, click on the link below:

MITAGS-PMI NSAP Program Brochure

With campuses in Baltimore and Seattle, the Maritime Institute of Technology & Graduate Studies-Pacific Maritime Institute (MITAGS-PMI) is the leader in maritime training, pilot licensing, ship simulation and operational research. To learn more, visit www.mitags-pmi.org or contact Gregg Trunnell at (206) 719-2801 or [email protected].