Tidewater Marine uses simulation equipment on its offshore support vessels to provide officers with ongoing training and familiarisation. It uses simulators to improve the competence of bridge crews, especially dynamic positioning (DP) operators, said Tidewater Marine manager for quality, health, safety and the environment in Asia, Roy Gillespie.
The onboard training can also be used for assessing the competence of DP operators, he said at Riviera Maritime Media’s Asian Dynamic Positioning Conference, which was held in Singapore in September. “Continuous onboard DP training using a simulator system is something that is underused by the industry,” he said. “It is not usually appreciated by the officers. However, this type of onboard training must be mentored and led by the master. If officers see the master conducting their own regular simulator training, then other individuals will follow. The master then has a responsibility to ensure that the training is being done by others.” This is what Tidewater encourages on its offshore vessels.
Vessel handling is part of the onboard training as bridge crew may only get short periods of time to sail a ship if they spend the majority of their time on DP. “As an industry we need to make sure our officers know how to drive a ship, hence the need for more onboard training,” said Mr Gillespie. “Officers need to know the system intimately, so they are aware of the options available to them to safely manage any situation. Competency assessments should not just be an exercise on paper. We should make officers do things with the ship to evaluate their capability and competence.”
Mr Gillespie said that continuous competency assessment using the onboard simulators is essential for a vessel owner. “Every officer needs to know that a competency assessment or a simple quick evaluation, or peer review, is just around the corner and can be delivered by any operational shore based personnel. This will keep the DP officers on their toes and hopefully put pressure on them to maintain their DP knowledge. If you know an assessment is imminent, hopefully the pressure will encourage you to be prepared.”
Refresher training and assessment can also be conducted on shore. Tidewater uses the DPEC Training and Assessment Center in the Philippines to provide training and refresher training, as well as management and DP supervisor training. “The centre is also responsible for the global tracking of DP training and competency assessments,” said Mr Gillespie. “This facility will eventually be our one-stop DP shop.” Refresher training on simulators is important for assessing the competence of operators.
“It offers trainers an opportunity to see where people are in terms of competence levels, and what needs to be developed further in the training modules. It will provide feedback on what is actually happening in the field.” This is all part of Tidewater’s particular approach to DP operator training, said Mr Gillespie. “We believe in a holistic approach using the safety management systems and the DPEC Training and Assessment Center to track everything to do with DP. As an industry, we need to make sure that our approach to DP training is comprehensive and that we develop DP operators to industry-expected competency standards, thus reducing any element of risk.”
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