Abstract
The introduction of next-generation technologies to the maritime shipping industry, including Portable Pilotage Units, Remote Pilotage, advanced situation awareness aids, and Autonomous Shipping, creates an urgent need to understand operator workload during Bridge Team operations, and co-operations with shore based personnel. In this paper we analyse mental workload of maritime Captains, Pilots and Tug Masters during standard and emergency scenarios, using traditional measures (SWAT, ISA), communications analysis, and the collection of simultaneous electro-dermal activity (EDA) of team members. Results indicate that the EDA measure overcomes some of the problems with paper-based techniques, and has excellent temporal resolution for emergency events. Implications for testing of novel technologies are discussed.
Highlights
The need to understand operator workload is a key requirement across numerous sectors, including maritime shipping (Lützhöft et al, 2011), nuclear power operations (Sheridan, 1981), air traffic control (Loft et al, 2007), driving (Trick et al, 2009), and many other contexts that impose a high demand on the human attentional system
We present an analysis of operator workload using the ISA (Instantaneous Self Assessment) and the SWAT (Subjective Workload Assessment Technique) that are commonly employed in the literature (Cain, 2007)
The results indicate that while during the simulation SWAT scores were slightly lower in the high workload condition and slightly higher in low workload condition, this was reversed after completion of the simulation where higher SWAT scores were given in the high workload condition and vice versa
Summary
The need to understand operator workload is a key requirement across numerous sectors, including maritime shipping (Lützhöft et al, 2011), nuclear power operations (Sheridan, 1981), air traffic control (Loft et al, 2007), driving (Trick et al, 2009), and many other contexts that impose a high demand on the human attentional system. Human attention is by nature a limited resource, and decades of research have been conducted into its strengths and its limitations. We have a remarkable ability to divide attention across multiple foci, both in physical space, and conceptually. In the context of shipping and trade, developing a clear methodology for measuring maritime operator workload has the potential benefit of improving efficiency and safety, by better understanding the human error component that is common in many maritime accidents.
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