Bridge Resource Management Training Programs in Korea and Their Effectiveness

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to introduce the bridge resource management (BRM) training courses implemented in Korea and to analyze their effectiveness in several views.BR Background: BRM training will be a mandatory course for crew members of ships from 2017. At this stage, it is needed to check if the BRM training courses implemented until now was effective to the Korean maritime safety and to investigate if there are more effective training methods.BR Method: The effectiveness of BRM training intervention in Korea was compared with that of the other countries, using Kirkpatrick’s (1976) training evaluation framework. Kim (2012)’s data on the BRM training effectiveness were re-analyzed in order to check if the effects of BRM training are dependent on the bridge work experience.BR Results: Many BRM training courses has been opened in Korea. However, the methods to assess BRM training effects used in Korea focused on the survey of subjective satisfaction level, not investigating trainees’ attitude and behavior change. On the other hand, the effectiveness of BRM training was higher to the bridge officers with long work experience than with shorter work experience.BR Conclusion: The contents of BRM training should be changed to effectively apply to the context of the real-world exercise and be differentiated depending on the work experience. Research on the methods to measure the BRM training effectiveness is also more required.BR Application: The results of this study will aid to develop the BRM training courses for bridge officers of ships in the BRM training institutions.