Seafarers take part in project to look at fatigue in ships' watchkeeping
Project Horizon is a European Commission funded project investigating the impact of fatigue on the cognitive performance and decision-making of ships' watchkeeping officers.
The €3.78m project has captured the interest of the shipping industry as concern rises over incidents and accidents at sea that are increasingly attributed to seafarer fatigue.
A number of experienced seafarers are currently taking part in simulations at Warsash Maritime Academy. The data collected from the experiments will then be analysed using mathematical and regression modelling techniques to determine the effects of fatique on the cognitive performance of maritime watchkeepers under different watch patterns.
Bureau Veritas has the task of examining hours of video imagery which may assist in recognising signs of sleepiness.
Stockholm University will be producing a Fatigue Management Toolkit, as an output from the project and which aims to offer guidance on recognising the onset of fatigue and potential means for its mitigation. Consideration is being given to how the Fatigue Management Toolkit can best be presented to be of use to those in the industry and concerned with its management and regulation.
The project has been developed and led by Warsash Maritime Academy and brings together academics from Southampton Solent University, Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, the Stress Research Institute from Stockholm University and Bureau Veritas Marine Division, along with representatives from other shipping and maritime organisations including the MCA and MAIB in Southampton.
For further information please contact Project Horizon coordinator Graham Clarke on +44 1590 671177 or graham.clarke@inchmery.eu
or visit http://www.project-horizon.eu
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