Enhancing human performance in complex socio-technical systems
Rapid technological development within the maritime industry has improved efficiency, productivity and safety. However, this advancement is creating increasingly complex socio-technical systems, for which training has left human operators ill-prepared. Over 75% of all maritime accidents are attributed to human error, and smaller crew are handling more complex tasks. If safety is to be maintained or improved, it is vital to equip crew with the skills needed to manage them effectively.
ENHANCE specifically investigates these issues for maritime applications by utilizing knowledge sharing between process and maritime industries. We will bring together the expertise of engineers, psychologists, human factors specialists and operators to generate solutions to cope with technological development. The project has two main objectives: a) to better understand the human role in complex socio-technical systems through close collaborations between the academic and non-academic sectors; and b) to develop new training and performance assessment methodologies designed to enhance the human performance.
To ensure knowledge transfer, ENHANCE will connect academics and industry through an extensive secondment programme. This will bring together expert academic knowledge of advanced training techniques with the needs of the maritime industry and the best practice of the process industry. We will share knowledge across academia and industry, across sectors and across continents. Ultimately, this research will enable the maritime sector to improve the performance of humans within their complex socio-technical systems. This, in turn, will reduce the frequency and severity of incidents, reducing the negative social, economic and environmental impact of the sector. In addressing the needs of the maritime industry, we will also generate new cross disciplinary research initiatives, new career paths for researchers and new opportunities for long-term industry-academia collaboration.