NV Ch. 6 — Teamwork

1. Introduction — teamwork grows from the single watch

Teamwork on the bridge does not begin with a crowd. It begins with one person — the Officer of the Watch alone — and builds up, role by role, as the situation demands. The chapter starts from IMO Resolution 285, which requires the OOW to make sure an efficient lookout is maintained, while conceding that "there may be circumstances in which the officer of the watch can safely be the sole lookout in daylight."

Source: SWIFT, A. J.; BAILEY, T. J. Bridge Team Management: a practical guide. 2nd ed. London: The Nautical Institute, 2004. Chapter 6 — Teamwork (pp. 47-54).

Edital: Anexo 2-B, Área III, item 1 (Swift & Bailey) → Chapter 6 — Teamwork · Anexo 2-A, Área III, item 11 (Manobra de embarcações em águas restritas — "Teamwork"; terceira rubrica literal do tópico).

1.1 From one to many — the build-up of the team

Under certain conditions the OOW may be the only person actively navigating: steering in automatic, the lookout busy with duties around the bridge. There is no apparent call for teamwork, yet the OOW still works inside a framework of standing and specific orders so the master can trust that the watch meets his and the company's standards. This status can change at short notice — the moment the OOW must give up his lookout role he calls the watchstander to take it. That is the first basic of teamwork.

When the seaman is assigned watchkeeping duties, it is the OOW's responsibility to ensure he meets five conditions:

The OOW may also need a helmsman on the wheel in addition to the lookout, and is responsible for the ship being safely and efficiently steered. Now there is real organisation and cooperation: the OOW keeps responsibility for the watch but relies on two other people. Even if neither finds the work difficult, the OOW must make sure orders are correctly followed — helm orders complied with as ordered, not as the helmsman thinks fit.

1.2 Calling the master — and the con

The OOW may have to call the master to the bridge: because the pre-planning requires his presence, because the master's standing or night orders demand it under the developing circumstances, or because the OOW realises the situation needs the master's experience and expertise.

1.3 Defined roles — the heart of teamwork

Teamwork depends on agreed roles. Unless each person's role is understood by all, some functions get duplicated and — worse — others get ignored. The book sets out suggested roles:

1.4 The high-risk watch — adding a second officer

Sometimes the master needs the support of two navigating officers — one as OOW, the other as back-up. A scenario needing two watch officers signals a high-risk situation, with probable factors:

The OOW still runs the normal watch. The ADDITIONAL OFFICER provides the master with radar-based traffic information and gives general back-up to the OOW on the chart — supplying navigational information, confirming important navigational decisions, and handling internal and external communications. There are no exact rules for splitting the tasks: it depends on the people, the circumstances and the bridge layout. The essential thing is that each member knows his own role and the roles of the others — so nothing is duplicated and, more importantly, nothing is overlooked.

2. Training and Coaching

It cannot be assumed that bridge team management and passage planning are simple natural functions that anyone can practise. Instruction and training are necessary. People have to be taught to reach their full potential. On a well-organised ship this may happen naturally — a new member is introduced to the established way of working and absorbed into an already well-run bridge team.

Where coaching is used, it must be more than informal observation: it needs supervision, feedback and monitoring of the trainee's progress — without feedback the trainee cannot improve, and confidence grows only as new competence is genuinely acquired. Above all, one of the primary functions of the bridge team itself is to provide a system of checking and counter-checking decisions, so that a single person's error can be caught before it endangers the ship.

3. Simulator training

In many cases the best way to learn these skills is a simulator course taken by a whole ship's crew — or at least the watchkeeping officers, including the master. Such courses run at simulation centres worldwide and are generally arranged by shipowners, since they are rather expensive. They need not involve one ship only: personnel can come from one company, or even individuals from various companies.

The simulator is highly versatile — it can replicate most circumstances and ship types. Inland or coastal waterways are normally used for exercises, since the open sea may not be difficult enough; traffic and weather are set to a suitable level, and pilots may be involved to assess how a pilot is accepted into a bridge team. Difficulty is programmed to match the seniority and experience of the students.

3.1 How a course is run

Groups are generally four persons (sometimes five), ideally a master plus one of each navigating officer, but may include a cadet for a role. The first session introduces the students to the staff and explains the concept of bridge team management and the necessity of passage planning — both as a function of that management and as a legal requirement — then takes them into the simulator to familiarise themselves with the layout and equipment, perhaps via a simple uncomplicated passage.

Thereafter each student takes a different role in the bridge team, gaining an understanding of the others. A junior is not asked to act as master in a situation needing a genuine command role.

3.2 The advantages of simulation

Without trying to replace reality entirely, simulated exercises have their own advantages:

Exercises are programmed to the group's needs — ships, areas, traffic and weather can all be varied, or the whole scenario structured to familiarise a group with a certain area or condition. Courses differ by location, simulator type and the culture of the provider, owner and staff, but the final result is similar: students will have planned for, experienced and controlled real situations, discussed the results, and returned to sea with a fuller understanding of the required procedures. The author recommends simulator training as a valid way of managing and reducing navigational risks.

4. Scenario — teamwork on a pilot approach (0100–0305)

The book illustrates teamwork with a worked scenario: a relatively routine pilot approach that nonetheless shows the large number of interactive events in what most seafarers regard as a straightforward situation. It is not meant to show how a bridge must be organised — only how the team interacts.

4.1 The sequence of events

4.2 What the scenario teaches

The procedures at pilot boarding vary considerably from ship to ship. Present requirements are that a responsible officer should supervise the pilot's embarkation and disembarkation. To comply, the team must be aware that the master will be alone on the bridge while the OOW meets the pilot, or that another officer must be called for the task.

Whenever the master has the con, it is the duty of the OOW and other watchkeepers to give him enough information to make decisions appropriate to the situation. Most decisions follow the original plan — but it is not solely the master's duty to see that everything goes to plan. That duty is shared: the OOW, by regularly fixing the position, confirms the original track is being held; he also confirms that all the master's orders — navigational and otherwise — are carried out. Most importantly, the OOW must advise the master when he considers things are not going to plan, or when circumstances change.

5. Debriefing — closing the loop after the passage

Whenever possible after a passage, the master should take the chance to discuss the planning and execution with his team. Possible weaknesses should be openly admitted and discussed so they can be corrected or allowed for next time. A debrief need not be long, and can happen during a passage while the memory is fresh; where corrections are made to a plan, they can then be saved for future use.

5.1 Reusing the plan

For a ship that regularly visits a port or frequently transits an area, it may be advantageous to keep the charts and notes as they are. Unless major changes occur to channels or navaids, a planned passage is normally acceptable for future visits — provided meteorological and tidal differences are always taken into account, and remembering that inward and outward passages may be entirely different (parts of the plans may share common features).

6. Teamwork in one view

Teamwork is the discipline of defined, understood roles that scale with risk — built up from the lone OOW, trained by coaching and simulation, and proven in the interactive flow of a real pilot approach.