Safe marine operations during the digital transformation

数字化转型正在对加拿大乃至全世界产生深远的影响。变革的步伐正在加快，如果我们要抓住第四次工业革命带来的机遇，加拿大需要做好准备。未来的愿景包括由自主船舶导航的数字化圣劳伦斯航道，以及从陆上控制中心远程操作的海上能源设施。在通往想象中的未来的道路上，每一项新技术的引入都有可能颠覆人们执行工作的工作环境的“尖端”操作。数字化转型期间的安全海上作业项目关注复杂海上作业的安全性，因为由于数字化转型带来的持续中断，人员的必要操作技能和绩效期望会随着时间的推移而变化。我们的目标是通过开发以人为本的方法来评估、预测和提高人员的可靠性和绩效，确保工作场所操作的变革是安全的。我们的重点是安全关键的海上作业，这些作业是危险的或相对不常见的，因此很难通过传统的在职经验做好准备。我们设计了两种可以应用于船桥的技术原型：一种是帮助操作员执行安全关键的冰管理操作，另一种是帮助通过浮冰的安全航行。我们使用舰桥模拟器作为实验场所，以评估该技术对人类行为和操作安全的影响的有效性。这些实验方法将有助于确保数字化转型的技术在设计上明显更安全。我们还研究了模拟器的效用，作为提高人类可靠性和专业知识的手段，提前船上操作。这种培训技术将有助于确保员工具备在数字化转型的尖端安全操作的专业知识。

The digital transformation is having profound effects on Canada and indeed the world. The pace of change is increasing and Canada needs to prepare if we are to embrace the opportunities afforded by this fourth industrial revolution. Visions of the future include a digital St Lawrence seaway navigated by autonomous ships, and offshore energy installations operated remotely from onshore control centres. En route to the imagined future, the introduction of each new technology brings with it the potential to disrupt operations at the "sharp end" of the working environment where personnel execute their jobs. The project - Safe Marine Operations During the Digital Transformation - is concerned with the safety of complex marine operations as the requisite operating skills and performance expectations of personnel change over time due to continual disruptions arising from the digital transformation. Our goal is to ensure that transformative changes in workplace operations are made safely by developing a human-centred approach to assessing, predicting, and improving human reliability and performance. Our focus is on safety-critical marine operations that are dangerous or relatively infrequent and therefore difficult to prepare for through conventional on-the-job experience. We prototype two examples of technology that can be introduced on the bridge of ships: one to help the operator execute safety critical ice management operations, the other to aid safe navigation through pack ice. We use ship bridge simulators as the venue for experiments to assess the efficacy of the technology in terms of its impact on human performance and operations safety. Such experimental methods will help ensure that the technologies of the digital transformation will be demonstrably safer by design. We also investigate the utility of the simulators as means to improve human reliability and expertise in advance of shipboard operations. Such training technology will help ensure that personnel will be equipped with the expertise to operate safely at the sharp end of the digital transformation.