Can you teach an old seadog new tricks? Experimental evaluation of BRM training in the commercial fleet

Objective: The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of Crew Resource Management (CRM) training in the commercial shipping fleet – termed Bridge Resource Management (BRM) training. Background: CRM training has been widely employed and researched in several high reliability settings. However, there is a lack of experimental studies assessing CRM training in commercial shipping. Method: An experimental pretest – posttest study measuring satisfaction with training, knowledge, attitudes, and team behavior in bridge simulators. Five hypotheses were made; H1) The BRM training will receive positive evaluation, H2) BRM training will improve knowledge, H3) BRM training will improve attitudes, H4) BRM training will improve behavior, H5) The relationship between Teamwork and Mission success is positively mediated by Situation awareness. Results: H1 was fully supported. H2 was fully supported. H3 was partly supported. H4 was not supported. H5 was fully supported. Conclusion: The training was positively evaluated and improved knowledge and some of the targeted attitudes. Behavior could not be shown to improve with statistical significance, but it cannot be ruled out that a stronger experimental design and increased sample size would yield significant results. Relations among behavior measures confirms established CRM theory. Application: The present study provides supporting evidence that BRM training can indeed improve safety-relevant knowledge and attitudes. However, to improve behavior on the bridge, training should be adapted to specific work procedures

How do BRM-training participants understand non-technical skills?

Non-technical skills (NTS) can be defined as “the cognitive, social and personal resource skills that complement technical skills and contribute to safe and efficient task performance” (Flin et al. 2008, Safety at the sharp end: a guide to non-technical skills, p. 1). This paper aims to explore how bridge officers understand and discuss the non-technical skills involved in behavior and performance of participants in Bridge Resource Management (BRM) training. A thematic network analysis is applied to transcriptions of post-simulation debriefing sessions, based on a peer observation system that encourages discussion between training participants. The five skills identified are situation awareness, decision-making, stress management, verbal communication, and balanced leadership, all of which are mostly found to be in concurrence with generic theory on non-technical skills. However, for each of these skills, the findings also provide examples of certain aspects where the informants’ understanding stray from generic theory and BRM syllabus. This is discussed as possible clues to domain-specific aspects of NTS at ship bridges, as well as yielding implications for BRM training

How do BRM-training participants understand non-technical skills?

Non-technical skills (NTS) can be defined as “the cognitive, social and personal resource skills that complement technical skills and contribute to safe and efficient task performance” (Flin et al. 2008, Safety at the sharp end: a guide to non-technical skills, p. 1). This paper aims to explore how bridge officers understand and discuss the non-technical skills involved in behavior and performance of participants in Bridge Resource Management (BRM) training. A thematic network analysis is applied to transcriptions of post-simulation debriefing sessions, based on a peer observation system that encourages discussion between training participants. The five skills identified are situation awareness, decision-making, stress management, verbal communication, and balanced leadership, all of which are mostly found to be in concurrence with generic theory on non-technical skills. However, for each of these skills, the findings also provide examples of certain aspects where the informants’ understanding stray from generic theory and BRM syllabus. This is discussed as possible clues to domain-specific aspects of NTS at ship bridges, as well as yielding implications for BRM training

How do BRM-training participants understand non-technical skills?

Non-technical skills (NTS) can be defined as “the cognitive, social and personal resource skills that complement technical skills and contribute to safe and efficient task performance” (Flin et al. 2008, Safety at the sharp end: a guide to non-technical skills, p. 1). This paper aims to explore how bridge officers understand and discuss the non-technical skills involved in behavior and performance of participants in Bridge Resource Management (BRM) training. A thematic network analysis is applied to transcriptions of post-simulation debriefing sessions, based on a peer observation system that encourages discussion between training participants. The five skills identified are situation awareness, decision-making, stress management, verbal communication, and balanced leadership, all of which are mostly found to be in concurrence with generic theory on non-technical skills. However, for each of these skills, the findings also provide examples of certain aspects where the informants’ understanding stray from generic theory and BRM syllabus. This is discussed as possible clues to domain-specific aspects of NTS at ship bridges, as well as yielding implications for BRM training

Communication and perceived risk of accidents

The effect of internal and external communication on accident

Analysis: Data files and syntaxes

All data files, all syntaxes. Output files from main analyses. Relevant files for variable refinement

Surveys and item overviews

Surveys and complete item overviews. Extensive information on relevant items

Preregistration of study

Preregistration of stud