The Horizon Project is a EU sponsored collaborative research project undertaken to study how different watch systems have influenced the levels of fatigue or sleepiness, both of deck and engine room watchkeeping officers. The project's final report has now been released.
Collaborators in the project included Warsash Maritime Academy (Southampton Solent University), Chalmers Tekniska Hoegskola AB (Department of Shipping and Marine Technology (Sweden), the Stress Research Institute of Stockholm University, together with eight other participant companies and authorities.
There are increasing concerns over human safety, environmental damage and commercial loss due to watch officer fatigue. The UK’s Marine Accident Investigation branch (MAIB) report entitled Bridge Watchkeeping Safety Study (2004) cites fatigue as a major causal factor in collisions and groundings. There is however, very little information about how the watch patterns for instance, 6-on – 6-off and 4-on - 8-off have an influence on watchkeeper performance.
Researchers studied how the different watch systems have influenced the levels of fatigue or sleepiness, both of deck and engine room watchkeeping officers. The simulation research involving many runs of seven day, realistic voyage scenarios, was completed in 2011 and a vast array of data has been assembled. This has been analysed by Stockholm University and reviewed by all partners: the findings have been published and the Project's public Final Report is available at: http://www.warsashacademy.co.uk/about/resources/final-horizon-report-final-as-printed.pdf