Study on Reducing Communication Stress in Marine Engine Room Situation

抄録

  It is a fact that the correct and safe operation of machinery by engineers, is of paramount importance for safe navigation of vessels. Added to this fact is the effective communication and clear manifestation of intentions by engineers while managing the engine room resources at their disposal. Proper communication is an essential requirement in engine room in special situations such as maneuvering, starting up or machinery cooling down situations. Further, it can also be situations such as carrying out main engine repairs and maintenance work in port or during a normal passage at sea. In those situations, the senior engineer in the control room order various operational tasks to be carried out by the younger engineer or engine support staff in the engine room.

  In this research task, a pair of transceivers is used for communication of operational order or other request in engine room under the noisy environment. Under the prevailing circumstances of operation, it will be difficult for the engineers communicate and establish a clear perception due to noisy environment and other factors such as age differences, language barriers, cultural and religious differences. A further compounding effect will be the stress levels of the engineers, especially when they work in unfamiliar environment.

  In this study, speakers installed under the aluminum metal plates similar to engine room floor plates create a noisy environment. The sounds created by the speakers reproduce the running sound of the real generators, motors and other machinery. The output sound level was adjusted 85 dB by using volume control of amplifier tuner, which connects with speakers. The two subject engineers communicate each other under noisy environment in experiment by using transceivers. For the experiment, we employed two students from the Kobe University.

  We measured the biological responses of the subjects, under noisy environment. The data was then compared with the changes of their responses under experimental environment differences. The outcome of the research was to find ways to reduce stress levels of engineers and create an optimal working environment in engine rooms.