On Evaluation of Working Conditions aboard High-Performance Marine Craft

Sammanfattning: High-Performance Marine Craft (HPMC) is a complex system confronted by the stochastic nature of the waves challenging the safety of life at sea. The personnel aboard these craft are vulnerable to detrimental conditions, in fact, limiting the system’s performance evoking the significance of the Human Factors Integration (HFI) in the design and operation of these craft. The risks related to the work environments at sea have inadequately been investigated. A consistently identified fact is that the exposure to work environments containing vibration and repeated shock elevates the risk of adverse effects on human health and performance. In the event that the exposure risk is known, the situation can be managed by the operators and the legislated health and safety demands can be achieved by the employer. Moreover, when quantification of the exposure-effect relationships is potential, human factors, in terms of health and performance, can be integrated into HPMC design and operation. However, the knowledge is limited about the adverse health and performance effects among the High-Performance Marine Craft Personnel (HPMCP), the factors causing theses effects and their relationships.The thesis presents a holistic approach for the integration of human factors, in terms of health and performance, into HPMC design and operation. A research program has been designed branching the design and operational requirements of HPMC concerning HFI. A method is introduced for a real-time crew feedback system, which monitors and characterizes vibration and shock conditions aboard HPMC, enabling determination of the risk of acute injuries due to the high-intensity instantaneous impact exposure and the acquired risk of adverse health and performance effects due to the accumulated vibration exposure. This brings forth the requirement of epidemiological studies in order to strengthen the exposure-effect relationships. Therefore, web-based questionnaire tools are developed, validated and pilot tested for cross-sectional and longitudinal investigation of health and performance in HPMCP. The work exposure is measured aboard HPMC in terms of vibration and investigated in relation to the adverse health and performance event onsets, and the ride perception of the personnel aboard.The introduced method for the real-time crew feedback is capable of informing the exposure risk in terms of human health and performance. The questionnaire tools are feasible for epidemiologically surveying HPMCP and similar populations providing data for investigating adverse health and performance effects, risk factors and their relationships. Promising trends are observed between the quantified work exposure and the health and performance onsets, and the human perception.The work will be continued to identify the exposure-effect relationships facilitating better use of the existing standards, supporting ongoing development of the existing standards and providing information to draw appropriate design and operational limits in rules and regulations.