Technical & Training Committee: Jonathan Mills, Chairman T&TC

February 24th, 2013 by JCB
Posted in Technical and Training | No Comments »

The UKMPA Technical & Training Committee (T&TC) continues to be one of the most important groups within the UKMPA. The last meeting was held on board the HQS Wellington on the 15th November. The following account is edited from the full minutes submitted by T&TC Chairman Jonathan Mills (Medway), which are available for members on the UKMPA website. 

RNLI Liaison

Given the similarity of operational requirements for pilot cutters and lifeboats, the UKMPA maintains close contact with the RNLI. John Nurser, who has been a regular attendee at the T&TC meetings for several years has recently retired and, although he wasn’t able to attend this meeting, RNLI’s Chris Squires will be continuing this long standing association.  One area of joint interest has always been launch seats. Nick Lee (London) explained that there had been a number of arm rest failures on the PLAs new launch and the committee discussed the importance of seating, seat belts and Pilots’ posture in launch seats, it was agreed that Kab seats were not ideal and any alternatives were welcomed to the market.

Whole Body Vibration Monitoring

(see Pilot 308), This is becoming relevant to Pilots as monitors are developed and since some cutter operators are already using such monitors, there was a discussion on their benefit to Pilots.

IMPA.

Nick Cutmore (IMPA General Secretary) provided feedback from the recent IMPA Congress in London; which had been a wonderful showcase for the UKMPA. It had also been an opportunity to informally discuss pilotage issues with other bodies. Nick stressed the importance for IMPA to have its members on various committees and lobbying through national envoys has also proved useful. The IMPA survey is still being evaluated and the results will be released in the future.

Portable Pilotage Units. With several UK ports either using these or considering their use a discussion was held on the use and accuracy of PPUs on large vessels in confined waters along with the need for comprehensive training.

PPE

Following correspondence between members before the meeting there was a brief discussion on the merits of Floatcoats using buoyancy aids of the highest rating of 275N. It was agreed 275 only seem to be required if you are carrying tools or heavy equipment – possibly including PPUs. Pilots are reminded not to wear rucksacks over floatcoats and that carrying a PPUs should not impede a Pilots safe access.

Head Protection

Tim Wingate  (Aberdeen) demonstrated the type of headgear used in Aberdeen. Their choice is the Prezl helmet used for sports such as cycling, kayaking and climbing, however, analysis of accidents involving pilots had revealed that headgear hasn’t so far been an element.

Clipping onto cutter rails

There is no agreed policy either nationally or district wise and the difficulties of introducing such a ruling were discussed especially given that new factors such as toxic shock resulting from harness use have been identified.

Peer Support

The committee was joined by Don Cockrill and John Pearn to discuss this issue. Setting up a stand-alone system would be highly complex so the UKMPA is going to look at professional counselling services available in the UK which offer both telephone and face to face help. Given the need for immediate post incident advice it was agreed to ask any chosen provider to provide this.

Azimuthing Control Devices

Tim Wingate showed a basic guide for using pod propulsion units in Aberdeen. Given the dearth of material regarding this propulsion system, the  T&T C considered that such a guide could possibly be adapted for all pilots

Boarding & Landing Code

This is currently being updated by Jonathan Mills’ and should be available by the end of February.

ECDIS & Training

ECDIS training is currently a major issue for the whole industry and the committee acknowledged the valuable practical input on the topic from Kevin Vallance  (see page 13). For pilots it’s considered that only approved courses should be considered but that ECDIS should only be used as another aid to supplement traditional piloting skills. Security.

Members welcomed the way Liam raised the subject at the last meeting and closer ties with security services are being developed in some districts.

Certipilot (See box below)

Martin Chatterton and Jonathan Mills, attended the first conference last July in Malta which proved to be worthwhile since it’s important that the UKMPA are fully involved in this project

PEC

Assessment criteria in each district were discussed.

Human Element Advisory Group

Don Cockrill attended a recent meeting and recommended a regular T&TC member attend, SC will discuss the matter. Katherine Drevitt from Warsash has been in correspondence, Jonathan Mills and Chris Hoyle (Southampton) will keep in contact. Nick Lee discussed Project Horizon which looked at seafarers working hours, David Roberts felt that though the project gave a lengthy conclusion to its work it gave no recommendation on how to improve working rosters.

The Chairman thanked IMPA for hosting the committee and providing lunch. The meeting was closed at 1600. The next meeting is scheduled for 3 or 24 April 2013 provisionally in Bristol.

Once again, a long but very useful and fruitful meeting.  I would personally like to thank all members of the T&T committee for their unstinting work and enthusiasm.                         Jonathan Mills