CLIMATE

Overview of CLIMATE
How CLIMATE can be used
What to consider when using CLIMATE
What to do with the results

CLIMATE stands for the Cognitive Loading Index for Mariners Assessment TEchnique.

CLIMATE has been developed by Human Reliability Associates on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) in response to a trend in incidents and accidents resulting from inappropriate cognitive workload.

CLIMATE will soon be available for use from the MCA.

How CLIMATE can be used

CLIMATE has been developed to help make informed decisions based on the likely risks associated with an overload or underload scenario. It allows the factors which affect workload to be assessed in a standardised and systematic manner. It can be applied to an entire voyage or to a single point in time during a passage. The process produces an index of underload or overload, which is known as the ‘Cognitive Loading Index’ (CLI). The CLI indicates whether the mental workload required by the scenario in question is likely to be at a safe level, or whether an incident or accident is likely to occur due to overload or underload.

What to consider when using CLIMATE

Because the factors affecting overload and underload are not always the same, the first step when using CLIMATE is to select the overload or underload model for the program to use. This is easiest when experience suggests which end of the scale is most likely to apply to the scenario in question. However, if the user is unsure which model to use, running the scenario through both models will indicate whether the situation is an overload or underload situation, or indeed whether loading is an issue at all in this scenario.

Whilst a full voyage can be assessed, considering a particular point during the voyage is likely to give a more focused result, especially as longer periods of time are more likely to involve both overload and underload conditions.

What to do with the results

Completing a CLIMATE assessment will produce a cognitive loading index for the scenario being considered, based on the ratings given by the user for the relevant factors. If the assessment indicates that the workload is at an unsafe level, the tool can be used to show the factors that led to this outcome. These can be displayed in order of influence on the CLI to show which might be focused on to restore the CLI to a safer level. However, the cost or timescale involved in altering some factors will be higher than others, and indeed some factors, such as the weather, will be outside the control of the ship’s complement or the shipping company ashore. CLIMATE provides a ‘what-if’ analysis option to evaluate the effects of changing different factors on the overall CLI. It is therefore intended to provide an advisory input to complement the decision making of key stakeholders such as masters and shore-based managers.

Different scenarios can be compared in a graphical and a numerical format, for instance for different points in the same voyage or for different vessels in a fleet.