Safety of navigation : a study on navigation equipments onboard UMT vessels

Abstract

The safety issue remains sensitive among the mariners and authorities despite improvements made. A safety checklist on navigation and communication equipments was developed, based on the requirement by the Malaysia Marine Department and SOLAS. The survey has been done on UMT Vessels which are RV Discovery, Discovery I, Discovery II, Discovery IX and Discovery VII. The interview of UMT vessels' crews is conducted to obtain more information and to support the checklist. This study is done to indicates the availability of navigation equipments onboard UMT vessels and whether the crews are familiar with the equipment and able to operate the navigation equipment effectively. The findings showed that most of the crews have the certificate to operate the navigation equipments. On the other hand, data for competency of crew revealed that most of the crews had positive safety attitudes and were knowledgeable in handling the navigation equipments from experience. Interestingly enough, the results indicated that a high number of crews showed their interest in handling the navigation equipments training. Finally, some recommendations that would help to improve the safety of navigation were presented.