San Francisco Vessel Traffic Service Watchstander Analysis

Abstract

A team of human factors specialists analyzed the performance of watchstanders in the U.S. Coast Guard's San Francisco Vessel Traffic Center at Yerba Buena Island, San Francisco, California. Data collected included copies of the center's forms and logs, records and tapes of watchstander activities for a total of 10 hours of observation, records of 9 in-depth interviews with operations personnel, stress questionnaires and critical incident interviews from 12 watchstanders, and photographs of equipment and workspace layout. Analysis of the data yielded a breakdown of watchstander time utilization, a summary of communications loading, and data for a tentative model of watchstander activity as a function of traffic and communications loads. Seven suggestions for improving operations were offered.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 01, 1979
Accession Number
ADA077590

Entities

People

  • C. N. Abernethy
  • D. B. Devoe
  • J. W. Royal
  • K. S. Kearns
  • R. A. Rudich

Organizations

  • John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Coast Guard
  • Communication Systems
  • Consoles
  • Control Panels
  • Control Systems
  • Dead Reckoning
  • Geography
  • Materials
  • Motivation
  • Navigation
  • Observers
  • Radar
  • Radio Communications
  • San Francisco Bay
  • Training
  • Transportation
  • United States

Readers

  • Business Analytics
  • Maritime Security/Maritime Homeland Security
  • Team-Based Human-Centered Cognitive Task Decision Making and Information Performance.