An Assessment of Some Watch Schedule Variants Used in Cdn Patrol Frigates: OP Nanook 2011

Abstract

Previous research conducted by DRDC-Toronto to evaluate watch schedule variants used on Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) submarines indicated very significant and deleterious effects of the watch system on modeled cognitive effectiveness of RCN submariners. Subsequently, DRDC-Toronto hosted an International Submarine Watch Schedule Symposium which led to a new RCN submarine watch schedule that improved modeled performance by about 30%. The RCN surface fleet is aware of this work and supported a request to conduct an evaluation of the surface fleet watch schedule. We evaluated the watch schedules used aboard HMCS St John's, a Halifax-class frigate, at the end of Op Nanook 2011 over the 8 days that the ship transitioned from the high Arctic to Halifax. The ages of the 45 sailors who participated in this at-sea trial ranged from 21 to 48 years. Ten of these sailors were non-watch-standers, 14 sailors were from the 1-in-2 Port (Front) watch, 14 sailors were from the 1-in-2 Starboard (Back) watch, three sailors were from the 1-in-3 Engineering watch, and four sailors were from the 1-in-4 Engineering watch. All subjects wore wrist activity monitors (actigraphs) to measure their daily sleep patterns quantitatively. The actigraphically measured sleep and daily work hours were the two data sets that were input into the FAST (Fatigue Avoidance Scheduling Tool) software to generate modeled cognitive effectiveness for each subject. All subjects maintained a daily activity, sleep, and mood log. Modeled cognitive effectiveness showed worrisome levels of performance equivalent to intoxicated levels of blood alcohol (BAC 0.05% and 0.08%) and well beyond those levels for all watch system variants. The authors conclude that the current surface fleet watch schedule is sub-optimal in that it results in worrisome levels of cognitive effectiveness in many of our sailors. An alternative watch schedule that is more sparing of submariner cognitive effectiveness should be developed and implemented.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 2012
Accession Number
ADA568627

Entities

People

  • Daniel Ebisuzaki
  • James C Miller
  • Jason Mcharg
  • Michael A. Paul
  • Steven R. Hursh

Organizations

  • Defence Research and Development Canada

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Electronic Warfare
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Analogs
  • Coast Guard
  • Data Science
  • Data Sets
  • Engineering
  • Engineers
  • Information Science
  • Military Personnel
  • Naval Personnel
  • Personnel Management
  • Scheduling (Production)
  • Security
  • Ships
  • Statistical Analysis
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Circadian Sleep-Wake Regulation and Chronobiology
  • Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering.
  • Team-Based Human-Centered Cognitive Task Decision Making and Information Performance.

Technology Areas

  • AI & ML