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Meet the Innovation in Safety Award Entrants: CM Labs Simulations – Port Equipment Simulation Training

The ICHCA International Safety Award is the centrepiece of TT Club and ICHCA’s efforts to encourage innovation in operational safety and efficiency among freight transport and cargo handling players.

Meet the Innovation in Safety Award Entrant – CM Labs Simulations – Developer of Port equipment simulation training solutions.

The Challenge

Port operations can be hazardous, and particularly so for equipment operators. Operators are manipulating heavy loads using complex equipment, in dynamic operating environments. Operators also play a big part in the safety of others on the quay as they are the ones operating the equipment and their actions may impact other people – ITV drivers, people on the ship, people present on the quay.

According to a 2016 report from the International Labour Office, port work is regarded as an occupation with “very high accident rates” despite new and sophisticated innovations. Highlighting the risk to operators, a 2020 Port Skills and Safety report indicated that berth/quay were the top accident location in ports, accounting for 42.2% of all accidents.

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The Innovation

Simulation has long since earned its place as an operator training tool. However, when trainees get to the real equipment, they have traditionally needed to overcome “gaps” in simulation realism and undo the effects of any negative training.

As equipment has become more complex, this gap has become more pronounced. In complex, high-pressure environments, such as busy port terminals, this gap presents potent risks.

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The Result

Port terminal incidents tied to equipment operators are generally included in broader sets of safety metrics, so it can be difficult to quantify simulation-based training results. Still, terminals that rely on simulation agree that there are significantly fewer accidents associated with simulator-trained operators.

Other indicators are straightforward to quantify, including improved operator assessment and training effectiveness, and reduced learning curves.

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Read the full article covering CM Labs’ incredible products for the maritime industry, how training simulators fill a training gap, and serve very quantifiable training results on ICHCA.

Vortex Advantage - 5 screens simulator for ports
Simulators, like this CM Labs Vortex Advantage unit, can help train operators effectively while removing them from risky scenarios.