ABSTRACT
Recent changes within the Royal Navy such as the sending of women to sea, and the drive for reduction in size of crew and ship, have led to a request for human factors research into the stores departments on RN warships. The reasons behind these changes are both economic and strategic. Smaller ships are cheaper to build, require fewer personnel to crew them, and are much more effective during wartime. However, the working environment inside the hull becomes more restricted and so careful ergonomic consideration needs to be given to the layout and design of tasks. New style weapons systems require less personnel to actually run them, but need more support. Manpower levels on ships are also being reduced further as a result of defence cuts. With a reduced complement and more complex equipment, large numbers of low level personnel will no longer be available to carry out non-combatant tasks, such as those undertaken in the storerooms. In addition, even minor ship movements have an effect on performance, and it is therefore imperative that all other aspects of the task and environment be optimised to minimise these unavoidable effects.
