ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on several different methods that can be used in the maritime environment to collect such data. It begins with examining some general and all-encompassing concepts, before moving on to more specific issues by examining different methods. According to a classic human factors text, human factors is largely an empirical science, applying information about people’s characteristics and limitations to the design of objects, procedures, and environments. Therefore, good data collection is essential to provide the information both to develop safe and effective maritime systems, devices, and tasks and to evaluate and improve their design. By assessing the levels of mental workload required by various maritime tasks, it is possible to arrange, schedule, or even alter tasks in such a way that performance can be optimized. Maritime incident/accident investigation is usually a complex process that needs to be undertaken by skilled professionals, ideally with some human factors training.
