9.3.3.1 The Bridge
For the bridge, there exist several documents to support design:
• SOLAS (International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea) Chapter V/15 contains seven aims for how the work and workplace on the bridge should be designed (IMO, 1974), and these aims will be discussed in Section 9.4, ‘Design of the Bridge’.
• A comprehensive standard, International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) 8468, contains an abundance of guidelines and recommendations on bridge layout and associated equipment.
• IMO provides MSC/Circ.982 (IMO, 2000) which contains guidelines on ergonomic criteria for bridge equipment and layout.[18]
• An International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) Recommendation (IACS, 2007) is also available and discusses in more detail how to meet the aims addressed by SOLAS regulation V/15. The requirements in this document cover SOLAS regulations and applicable parts of MSC/ Circ.982 in order for the standard to be useable as a stand-alone document for the purpose of approval work during the building process. The document discusses the areas addressed by SOLAS regulation V/15: bridge design, design and arrangement of navigational systems and equipment, and bridge procedures.
• The marine sector uses its own ISO TC8 standards, but adoption of the IC159 ergonomics standards has still to be achieved.
Furthermore, many classification societies provide guidelines and certification of various aspects of ergonomic and human factor issues. One must, however, be aware that using guidelines to optimise the usability of many separate instruments does not necessarily mean that usability is ensured for the system or SCC as a whole. For this, a usability process should be used throughout.
