Ergonomics and Human Factors

R&D is focused on the issue of ‘Optimal Manning' on board naval vessels, i.e. the definition minimum number of crew members who can efficiently carry out the on-board tasks while complying with a number of constraints related to human performance, safety requirements, affordability, risk and reliability constraints.

Optimal Manning is an issue the HF group in CETENA has been working on for the past few years in close cooperation with FINCANTIERI and the Italian Navy; know how has been built up with the important support of visits on board naval vessels and interviews with crew members.

At the moment, an important ongoing research contrant is aimed at the development of a software tool for the evaluation of the optimal number of crew members for a given ship design and ship mission. Industrial and naval partners are involved in the research program; visits on board, interviews and close interaction with naval ship designers are part of the program.

An ongoing cooperation with the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Genova is dedicated to the topic of workload evaluation and includes fatigue and boredom tests with volunteers.