Say It, Repeat It, Confirm It: Closed-Loop Communication and Handover

The Idea

Closed-loop communication has three steps: the sender says it clearly, the receiver repeats it back, and the sender confirms. It sounds slow. It is faster than a collision. The same applies to handovers: of control, of the watch, of a job. The question is whether the receiving person has the picture the sending person has.

Gard’s review of loss of bridge control makes the same point: treat every control transfer as a critical step and confirm the active station and mode.

The Case

KIRKELLA. A fishing vessel was berthing in Hull when control was passed from the bridge to the engine control room. The bridge pitch lever was at zero; the ECR pitch lever was at 100% ahead. When the ECR accepted control the vessel moved forward against the berth and hit the harbour tug SHOVETTE, which partly sank. There was no written procedure and the engineer did not check the lever matched. The MAIB’s advice: both the sending and receiving stations confirm the settings match. See the control transfer guide.

IMCA SF 03/24. The OOW did not tell the Captain when control of the vessel was lost, and the shift-change toolbox talk was not properly done.

Why This Principle Exists

On a bridge, almost everything that happens is the result of something that was said, or not said. A helm order, a radar call-out, a pilot’s intention, a handover at 0400. Each is a message that can be misheard, mis-understood or never sent. Communication failures are rarely about language alone. They are about assumed understanding: the sender thinks it has been received, the receiver thinks it has been understood, and neither has checked.

The cure is not talking more. It is talking in a structure that proves the message arrived.

Closed Loop In Practice

The loop has three steps. Skipping any one reopens it.

The loop closes a second time when the action is complete: “Rudder is port ten.” Many bridges do the first loop and forget the second.

Where Messages Go Wrong

• Names missing. “Slow down” said to the room. Everyone, therefore no one.
• Hints instead of statements. “It is a bit close, isn’t it?” What do you want done about it?
• Numbers that sound alike. Fifteen and fifty, five and nine. Say each digit, and include the unit.
• Station ambiguity. “Take control” but which station, which mode, and from whom?
• Rank and tone. A junior who will not interrupt a senior who is busy. A senior who sounds irritated and stops the information flowing.
• Language and accent. A multinational crew, a pilot with a different working language, a bad VHF. Check understanding, never assume it.
• Noise and interruption. A message sent while the receiver is in the middle of another one.

Handover: The Highest-Risk Message

A handover is a message of everything the sender knows to someone who knows none of it. It happens at predictable, dangerous moments: watch change, control transfer between stations, passage from pilot to Master, a changeover of a DP operator. The danger is not forgetting a fact. It is that the receiver accepts the handover without seeing the state of the system, as on KIRKELLA, where the engineer accepted control without checking that the lever matched.

A short structure helps. This is a common format, not a regulation; adapt it:

The key rule is that a handover is not complete until the receiver has said, in their own words, what they now hold. If you cannot see the state, ask the other person to read it aloud.

Master and Pilot: A Handover That Does Not End At Boarding

The exchange between the Master and the pilot is also a handover, and it has to continue after the pilot boards. The bridge team need to hear the pilot’s intentions in time to check them, and the pilot needs to hear the ship’s limitations: the actual turning circle at this loading, the manoeuvring state of the engine, the anchor, the bow thruster. The usual failure is the pilot who states a plan once, and a bridge team who watch it unfold without comment because it is the pilot’s job.

• Before boarding: the passage plan is ready to show, with the points where you will want to be told something.
• On boarding: give the ship’s handling information and equipment state, and ask for the plan, the tugs, the traffic and the point of no return.
• During the passage: bridge team call-outs against the plan, and the Master repeats any order that is not clear.
• At any time: any member can ask “what is the plan from here?”

Pause and decide at each step before reading on:

1. The OOW says, “Nothing unusual, radar is a bit flaky.” What is missing from the handover?
2. The Chief Officer says, “OK, I have the watch.” What should they say before accepting?
3. Who should be told about the radar, and by when?
4. What would a read-back of this handover sound like?

Debrief. A good handover names the radar state and what it is likely to miss, the expected fishing fleet and its time, the trigger for calling the Master, and ends with the Chief Officer saying back what they now hold. The hand-off is only complete when the receiver can say it back.

Check Your Own Bridge

Answer honestly. Any ‘no’ or ‘not sure’ is something to fix, not something to hide.

• Do helm, engine and control orders on our bridge get read back every time?
• Do we use names, not “someone”?
• Does a handover at our station include seeing the state, not just hearing about it?
• Is it normal here for a junior to ask for something to be repeated?
• Do we brief the pilot on our ship’s limits, not only listen to their plan?

Questions For A Team Discussion

Use these in a pre-departure brief, at a safety meeting, or over a coffee in the middle of the night watch.

1. When was the last time something you said was not what was done? What went wrong?
2. What is the hardest handover on your ship, and what makes it hard?
3. What would a read-back of your last watch handover have caught?

Key Takeaways

• Say it, read it back, confirm it. Then confirm it is done.
• Use names and numbers, one digit at a time.
• A handover is complete when the receiver can say it back and see the state.
• Hints are not messages. Say what you want done.
• The pilot exchange does not end when the pilot steps on board.

Try This On Your Next Watch

For one week, read back every helm, engine and handover instruction on your watch, and ask for a read-back from yours. At the end of the week note how often something was different from what you thought you had said.

Test Your Knowledge

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Related Reading

• Hand over control, check the lever
• PACE

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