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Putting It Together: Pilots, DP and Small Craft

🕑 5 min read words Leadership • Navigation • Bridge-resource-management

Module 6 of 6 · about fifteen minutes
Learning outcome: Apply the five BRM principles to a pilotage passage, a DP operation and a small craft or workboat bridge.
Start: Bridge resource management in six short modules

The Idea

The principles are the same everywhere, but the weak points differ. With a pilot the risk is the unchallenged assumption. On a DP bridge it is the console and the alarm. On a small craft or workboat it is that nobody wrote the principles down.

The Case

Pilotage. UK P&I Club’s analysis of 20 serious accidents under pilotage in Japan found that assumptions, most often about other vessels’ movements, were the most common cause. It recommends a fuller master-pilot information exchange, kept going after boarding, with the PACE model for the bridge team. See the guide.

DP. IMCA’s bulletins show a pattern of console and mode mistakes, such as a Backup Mode selector beside the alarm acknowledge button. The Master who took manual control within 27 seconds saved the situation. See the console guide and the simulator.

Small craft and workboats. The new International Workboat Code of Practice (October 2026, 122 pages, from IIMS, IMCA and the Workboat Association) puts primary responsibility on the owner or operator and the Master, with weight on people and organisational controls. In the text we searched, we found no bridge resource management, fatigue or teamwork provisions; its navigation watch clause asks only that the Master ensures watchkeeping arrangements are adequate. The Large Yacht Code (LY3) covers hours of rest and fatigue but we found nothing on BRM. For these crews the principles have to be supplied by the company and the individual.

Why This Module Is Different

The first five modules take a principle each. This one asks you to apply all five together in three common, higher-risk settings. In each setting the weak point is different, and the checklist is different. Read the setting that is yours first, then read the other two: most mariners work in more than one.

Pilotage: The Unchallenged Assumption

A pilot adds local knowledge and another set of eyes. It does not remove the need for the bridge team. Accidents under pilotage tend to develop when an assumption is made by someone and never tested by anyone else.

Principle	What it looks like with a pilot
1. Resources	The Master, pilot, OOW, lookout and helm are named. Someone other than the con handles the VHF and keeps the plot. The Master has not become the helmsman’s supervisor and the pilot’s audience at the same time
2. Communication	A master-pilot exchange before boarding and again on the bridge, with ship limits and a plan, and orders read back. Nothing the bridge team does not understand is allowed to pass
3. Leadership and assertiveness	The Master says in front of the pilot, “We will all call out anything that looks different from the plan.” Any member can ask “what is the plan from here?”
4. Awareness	The bridge team monitors position and traffic independently of the pilot, and calls out deviations early
5. Team experience	The pilot is a new member of the team. Treat their knowledge of the ship as new, and tell them what they cannot see

A practical set of words for the exchange: five things you tell the pilot (draught and trim, manoeuvring characteristics, any defects, bridge team and who does what, the point at which you will want to be consulted) and three things you ask (the plan including tugs and anchors, the traffic and the point of no return).

The DP Bridge: The Console And The Alarm

On a DP vessel the weak points are tightly concentrated: a few people, a console full of controls with severe consequences, and alarms that demand an immediate reaction. IMCA’s bulletins show a repeated pattern of buttons pressed in the wrong mode or at the wrong time, and of changes made without the bridge being told.

Principle	What it looks like on a DP bridge
1. Resources	One person at the console, another monitoring, and nobody else touches the console. The person acknowledging alarms is agreed. Communications with the deck go through a named person
2. Communication	Mode changes, control transfers and any change to equipment that supports DP are announced and read back, including from the engine room and ETO
3. Leadership and assertiveness	Anyone can say “stop” or “hold position” and the Master has pre-agreed what that means. The Master takes manual control early rather than diagnosing in DP mode
4. Awareness	Status, mode and thruster allocation called out aloud. The team treats a changed alarm pattern as a signal
5. Team experience	Familiarisation on the specific vessel and mission. A new DPO does not take the console in a close approach without a plan

Small Craft And Workboats: Writing The Principles Down

On a small vessel with a crew of two or three, the principles are the same and the margin is less. The difficulty is that nothing may require you to write them down. The International Workboat Code (October 2026) puts primary responsibility on the owner or operator and the Master, and in the text we searched we found no provisions on bridge resource management, fatigue or teamwork. The Large Yacht Code covers hours of rest and fatigue, but we found nothing on BRM. That does not mean the principles do not apply. It means the company and the crew have to supply them.

A one-page bridge team brief (see the overview) kept on board and read at the start of each day.
A rule for who keeps the lookout when the skipper is occupied, even if that means stopping.
An agreed word for stop that anyone, including passengers or technicians, can use.
A handover at crew change that covers state, not just story.
A limit written as a number: wind, wave height, visibility, distance from a structure, hours worked.
A plan for the new person in the first week.

The workboat case in Module 1 (IMCA SF 01/24) is exactly this: a small crew, a busy master, and no agreed rule about the lookout.

A Pre-Departure Bridge Brief You Can Use Anywhere

This is one structure that touches all five principles in about two minutes. Adapt the wording to your ship.

The plan. Where we are going, how, and what could go wrong (three threats at most).
The roles. Who has the con, the lookout, the communications, and the monitoring, for each phase. (Principle 1)
The numbers. The distances, depths, wind and times at which we change the plan or call the Master. (Principles 3 and 4)
The communication. Who talks to whom, on which channel, and the read-back rule. (Principle 2)
The team. Who is new to what, and how we cover for that. (Principle 5)
The challenge. “If you see something you do not like, tell me. If I do not answer, tell me again.” (Principle 3)

Then ask one question, to the quietest person on the bridge: “What are you most worried about?”

Illustrative scenario (not a real incident): A DP approach with a new second DPO

A DP vessel is about to start a close approach to an installation. The second DPO joined three days ago. The Master is on the bridge. An alarm is acknowledged by the second DPO a moment before the DPO on the console reaches for the same button. A mode selector sits beside the acknowledge button and has no guard. The DPO has done this approach a dozen times.

Pause and decide at each step before reading on:

What would you have said in the brief about who acknowledges alarms and who touches the console?
Thrusters leave the DP station without warning. What does the Master do first, and in what words?
After the event, what would you ask the second DPO, and how?
What change to the console, the procedure or the brief would you make before the next approach?

Debrief. The pattern is the one IMCA DPE 03/26 describes. A good team has settled alarm and console roles in advance, takes manual control within seconds rather than troubleshooting in DP, and treats the layout and the briefing as part of the fix. It does not blame the second DPO for being new: it asks why the plan left a new person next to an unguarded control.

Check Your Own Bridge

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

Do we have a pilot exchange that covers our ship’s limits and continues after boarding?
On the DP bridge, is it agreed who touches the console and who acknowledges alarms?
On a small craft, is the lookout rule written, not just understood?
Do all of us know the word that stops the job?
Do we run a pre-departure brief that covers all five principles?

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.

Which setting is yours, and which principle is your weakest link?
If you had to explain your bridge team to a stranger in a minute, what would you say?
What is the one line you would add to your next pre-departure brief?

Key Takeaways

The five principles apply everywhere. The weak point changes with the setting.
With a pilot: test assumptions out loud and keep monitoring independently.
On a DP bridge: settle the console and alarm roles, announce mode changes, take manual control early.
On a small craft: write the principles down, because nothing may require you to.
A two-minute brief covering all five principles is worth more than a long one nobody remembers.

Try This On Your Next Watch

Pick the setting that is yours and write one card. For pilotage: the five things you will say to the pilot and the three you will ask. For DP: the alarm protocol and who touches the console. For a small craft: your own one-page bridge team brief, from the start of this course.

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