The official manual for the P615 high speed separators produced by Alfa Laval. The content of the manual is arranged in six chapters with the first one dedicated to safety. The second chapters provides the very basic information on the separator covering its design features and functions plus definitions used.

The chapter providing service instructions covers the maintenance of the separator, cleaning and oil change, vibration matters, periodical checks etc. Then the chapters come focusing on the assembly and dismantling, technical reference including drawings, description of the interface, lubrication materials, water quality etc. The closing chapter covers the operating instructions, including routine operations and all others.

Alert 10 - Regulation - For the guidance of wise men and the blind obedience of fools. Wherever we are, we are sourrounded by rules and regulations - of course, rules are for our benefit, they are designed to protect us from danger, stops us from getting hurt, or worse...

In our business, along with regulations, we have got standards, recommendations, conventions all designed to protect us, the machines we use, our systems and the environment. But the accidents at sea still happen - while no one is suggesting the regulations are not important, there is one important question that has to be answered - do rules and regulations take account of the human element?

That is what we will be looking at in this issue of Alert. The video supplements this training booklet addressing same matters.

Alert 9 - Operations - It is time to stop pretending... Welcome to this issue of Alert, the forum for discussing a whole range of human element issues in the maritime industry. What are the absolutely key issues? The need for ship owners and operators to recognize the needs of the end user, the seafarer, during the design and build stages... Treat this video as the supplement training to the booklet addressing the same topic.

If you have visited us before, you would know that Alert focuses on the human element in the maritime industry. In this program we are going to consider three of the most important human element issues, namely education, training and career development. When it comes to the recruitment and training of seafarers, ship operators should adopt best industry standards and ensure that seafarers receive the training they need to carry out their duties.

They must also be regularly updated, tested and drilled through various programs. The people involved in the front line of the shipping operations ashore must also be properly trained, adequately experienced, skilled and competent. But then so must be the tutors - it is essential that maritime college lecturers are properly qualified to teach the competencies for which they are employed to teach. They need to have the up-to-date understanding of the new technologies aboard ships and, of course, knowledge of the modern day ship operations. One of the problems today is that a gap sometimes exists between available skill levels and what the ship industry requires from the seafarers, which is why there is a need for the company to step in the training.

Shore-based company training can be provided at in-house institutes and during annual seminars. On-job training can be conducted by auditing and training superintendents who can then ensure that any shore comments can be rectified through education and training. This video supplements the corresponding Alert Issue 20.

Issue 5 of the Human Element bulletin contains the updates on such important matters as building the shipping company culture, a total quality lifecycle, investing in quality as investing in people, consolidating international standards of the maritime labor, corporate social responsibility in the today's maritime industry, PSC reports, sustainability reporting in the shipping sector, etc. We often define the term "quality" in the context of the customer-supplier relationship as a measurement of how a products or offered services meet or exceed customer's expectations. But, the quality of management in ship operations impacts on the way in which the master and his crew conduct their business.

Not all ship operators aspire to the highest levels of quality. Port State Control reports record that some shipowners are failing to comply with international conventions, such that the condition of the ship or the quality of its crew falls below the required standard. There are some companies whose focus is on profit - at the expense of quality and of a safety culture. Their compliance with regulations aspires only to the acceptable, particularly in respect of crew working and living conditions, safety of life at sea and accident prevention. Better if used together with this short video film addressing same topics.

The twenty-fourth issue of Alert human element bulletin. The good design of the vessel performed bearing in mind the human element is considered critically important for the safe and also efficient operation of any vessel together with the systems, as well as to the health and safety of the crew members and their wellbeing.

The naval architects and designers of the shipboard systems shall be in close touch with the professionals working and living aboard vessels. They shall also have the understanding of the fact that nowadays the vessels are operating with the crews consisting of males and females, and people representing different nationalities, cultures and looking different - it actually means that the ship design features may be considered good for one group of crew members but will not necessarily be highly appreciated by others.

The designers shall also be able to perform the proper identification and provide clear descriptions of the social and physical concepts in which the products and systems they design is expected to be used, noting the nature of the work to be carried out and implications of the design they work on, for the crew members. They must have a clear and thorough understanding of the main principles of the HCD, standing for the human-centered design, addressed in the seventh issue of our bulletin...

Sorry, I am a bit depressed... I mean our industry, it is all doom and gloom, isn't it?.. Every time you pick up the paper, there is a story about the collision, an oil spill somewhere, pirates... You turn on TV and it seems that every day our seafarers are arrested and thrown into jail. You see what I mean? We could take a different view. The fact is shipping is responsible for over ninety percent of the world's trade.

It's a high-tech industry that opens huge opportunities. Yes, it has its problems, but in this issue of Alert let's go positive. There are some who criticize the state of shipping and life at sea today. We hear comments about over-regulation, too much paperwork and huge number of inspections, and so many other problems in the shipping industry.

And that is quite disappointing - because it is not as if young people do not want to go to sea, but clearly there are some concerns. One survey reveals that, although increasing workloads and paperwork, fatigue and criminalization are viewed as potential career killers, the modern seafarer is looking for greater contact with families and friends, above everything else.

Telephone access, in particular, would seem to be crucial. Voyage length and shore leave are also the factors that are very significant to the seafarers today... This video film supplements the corresponding issue of Alert 19 bulletin.

If you are a regular reader of the Alert bulletins, you know that the information management is a subject we have visited many times before. When you consider the importance of the human element in safe running of ships communication between all stakeholders is crucial, and that requires management. And of course there is the human element in every information management system.

But have you ever wondered why you are asked to provide certain pieces of information and what is being done to it once you provide it? And what is the information management system, anyway? Well, information management is about the storage, processing, transmission and input/output of information. Putting it simply, that means making sure that information is presented and prepared at the right time to the right person and in a form that is immediately understood and relevant to the situation at hand. Seafarers, especially the Master and senior officers, have to deal with a lot of the paper-based logs and reporting forms.

These not only add to their work load but can also present opportunity to cause the error. Many shipping companies still rely on the handwritten logs. And this is an area where the technology can be put to good use - the electronic monitoring and reporting, for example... This video will supplement the 21st issue of the Alert bulletin.