The procedures for training a new person inengine-room operations vary considerably, dependingupon such factors as the ship’s steaming schedule, thecondition of the engine-room machinery, the number ofexperienced personnel available to assist in the training,and the amount of time that can be devoted to thetraining. In general, however, you will probably beginby training the trainee to act as messenger. Then, beforethe trainee is assigned to any actual duty, he or sheshould be introduced to the engine room and becomefamiliar with the location of all machinery, equipment,piping, and valves. The trainee must also be instructedin certain basic safety precautions and be specificallywarned about the dangers of turning valve wheels ortampering with machinery. “IF IN DOUBT, ASKQUESTIONS!” is a pretty good rule for any new personin the engine room to follow.A person ready to be trained in the duties ofmessenger should be shown all the gauges that are inuse, told what the gauges indicate, and shown how totake readings. The trainee should understand why thereadings are important, exactly how often each gaugemust be read, and how to make accurate entries in theengine-room log. When you are sure the traineeunderstands everything about gauges, teach the traineehow to check lube-oil levels and how to clean metaledge-type filters and basket strainer-type.For a while you will have to keep a close watch onthe trainee’s performance of these duties. When thetrainee becomes proficient in the duties of messenger,start the training in the throttleman’s duties. Fist, let thetrainee observe the throttleman Then, if conditionspermit, let the trainee start and secure machinery.As far as manual skills are concerned, thethrottleman’s job is probably easier than themessenger’s job. But the throttle watch requires theutmost vigilance and reliability, and a new person willhave a lot to learn before being trusted to stand thethrottle watch alone. Personnel should always start outunder the supervision of an experienced throttleman andshould remain under this supervision until the pettyofficer in charge of the engine room is fully satisfied thatthe trainee is completely qualified for this duty.In training engine-room personnel who have not hadprevious engine-room experience, remember that anengine room can be a complicated and confusing placeto someone who walks into it for the first time. A lot ofequipment is crammed into a small space, and a lot ofcomplex actions are going on at the same time. Whentraining new personnel, try to think back to the timewhen you first went into an engine room. What aspectsof engine-room operations were most confusing to youat first? What kind of training would have made yourlearning easier and faster? By analyzing your own earlyexperience and reactions, you get a bearing on what anew person may experience and you may be able toprovide more effective training.When you train new personnel, remember that theyvary widely in their methods and rates of learning. Somepeople will learn most effectively if you give them anoverall view of main engine operations, including acertain amount of theory, before going into the detailsof the hardware and the manual operations. Others willlearn most effectively if they are taught some manualskills before getting too involved with theory. Somepeople learn manual skills rapidly but take a long timeto absorb the theory; for others, the reverse is true. And,of course, some people learn everything slowly. Sometrainees benefit from patient, almost endless repetitionof information; others may become bored and restless ifyou go over the same point too often. The importantthing to remember is that your training efforts will bemost successful if you are able to observe and allow forthe individual differences that are bound to exist.Closely related to this point is another: Don’t make snapjudgments about people’s abilities until they have had achance to DEMONSTRATE them. You may turn out tobe very wrong if you make snap judgments on the basisof a general impression, such as appearance, or the rateat which they learn when they first come into the engineroom.When training personnel who have already hadsome engine-room experience but who have been onsome other type of ship, you may find that a certainamount of retraining is needed before the individual canqualify as an engine-room watch stander on your ship.No two engine rooms are precisely alike in all details,and no two main engines that appear to be identicalbehave in precisely the same way under all conditions.Each engine has its own individuality, and operatingpersonnel must adjust to the engine to obtain the bestresults. Practically all Enginemen learn this sooner orlater; you can speed up the learning process byencouraging engine-room personnel to notice and todiscuss differences between engines.SAFETY TRAININGBecause of the necessity for strict observance ofsafety precautions, all engine-room operational trainingmust be rigidly controlled and supervised. On-the-jobtraining is necessary if an individual is to acquire theactual skills needed for main engine operation;1-21
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