Chapter 2ADMINISTRATION, SUPERVISION, AND TRAINING
training may take quite a while, but the last part
will be comparatively fast.
The procedures for training a new person in
engineroom operations vary considerably,
depending upon such factors as the ships steam-
ing schedule, the condition of the engineroom
machinery, the number of experienced personnel
available to assist in the training, and the amount
of time that can be devoted to the training. In
general, however, you will probably begin to train
a person to act as messenger. Then before the
trainee is assigned to any actual duty, of course,
the trainee should be introduced to the
engineroom and become familiar with the loca-
tion of all machinery, equipment, piping, and
valves. The trainee must also be instructed in cer-
tain basic safety precautions and be specifically
warned about the dangers of turning valve wheels
or tampering with machinery. IF IN DOUBT,
ASK QUESTIONS! is a pretty good rule for any
new person in the engineroom to follow.
A person ready to be trained in the duties of
messenger should be shown all the gages that are
in use, told about what the gages indicate and
shown how to take readings. The reason why the
readings are important should be explained. The
trainee should understand exactly how often each
gage must be read and how to make accurate
entries in the engineroom log. When you are sure
the trainee understands everything about
gages, teach the trainee how to check lube oil
levels and how to clean metal edge type filters and
basket-type strainers.
For a while you will have to keep a close watch
on the trainees performance of these duties.
When the trainee becomes proficient in the duties
of messenger, start the training in throttlemans
duties, First, let the trainee observe the throt-
tleman. Then, if conditions permit, let the trainee
start and secure machinery.
As far as manual skills are concerned, the
throttlemans job is probably easier than the
messengers job. But the throttle watch requires
the utmost vigilance and reliability, and a new per-
son will have a lot to learn before being trusted
to stand the throttle watch alone. Personnel
should always be started out under the supervi-
sion of an experienced throttleman, and should
remain under this supervision until the petty
officer in charge of the engineroom is fully
satisfied that the trainee is completely qualified
for this duty.
In training engineroom personnel who have
not had previous engineroom experience,
remember than an engineroom can be a com-
plicated and confusing place to someone who
walks into it for the first time. A lot of equip-
ment is crammed into a small space, and a lot of
complex actions are going on at once. When train-
ing new personnel, try to think back to the time
when you first went into an engineroom. What
aspects of engineroom operations were most con-
fusing to you at first? What kind of training
would have made your learning easier and faster?
By analyzing your own early experience and reac-
tions, you get a bearing on what a new person may
be experiencing and you may be able to provide
more effective training.
When you are training new personnel,
remember that they vary widely in their methods
of learning and in their rates of learning. Some
people will learn most effectively if you give them
an overall view of main engine operations,
including a certain amount of theory, before
going into the details of the hardware and the
manual operations. Others will learn most effec-
tively if they are taught some manual skills before
getting too much involved with theory. Some
people learn manual skills rapidly but take a long
time to absorb the theory; for others, the reverse
is true. And, of course, some people learn
everything slowly. Some trainees benefit from pa-
tient, almost endless repetition of information;
others may become bored and restless if you go
over the same point just once too often. The
important thing to remember is that your train-
ing efforts will be most successful if you are able
to observe and allow for the individual differences
that are bound to exist. Closely related to this
point is another: Dont make snap judgments
about peoples abilities until they have had a
chance to DEMONSTRATE them. You may turn
out to be very wrong if you make snap judgments
on the basis of a general impression, such as
appearance, or the rate at which they learn when
they first come into the engineroom.
When training personnel who have already
had some engineroom experience but who have
been on some other type ship, you may find that
a certain amount of retraining is needed before
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