PIC’s ability to make informed and timely
decisions. The 5 Ps are used to evaluate
the boater’s current situation at key decision
points during the cruise, or when an
emergency arises. These decision points are
in cruise planning, and include the whole
cruise from pre-departure briefings to
mooring in the port of destination.
The 5 Ps are based on the idea that the
boaters have essentially five variables that
impact his or her environment and that can
cause the boater to make a single critical
decision, or several less critical decisions,
that when added together can create a critical
outcome. This concept stems from the
belief that current decision-making models
tended to be reactionary in nature. A
change has to occur and be detected to
drive a risk management decision by the
boater.
The 5P concept relies on the boater
to adopt a “scheduled” review of the critical
variables at points in the cruise where
decisions are most likely to be effective.
For instance, the easiest point to cancel a
cruise due to bad weather is before the PIC
and passengers board. So the first decision
point is pre-cruise at the marina where
all the information is readily available to
make a sound decision. The next critical
decision point is whether or not the vessel
is ready for sea. All systems fully operable,
and safety equipment checked. With all in
ready, a third decision point is a review of
the local and predicted weather and alertness
of the boater and crew.
The cruise plan has now culminated
in sortie for a great voyage. The program
for daily routine, day’s work in navigation,
daily routine and personnel duties follows
the plan. The PIC frequently reviews the
5Ps for possible decision-making action.
The SRM process is simple. At least
five times before and at least daily during
the cruise, the boater should review and
consider the “Plan, the Platform, the Person
in Charge, the Passengers, and the Programming”
and make the appropriate decision
required by the current situation. It is
often said that failure to make a decision is
a decision. Under SRM and the 5 Ps, even
the decision to make no changes to the current
plan, is made through a careful consideration
of all the risk factors present.
Perceive, Process,
Perform (3P)
The Perceive, Process, Perform (3P) model
for BDM offers a simple, practical, and systematic
approach that can be used during
all phases of boating. To use it, the boater
will:
Perceive the given set of circumstances for
a cruise.
Process by evaluating their impact on boating
safety.
Perform by implementing the best course
of action.
In the first step, the goal is to develop
situational awareness by perceiving hazards,
which are present events, objects, or
circumstances that could contribute to an
undesired future event. In this step, the
boater will systematically identify and list
hazards associated with all aspects of the
cruise: boater, platform, environment, and
external pressures. It is important to consider
how individual hazards might combine.
Consider, for example, the hazard
that arises when a new boater with no experience,
relying on but with no experience
with GPS or Radar, wants to make open
ocean voyage to another port, in low visibility
environmental conditions to attend
an important business meeting.
In the second step, the goal is to process
this information to determine whether
the identified hazards constitute risk,
which is defined as the future impact of a
hazard that is not controlled or eliminated.
The degree of risk posed by a given hazard
can be measured in terms of exposure
(number of people or resources affected),
severity (extent of possible loss), and probability
(the likelihood that a hazard will
cause a loss). If the hazard is low visibility,
for example, the level of risk depends on a
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