NMCI Lecturer presents paper at Ocean Innovation 2006
Friday 17 November 2006
Lt Cdr Jack Hickey delivered a paper at the Ocean Innovation conference held recently in St. John's, Newfoundland. The theme of the 2006 conference was "Managing Maritime Emergencies" - managing emergencies requires a specialized mix of qualified personnel, command infrastructure and response resources capable of rapid deployment. While prevention is always the preferred course, emergencies can quickly develop into major incidents, the cost of which is too often measured in loss of life and expensive assets. Add the marine environment to the mix and the nature of emergencies instantly escalates in scale and complexity. From groundings and collisions to fire and environmental spills, maritime emergencies at sea can be very costly. Effective management is critical.
Lt Cdr Jack Hickey gave a presentation on a Maritime Incident Management System (MIMS) which he developed with Gisle A H Fiksdal from Norway. MIMS is a real time software package which allows the senior management of a vessel to train in managing a crisis i.e. flooding, fire, grounding or other incident in a simulated environment. MIMS was of significant interest to the Canadian authorities, as they intend developing a similar system. The continuation of the program to MIMS 2 was also outlined.
The Associate Head of College, Cdr G.P. O' Flynn also attended the conference, the programme of which involved a visit to Memorial University to be briefed on the facilities, courses and future planning in maritime training.
The Ocean Innovation 'Icebreaker' Reception was held at the Johnson Geo Centre which is a geological showcase built underground inside solid rock walls.
