Wearable technology: is it “tailor-made” for maritime?

You enter your locked office building in the morning, purchase lunch, and then later hit your gym all by being identified with an NFC chip that’s been implanted into your hand.

The manager of your team has noticed a high level of fatigue in one of your colleagues - whose brain activity is being continually monitored on a screen - and now the supervisor is looking to replace him for the next route.

These situations may sound like science fiction, but they aren’t. These are examples of wearable technology being used in workplaces right now. And what some may see as an unsettling invasion of privacy, others see as a convenient, necessary and ultimately inevitable technology. “15 percent to 20 percent of the 250 people working at the Epicenter co-working space in Stockholm … opted into (that NFC chip) program” and similar programs are cropping up in schools, offices and gyms in that city. The brain wave monitoring tech I mention, called SmartCap, is being used by mining company Rio Tinto to “prevent accidents by measuring truck drivers’ fatigue levels.”

One thing is certain, wearable tech is here and it’s not going away anytime soon

Market Intelligence firm Tractica tells us that: “worldwide shipments for enterprise and industrial wearables will increase from 2.3 million in 2015 to 66.4 million units annually by 2021”. As use of wearables in the workplace becomes more commonplace, designs are becoming increasingly more sophisticated, moving from clunky accessories to more streamlined (and practically unnoticeable) SmartCaps, implants and clothing made from conductive yarn. It makes sense that companies would want to use the latest tech to improve their businesses. Organizations should be allowed to use whatever is at their disposal to monitor safety issues, and make sure their employees are correctly trained and productive, right? That depends. It’s human nature to be a bit taken aback by the idea of being monitored at such an intimate level; this has major implications for peoples’ relationships with their jobs. Wearable technology is redrawing boundaries between individuals and has the potential to change the way our society thinks about privacy.

Health monitoring tech: anonymity is key

The most prevalent usage of wearables in the workplace so far, and the one you’ve most likely experienced, has been in health and wellness programs. If you work for a large company, you may have experienced that friendly HR email inviting you to participate in a wellness program involving wearable tech. Such programs are designed to be beneficial for employees. However, the unanticipated legal issues these health related programs create have drawn the attention of the US government, who last year amended the Americans with Disabilities Act to make sure that that “information from wellness programs may be disclosed to employers only in aggregate terms.” There are concerns that those who are less healthy (and therefore have higher insurance costs) will be targeted for layoffs. And even though most programs are 100% voluntary, some legal experts have concerns about the fact that an employee may “look bad” if they don’t get involved.

Wearable tech: a disruptive market force

With dangerous working conditions and a documented seafarer sleep deprivation problem, applications such as SmartCap and Connected Workers seem like perfect candidates for the shipping industry. From potential for preventing accidents due to human error, to providing data on staffing and training needs when errors are made, the possibilities for wearables’ use seem endless. I reached out to experts in both seafarer advocacy organizations and maritime tech innovation to get some insight into how the industry feels about wearable tech as it relates to employee performance.

Since there is very little published on the topic of maritime and wearables, and I wanted to get a birds’ eye view of early adopters in shipping, I turned to Cristoffer Husell. He’s Co-Founder of a Finland-based company that focuses on making business opportunities out of “disruptive market forces” - which wearables certainly are. Husell had this to say: “Wearables has been one of the most hyped verticals for a few years already. However, most of the wearable focused companies are in big trouble with low engagement from consumers and very hardware focused business models. I strongly believe one of the problems is that for the private person, there isn’t much of a business case.”

Husell continued: “In professional settings, the situation is very different. I believe there are an abundance of potential interesting business models for work optimization, safety improvement and communication in workplace applications. Shipping and seafarers aren’t an exception here. As a company, we at Shift Actions, have been looking several different applications and business models together with our clients ranging from work flow optimization, safety improvement and even insurance. So, my strong belief is that there is most definitely a role for wearables for performance management etc. for seafarers.”

“Wearable technology of the future will … reinvent the links between machine and human”

Gordon Meadow is a Senior Lecturer at Solent University/Warsash Maritime Academy who specializes in electronic navigation and has surveyed the impact of technologies such as Virtual Reality and Autonomous Vehicles on seafarer training. Meadow had this to say: “Wearable technology of the future, will almost certainly reinvent the links between machine and human. For the present, in terms of impact in general and not just among the commercial seafaring community, it is important to understand that wearables are still at the proverbial babe in arms stage, but equally important to understand that the technology will grow up fast and can and should be harnessed in the correct ways.”

“It is a simple task for observers to conjure up many potential opportunities by embracing ways of seamlessly integrating the machine and the human asset, from performance management, to enhanced situation awareness on multiple levels, to big data feedback for any number of things. However, for now perhaps we should concentrate on tackling the short term problems, namely seafaring fatigue and safeguarding seafarer wellbeing. Rich reward will be realised through the management of these very tangible barriers to human performance.”

“Longer term? Wearables should never be about a shipping company monitoring ‘gradable’ performance of an employee like some sort of futuristic ‘big brother’. It must be about the employer enhancing the capability of their assets (their ships) by monitoring and supporting their human resource (their other assets) to create the means to make maximum capability probable.”

“The distant future? For me at least, perhaps less physiological data monitoring and more data from human cognitive metrics leading to enhanced capability of assets through feedback loops and methods of automating interventions, but that really is light-years away...”

“Wearables are but a present step on an inexorable path to ever-greater monitoring of human activity”

Commodore Barry Bryant CVO RN, Director General, Seafarers UK gave credence to the idea that the future adoption of wearables is inevitable - but also raises red flags for the industry. Bryant says: “Surely ‘wearables’ are but a present step on an inexorable path to ever-greater monitoring of human activity and the subsequent processing of big data. Given that seafaring is often carried out by self-reliant individuals, often working alone in a potentially dangerous environment, such devices will certainly have a part to play. Whether that part will be health and safety positive, or just another management initiative to screw down already pressured crew members will depend very much on the psychology of their introduction and the innate suspicion that always seems to exist between the heaving deck and Head Office!”

This idea, that instead of providing a relief to overworked crews but instead add more stress and pressure, has already reared its ugly head in a well-documented UK office experiment with wearables. In the summer of 2015, the Financial Times’ Sarah O’Connor reported on how data science consultancy firm Profusion tracked 171 personal metrics on 31 staff members. This was the result as related by the company’s then CEO: “Some found it enlightening and useful, while others found it “quite disturbing.” One ended up “the most stressed I’ve ever seen her”.

Fabio Teti, President and CEO of Nascent Technology, provides us with this conciliatory wisdom: “I believe that the infusion of wearables is more of a ‘gradual adaptation’ rather than a cataclysmic event.” If what Teti says is correct, organizations – and society in general - should then have the time they need to work out the inevitable bugs. Teti continues: “That said, similarly to smartphones, wearables will, without doubt, permeate all aspects of everyday life. Therefore, it stands to reason that, as with other professions, wearables will be used in measuring and enhancing, the performance of seafarers. In addition to the obvious use of wearables to measure, monitor, and improve health and stamina, augmented reality goggles/glasses will provide the biggest, and most immediate, advantages for performance management. Their potential to improve training, quality, safety, and performance of seafarers' everyday tasks is unquestionable.”

Technology: there’s a right vs. Wrong way to use it

Natalie Shaw, Director of Employment Affairs at the International Chamber of Shipping is not a big fan of the idea of wearables for performance management: “I do not believe that seafarers should be expected to wear ‘wearables ‘for performance management purposes. There are plenty of other tools available to enhance a seafarer’s performance without imposing big brother policies on seafarers to wear such devices.” Shaw also touched upon the importance of optional vs. required use of wearables: “If seafarers willingly choose to do so without being pressurised to do so by their employers or their manning agents that is another matter. New technology can be beneficial to all if used in the right way but it should not be used in a way that might be equivalent to electronic tagging as used for offenders!” Figuring out just that “right way” Shaw mentions promises to be the challenge of the next decade.

Stuart Rivers, CEO of Sailors’ Society, also stressed that wearables should not be used for individual performance management. “Fitness wearables are clearly a fast-growing industry, which raises both questions and opportunities. We are excited about the potential of wearable technology to inform, guide and instruct, but this should be less about monitoring crew performance and more about dramatically enhancing the experience of seafarers. For example, our Wellness at Sea App currently allows seafarers to take control of their own wellbeing by assessing their mood, exercise levels, rest and more. Wearable technology could complement this by allowing them to monitor their own stress levels and fatigue, giving them even more insight into their own welfare.”

“With around 80 per cent of all incidents at sea directly due to human error (and the other 20 per cent indirectly due to human error), shipping companies could also make use of this insight to inform decisions on shift patterns, shore leave and crew changes. Then we could look forward to improved wellbeing of seafarers, a reduction in fatalities and knock-on improvements to their bottom line.”

“But in doing this, it’s crucial that seafarers are given the right to choose what data they share and that their privacy is respected. With our Wellness at Sea App, we are able to use the data from the app to shape our future work, but this information is all anonymised to protect the privacy of the users. By balancing the opportunities this new technology affords with proper consideration for privacy, we could see a win-win for both seafarers and shipping companies.”

“This is the future and there is no return from this path”

Capt. Kuba Szymanski, Secretary General of Intermanager offered this take on the current situation: that instead of a being a shock to the system, enterprise wearables might be just a step or two away on the continuum of smart technology in which our society is already participating. Capt. Szymanski says: “I believe that forward thinking seafarers especially officers are already using wearables. Millennials will lead the way. People of all walks of life are already experimenting with smart watches and why do you think seafarers would be different?”

“If anything, I suspect seafarers – 98% being male, rather well earning with huge exposure to technology are already experimenting with different “gadgets”. If you follow seafarers’ websites and keep in touch with them, they you will see how many are using health and travel applications. Also, more and more are testing different office, security and safety gadgets.”

“This is the future and there is no return from this path. Forward thinking, fast adopters among the ship management / ship owning community will be the first to reap the benefits of technological advances.”

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