Multi-tasking

In our business, it is not such a great idea.

A tankerman is getting his barge ready for loading at the dock.  There is the DOI to fill out, a hose to hook up, pump engine to start.  You get the point.  There are multiple tasks to complete prior to getting that cargo to the pipeline.  As usual, time is important and all involved want to get the that cargo transfer started. 

But something goes wrong.  As the tankerman starts the pump

engine, oil from the filler cap opening splashes into the air and onto the deck.  Now we have a spill.

So what happened?  Just a few minutes earlier, the tankerman checked his engine oil level and decided he needed to top it off.  Oil can in hand, he removes the filler cap and puts in the needed amount.

Jesse Fleeman on the M/V JESSE B GUNSTREAM demonstrates Mulit-tasking.

What is on his mind during this simple process?  Most likely valve setup, communications with the dock; is everything ready for the transfer?

By being distracted by the other tasks at hand, he forgot to replace the filler cap.  You know the rest.

Doing several things at the same time has been termed Multi-tasking.  In computers, it is a good thing.  For humans, it is not so good.

Doing several things at once is a trick we play on ourselves, thinking we are getting more done. In reality, our productivity goes down by as much as 40%. We do not actually multi-task.  As humans, we are switch-tasking; rapidly shifting from one thing to another, interrupting ourselves unproductively, and losing time in the process.  In that process it is easy to leave something out or to forget a step.

Multi-tasking is a recipe for disaster.

Examples of incidences caused by Multi-tasking are easy to find:

• A wheelman piloting his tow down river turns his attention to update a form on the wheelhouse computer. Within a matter of minutes the bow of the lead barge strikes the shore causing damage.
• While heating oil on the stove to fry chicken nuggets, a tankerman is called from the wheelhouse to check the coupling wires.  Instead of shutting off the stove, he heads out on deck.  Within minutes, the now overheated oil flares up and the galley is on fire.
• After changing oil in the main generator, the tankerman failed to add new oil.  Was he trying to complete other tasks at the time?  The generator burned up when it was later started.

On the road, going to a crew change or commuting home from the office, multi-tasking takes its toll:

• According to the National Safety Council 28 percent of traffic accidents occur when people talk on cell phones or send text messages while driving.
• Those texting while driving are about 6 times more likely to have an accident than those driving while intoxicated. 

So how do we get out of the trap of thinking we are accomplishing more when really, we are setting ourselves up for failure.

The solution is to do one thing at a time - single-tasking. Focus on the task at hand, get it done and then go on to the next.

Uninspected Towing Vessel Inspection Update

A job well done by all Higman Crews! 

Out of our 48 operating vessels, 38 have completed their UTV inspections without any deficiencies.  Of those with deficiencies, none had issues that were under crew control. 

Thanks for the great job in getting your boats through these USCG inspections. 

Throughout the inspection period, there were numerous positive comments and reports on the state of our boats and crews from the USCG inspectors!

Our last Friday Question topic looked at the Level Wind system now being attached to our Nabrico 156 HE winches as the boats go to the shipyard for scheduled repairs.  It is important that all crew members know how this winch attachment works and how it should be maintained.

Points to remember:

• Grease weekly during your regular winch maintenance.
• Watch line pay-out; make sure the line if feeding through the positioning shackle.
• If chaffing gear needs to go through the positioning shackle, make sure it does not bunch up.

This simple attachment to your Nabrico 156 HE winch will should make your rigging operations smoother if properly used and maintained.

The question set was very simple this week.  So far all return have been 100%.  Great Job!

Winch General No. 3

Boat Winch Safe Maintenance - Level Wind System

Question 1.....  The Level Wind Attachment should be greased during regular weekly Winch Maintenance....TRUE/FALSE

Answer....TRUE.

Question 2....How many grease points are found on the Level Wind attachment?

Answer....five

Question 3..... The _________________on your line can get jammed up in the positioning shackle if care is not taken.

Answer....chaffing gear. 

Question 4....To prevent birds nest on the drum, keep tension on the line when paying out....TRUE/FALSE

Answer....TRUE

Thanks for the good work!

Stern Shots   

Tankerman Jesse Fleeman seems to spend way too much time cleaning the galley on the M/V JESSE B GUNSTREAM.

 

Tankerman Kyle Hardy on the M/V JESSE B GUNSTREAM is not sure why he is having his picture taken!

  

Tankerman Javier Rangel on the M/V ROCKFISH seems to be having the same thoughts Kyle had.

    

Nautical Trivia

The Western Rivers period of neglect

  

After the completion of the addition of navigation lights around 1875 and a flurry of channel improvements in the 1880's,  the Western River went into a period of neglect. 

 

Nobody wanted a steamboat when the railroad trains were rumbling over a hundred bridges and panting into every town.  "Never before," wrote a river reporter, "has the Ohio river tonnage been so worthless." 

 

President Theodore Roosevelt made his first Mississippi River trip in 1907.

In 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt told the United States Congress that "Our river systems are better adapted to the needs of the people than are those of any other country.  In extent, distribution, navigability and ease of use, they stand first.  Yet the rivers of no other civilized country are so poorly developed, so little used, or play so small a part in the industrial life of a nation as those of the United States.  In view of the use made of the rivers elsewhere, the failure to use our own is astonishing.

 

World War I changed all that.

 

When the spring came in 1918 the American railroads were staggering under the massive freight of war.  Millions of tons of foodstuff, armament, machinery and military supplies were piled up at freight terminals waiting to be moved to tidewater.  To break the jam, the War Department turned to the forgotten rivers.  Old stern-wheel towboats and wooden barges were reconditioned; veteran pilots were recalled from retirement.  Rounding up all the tonnage that would float, building new barges and towboats, merging local carriers into transportation systems, the government formed the Federal Barge Line.  The rivers were at work again.

 

from  "Voices on the River, the Story of the Mississippi Waterways" by Walter Havighurst, Castle Books, copyright 1964