Crew resource management for teams in the offshore oil industry

The international aviation industry uses a special form of human factors training with their flight deck crews and other teams, called crew resource management (CRM). CRM is designed by psychologists and pilots to reduce errors and accidents and to improve emergency response capability by improving teamwork skills. Key topics include communication, decision making, assertiveness and stress management. CRM courses are now being used in shipping, medicine and the nuclear power industry. Follows an outline of CRM and describes an application in the offshore oil industry with control room operators and emergency command teams.