Shock Monitoring Systems Introduced for Safer Operations at Sea

Allsalt Maritime has launched four new Kinetix models designed to provide easily assimilated guidance for maritime professionals to operate safely within designated shock and vibration exposure limits, reducing the risk of damage to vessels or injury to occupants.

High speed watercraft and their crews experience severe shock and vibration levels when operating at sea. Vessel hulls, on-board equipment, and, most importantly, human occupants are subject to damage from overexposure to wave impacts caused by abrupt accelerations from unpredictable rough water.

Workplace regulations for limiting whole-body vibration (WBV) exposures continue to gain international attention, most notably the EU directive 2002/44/EC which requires employers to assess and mitigate mechanical vibration, such as that found on high-speed craft.

Kinetix offers maritime agencies a solution for detecting overexposure in real time, as well as the ability to record acceleration data at a high sample rate for use in validating policy compliance or in legal proceedings or accident investigations.

The Kinetix product line now includes four models, each featuring a marinized sensor network and proprietary analytics software:

Operator Edition
• Suited for individual operators concerned with monitoring vessel impacts.
• Provides real-time, on-board feedback through a dash display.

Researcher Edition
• Suited for naval architects and consultants concerned with hull performance and wave impact analysis.
• Stores data in a compact, marinized logger for post-mission analysis.

Fleet Edition
• Suited for agencies concerned with monitoring hull impacts
• Provides real-time speed guidance and post-mission analysis for one vessel or an entire fleet.

Agency Edition
• Suited for agencies concerned with monitoring shock mitigating seat performance and assessing levels of exposure to mechanical whole-body vibration (WBV).
• Provides real-time speed guidance, crewmember overexposure alerts, and post-mission impact analysis.

“The Kinetix product line was developed to reduce the risk that an agency’s assets – either human or equipment – suffer damage or injury when operating at high speeds,” says Dr. Tom Gunston, Chief Scientist for Kinetix.

“We’ve been working hand-in-hand with some of the world’s most respected search, rescue, and patrol organizations to refine the product offering over the past several months. With Kinetix we can now meet client’s needs at every level of maritime operations – from on-board operators to fleet supervisors to health and safety management.”