6 Priorities – Classification

  6.1.1 The BAM should distinguish between the four priorities listed:

• .1 emergency alarms;

• .2 alarms;

• .3 warnings; and

• .4 cautions.

  6.1.2 Alerts additional to the alerts required by the Organization should be assigned to a priority level using the criteria for classification.

  6.2.1 Criteria for emergency alarms

• .1 alarms which indicate that immediate danger to human life or to the ship and its machinery exists and that immediate action must be taken; and

• .2 emergency alarms are specified in the Code on Alerts and Indicators, 2009 (resolution A.1021(26)).

  6.2.2 Criteria for classification of alarms:

• .1 conditions requiring immediate attention and action by the bridge team to avoid any kind of hazardous situation and to maintain the safe operation of the ship; and

• .2 escalation required as alarm from not acknowledged warning.

  6.2.3 Criteria for classification of warnings: conditions or situations which require immediate attention for precautionary reasons, to make the bridge team aware of conditions which are not immediately hazardous, but may become so.

  6.2.4 Criteria for classification of cautions: awareness of a condition which still requires attention out of the ordinary consideration of the situation or of given information.

 Alerts should be separated for the alert handling into three categories of alerts:

  6.3.1 Category A alerts

  6.3.1.1 Category A alerts are specified as alerts where information at a task station directly assigned to the function generating the alert is necessary, as decision support for the evaluation of the alert-related condition, e.g.:

• .1 danger of collision; and

• .2 danger of grounding.

 Where category A alerts cannot be acknowledged at a HMI, this fact should be clearly indicated to the user.

  6.3.2 Category B alerts

  6.3.2.1 Category B alerts are specified as alerts where no additional information for decision support is necessary besides the information which can be presented at the CAM-HMI.

  6.3.3 Category C alerts

Category C alerts are specified as alerts that cannot be acknowledged on the bridge but for which information is required about the status and treatment of the alerts, e.g., certain alerts from the engine.