Exam Question

(a) BNWAS is a monitoring & Alarm system which informs other navigational officers or master of the ship if the officer on watch (OOW) does not acknowledge or he/she is incapable of carrying out the watch duties efficiently, which can lead to maritime accidents.
A series of alert & alarm is first sounded by the BNWAS in the Navigation Bridge to alert officer on watch. If there is no response to the series of alarms, then BNWAS will alert other Deck officers, which may include Master of ship, so that someone can come out on the bridge & handle the situation & tackle the problem.
There have been many accidents in the past wherein ships have collided or grounded due to wrong decision or inability in taking a decision at the correct time. If during an emergency situation, a navigational officer is not competent of handling that situation, it can lead to devastating scenarios. To prevent this BNWAS is fitted on the bridge which acts similar to a dead man alarm in the engine room.
Reset of the alarm can only be done from physically located areas on the bridge providing proper look out. Reset can be only be performed with a single operator action which starts the dormant period further, cancelling the alarms/indications. Constant activation of the dormant period via the reset button should not extend the dormant period to more than that is set or bring about any suppression of the alarms/indications