CCTV in the engine room

[The Dieselduck]

Techs are installing five cameras in the engine room spaces of a small tug to be monitored from the bridge. I am wondering how, as an engineer working in those spaces, would you feel about this. There is certainly some good from monitoring spaces that are seldom occupied, but to have a camera in the main part of the engine room and another for the ECR seems a bit much.

Safety and security are the main selling point, but the reality is, I have worked with far too many "deckhands" to know the camera will become an tool of "discipline" and gossip. The definition of discipline can vary a great deal from one captain to another, mix that with a little "power complex" and you could end up with a rather frustrating place to work. Love to hear what other engineers think.

I think the cameras should also be mounted in the wheelhouse, and monitored from the engine room as well. I know that it was a bone of contention with many engineers at Norwegian Cruise Lines when they put cameras in the ECR, many refused to work there on that basis.

[JK]

is there one person in the space?
I would think knowing that someone "may" see you laying there bleeding would be for the good.

ETA: Saying that, don't scratch your butt or pick your nose or you could end up on candid camera!

[Madzng]

I sailed on a series of ships with cameras in the ER space, and on one of the ships the quick thinking mate on watch stopped an engine which he saw something (fuel) spraying everywhere.

There were no cameras in the control room and I would not have been happy with that, they are a novelty at first and everyone will be paranoid or watching the screen but you soon forgot they are there and pretty quickly learnt their blind spots.

I would definitely not be happy if they put a camera in the workshop... an engineer has to have some privacy and a place to have a bit of fun.

I always thought that there should be a camera on the bridge, but that was to look out the window, making sure the mates were going in the right direction...

[Brad]

The key solution, I think, would be to ensure the camera is facing the switchboard and not the Engineers desk. If the camera is there for a safety tool then it should face the switchboard to monitor for fire or other risks. Any other focus point can be debated for purpose. Cameras and recording devices are not going anywhere, like the paperwork, so better to plan on how best to integrate them into the fold then how to complain about them for the next ten years. I agree that after a while they are forgotten. That being said, I do still enjoy going up to the bridge VDR and telling the mate that his flowery dress looks especially nice, and that he should put it back on when someone comes up to the bridge.
Brad