The four layers of passenger ship training and the three that come up every five years (STCW Regulation V/2)

Everyone on a passenger ship, from the master to the shop staff, falls under STCW Regulation V/2. Not everyone receives the same training. The regulation stacks training in four layers and decides who each layer calls by assigned duties and muster list designation, not by rank.

Reading that structure as a rank table breaks two things. A rating designated on the muster list to assist passengers is posted without crowd management training, and an officer with no designation is asked for training the regulation does not require. The layers with five-year refresher and the layers without get mixed up as well.

Regulation V/2 was replaced in full by MSC.416(97), adopted in 2016, and MSC.417(97) replaced Code section A-V/2 on the same day. Both resolutions entered into force on 1 July 2018. This article reads the provisions as replaced.

The regulation binds passenger ships on international voyages and leaves domestic voyages to the Administration

1 This regulation applies to masters, officers, ratings and other personnel serving on board passenger ships engaged on international voyages. Administrations shall determine the applicability of these requirements to personnel serving on passenger ships engaged on domestic voyages.

The scope is masters, officers, ratings and other personnel. The fourth group, other personnel, pulls in hotel staff, shop staff and entertainers who hold no seafarer certificate. Anyone serving on a passenger ship is inside this regulation whether certificated or not.

The ships are passenger ships engaged on international voyages. Domestic voyages are not bound directly. The Administration decides whether the requirements apply. A ship that stays on domestic routes needs a separate check of what the flag State requires.

3 Masters, officers, ratings and other personnel serving on board passenger ships shall complete the training and familiarization required by paragraphs 5 to 9 below, in accordance with their capacity, duties and responsibilities.

Paragraph 3 is the entrance to the four layers. The training and familiarization of paragraphs 5 to 9 is taken in accordance with their capacity, duties and responsibilities. Which layer applies follows from the post, the duties and the responsibilities.

Basic safety familiarization and passenger ship emergency familiarization apply to everyone

2 Before being assigned shipboard duties, all persons serving on a passenger ship shall meet the requirements of section A-VI/1, paragraph 1 of the STCW Code.

5 Personnel serving on board passenger ships shall complete passenger ship emergency familiarization appropriate to their capacity, duties and responsibilities as specified in section A-V/2, paragraph 1 of the STCW Code.

The bottom layer has two sheets. One is the safety familiarization of A-VI/1 paragraph 1. The other is the passenger ship emergency familiarization of A-V/2 paragraph 1. Both attach to all persons and Personnel serving on board, so there is no exception. The timing is the same too. Both must be complete before shipboard duties are assigned.

A-V/2 paragraph 1 splits the emergency familiarization into two abilities. Contributing to the implementation of emergency plans and procedures, and communicating with passengers during an emergency. The second one includes communicating in the working language of the ship and understanding one of the languages used for emergency announcements.

6 Personnel providing direct service to passengers in passenger spaces on board passenger ships shall complete the safety training specified in section A-V/2, paragraph 2 of the STCW Code.

Paragraph 6 lays one more sheet on top of the familiarization. It covers personnel who provide direct service to passengers in passenger spaces. Cabin crew and restaurant staff sit here. A-V/2 paragraph 2 names communication, demonstration of life-saving appliances and embarkation procedures as the content. Communication includes the languages of the principal nationalities on the route and the use of an elementary English vocabulary.

Crowd management and crisis management are called by the muster list designation

7 Masters, officers, ratings qualified in accordance with chapters II, III and VII and other personnel designated on the muster list to assist passengers in emergency situations on board passenger ships, shall complete passenger ship crowd management training as specified in section A-V/2, paragraph 3 of the STCW Code.

Crowd management training has three groups. Masters and officers, ratings qualified under chapters II, III and VII, and other personnel designated on the muster list to assist passengers in an emergency. The first two groups are caught by name. The third group turns on designated on the muster list.

So the muster list writes the list of people who need the training. Shop staff placed on the muster list at a passenger assembly station need crowd management training. other personnel with no passenger assistance duty on the muster list are outside this layer.

8 Masters, chief engineer officers, chief mates, second engineer officers and any person designated on the muster list of having responsibility for the safety of passengers in emergency situations on board passenger ships shall complete approved training in crisis management and human behaviour as specified in section A-V/2, paragraph 4 of the STCW Code.

Crisis management and human behaviour training is one layer narrower. Four posts are caught by name. Master, chief engineer officer, chief mate and second engineer officer. Beyond those four, it is anyone designated on the muster list as having responsibility for the safety of passengers in an emergency. The assist of paragraph 7 becomes responsibility in paragraph 8. The muster list has to separate those who help from those who are responsible before the two training groups can be told apart.

The wording of the two paragraphs differs as well. Paragraph 7 says crowd management training, while paragraph 8 says approved training. Crisis management training has to be an approved course, and A-V/2 paragraph 4 asks for evidence that the standard of competence has been achieved under the methods and criteria in table A-V/2-2.

Ro-ro passenger ships carry one more layer for passenger, cargo and hull safety

9 Masters, chief engineer officers, chief mates, second engineer officers and every person assigned immediate responsibility for embarking and disembarking passengers, for loading, discharging or securing cargo, or for closing hull openings on board ro-ro passenger ships, shall complete approved training in passenger safety, cargo safety and hull integrity as specified in section A-V/2, paragraph 5 of the STCW Code.

Paragraph 9 applies only to ro-ro passenger ships. The four posts are the same as in paragraph 8. The people after them are defined by work responsibility, not by the muster list. Immediate responsibility for embarking and disembarking passengers, for loading, discharging or securing cargo, or for closing hull openings. A deck rating who closes the bow door and the ramps sits here.

A-V/2 paragraph 5 puts the procedures for opening, closing and securing hull openings, surveys of proper sealing, and ro-ro deck atmosphere monitoring and ventilation into this training. The abilities come from the cargo work station, so the list of people cannot be drawn from the rank table.

Layer	Paragraph	Who	Code section
Emergency familiarization	5	All personnel serving on the passenger ship	A-V/2 paragraph 1
Safety training for direct service personnel	6	Personnel providing direct service to passengers in passenger spaces	A-V/2 paragraph 2
Crowd management	7	Masters, officers, qualified ratings, and personnel designated on the muster list to assist passengers	A-V/2 paragraph 3
Crisis management and human behaviour	8	The four posts, and persons designated on the muster list as responsible for passenger safety	A-V/2 paragraph 4
Passenger, cargo and hull safety (ro-ro)	9	The four posts, and persons with immediate responsibility for embarkation, cargo or hull openings	A-V/2 paragraph 5

Five-year refresher attaches only to the three layers of paragraphs 7 to 9

4 Masters, officers, ratings and other personnel, who are required to be trained in accordance with paragraphs 7 to 9 below shall, at intervals not exceeding five years, undertake appropriate refresher training or be required to provide evidence of having achieved the required standard of competence within the previous five years.

The refresher scope is paragraphs 7 to 9. Crowd management, crisis management, and passenger, cargo and hull safety. Familiarization and the direct service training of paragraph 6 carry no five-year cycle.

There are two ways to refresh. Undertake appropriate refresher training, or provide evidence of having achieved the required standard of competence within the previous five years. Either way the interval cannot exceed five years.

10 Administrations shall ensure that documentary evidence of the training which has been completed is issued to every person found qualified in accordance with paragraphs 6 to 9 of this regulation.

The evidence scope is paragraphs 6 to 9. That is one paragraph wider than the refresher scope. The direct service training of paragraph 6 has no five-year refresher, but the Administration issues documentary evidence for it. The emergency familiarization of paragraph 5 is outside the duty to issue evidence. It is a layer kept in the onboard familiarization record.

A-V/2 paragraph 3 asks for evidence that crowd management training has been completed in accordance with table A-V/2-1.

3 Before being assigned to shipboard duties, masters, officers, ratings qualified in accordance with chapters II, III and VII and personnel designated on the muster list to assist passengers in emergency situations shall: .1 have successfully completed the crowd management training required by regulation V/2, paragraph 7, as set out in table A-V/2-1; and .2 be required to provide evidence that the training has been completed in accordance with table A-V/2-1.

The company has a separate duty to ensure familiarization training for passenger ship masters and officers

MSC.417(97) did not change A-V/2 alone. It added a new paragraph 4 to A-I/14, the section on the responsibilities of companies.

4 Companies shall ensure that masters and officers on board their passenger ships shall have completed familiarization training to attain the abilities that are appropriate to the capacity to be filled and duties and responsibilities to be taken up, taking into account the guidance given in section B-I/14, paragraph 3 of this Code.

The subject is Companies. The company ensures it, not the individual seafarer. The people are the masters and officers of its passenger ships, and the content is familiarization training suited to the capacity and the duties to be taken up. The paragraph points to the guidance in B-I/14 paragraph 3, but the duty to ensure sits in Part A.

The four layers of Regulation V/2 are a question of whether the seafarer holds the evidence. A-I/14 paragraph 4 is a question of whether the company completed familiarization before posting that person. Neither record stands in for the other.

Worth confirming

The passages above come from Regulation V/2 as replaced by MSC.416(97), from A-V/2 as replaced by MSC.417(97), and from A-I/14 paragraph 4 added by the same resolution. This article goes no further than the text of the two resolutions.

Which layers apply on domestic voyages, what counts as refresher training, and the form of the documentary evidence are for the Administration. The competence items of tables A-V/2-1 and A-V/2-2 are not reproduced here, so a course syllabus has to be checked against the tables in the Code.

You can consult the cited source documents

These links lead to the official publishers of the documents discussed here. Match the edition and provisions cited in the article, and check subsequent amendments and flag-state implementation before applying them.

• IMO · MSC.416(97)
• IMO · MSC.417(97)

Continue with the related operational guidance

• Basic and advanced tanker cargo training and who is called to each (STCW Regulations V/1-1 and V/1-2)
• The written instructions and designated crew member behind familiarization (STCW Code A-I/14)