Inspections and audits

The written instructions and designated crew member behind familiarization (STCW Code A-I/14)

STCW Code A-I/14 assigns responsibilities for new crew familiarisation to the company, master and seafarer. The company must provide written instructions to the master and arrange for a designated crew member to assist new joiners.

Responsibility falls on three parties at once

1 Companies, masters and crew members each have responsibility for ensuring that the obligations set out in this section are given full and complete effect and that such other measures as may be necessary are taken to ensure that each crew member can make a knowledgeable and informed contribution to the safe operation of the ship.

Companies, masters and crew members are written side by side. The structure does not pile the duty on one of them; each carries it. And the purpose sits at the end of the sentence: so that each crew member can make a knowledgeable and informed contribution to the safe operation of the ship.

The starting point is written instructions from the company to the master

2 The company shall provide written instructions to the master of each ship to which the Convention applies, setting forth the policies and the procedures to be followed to ensure that all seafarers who are newly employed on board the ship are given a reasonable opportunity to become familiar with the shipboard equipment, operating procedures and other arrangements needed for the proper performance of their duties, before being assigned to those duties.

Three places to read. First, the form is written instructions, not a verbal instruction or a practice. Second, the recipient is the master. Third, the timing is before being assigned to those duties. The opportunity comes before the assignment, not after.

Two things have to be in those instructions

The first is the allocation of a reasonable period of time. What the newly employed seafarer is to become acquainted with is written in two parts.

What to get acquainted with	Reach
The specific equipment the seafarer will be using or operating	Individual equipment
Ship-specific watchkeeping, safety, environmental protection, security and emergency procedures and arrangements	What the seafarer needs to know to perform the assigned duties properly

The second is a person.

.2 designation of a knowledgeable crew member who will be responsible for ensuring that an opportunity is provided to each newly employed seafarer to receive essential information in a language the seafarer understands.

There has to be a designated crew member, and what that person is responsible for is not delivering the information but ensuring the opportunity is provided. One condition attaches: in a language the seafarer understands. Postings and procedures written only in a language that seafarer does not understand do not meet this.

The company has seven duties

STCW regulation I/14.1 requires companies to ensure:

Appropriate valid qualifications for assigned duties
Compliance with flag-state safe manning requirements
Refresher and updating training required by the Convention
Maintained, readily accessible records of experience, training, medical fitness and competence
Familiarization with duties and shipboard equipment and procedures
Crew coordination for safety, security, pollution prevention and emergencies
Effective oral communication on board under SOLAS V/14.3 and 4

A familiarization signature does not discharge the other duties. Before assignment, check qualifications, refresher training, medical fitness and working language, and identify where the records are kept.

Ro-ro passenger ships have additional requirements

3 Companies shall ensure that masters, officers and other personnel assigned specific duties and responsibilities on board their ro-ro 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 of this Code.

The reach is not only masters and officers but other personnel assigned specific duties and responsibilities. And what is required is not the provision of an opportunity but completed familiarization training.

Worth confirming

The passages above come from Code section A-I/14 of STCW/CONF.2/34. How many days a reasonable period is, who the designated crew member should be, and what form the written instructions take are not set by the provision. Whether the company’s written instructions have actually reached the master, whether a designated person is named for each ship, and whether the essential information exists in a language that seafarer understands are where the actual judgement starts.

Recheck ship-specific equipment even when the rank is unchanged

Suppose a qualified deck officer joins another ship in the same company, but the navigation equipment and emergency changeover procedures differ from the previous ship. A familiarisation signature from the previous ship does not prove that an opportunity to learn this equipment was provided.

Under the company’s written instructions, the master arranges the designated crew member and time for familiarisation in a language the joining seafarer understands. A record identifying the equipment and procedures covered, the person providing guidance, the timing and unresolved points can support the assignment decision.

Distinguish a completed signature box from actual understanding of the duties. If unresolved points affect performance, adjust the opportunity for familiarisation and the assignment to address them. These record fields are explanatory suggestions, not a claim that the Convention prescribes a universal duration or form.

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.

Bellbook gathers each seafarer's experience, training and medical records as one person's record

The regulation requires documentation and data on experience, training, medical fitness and competency to be maintained and readily accessible. Bellbook keeps that material bound to one seafarer's record, so it comes up before an assignment or in front of an auditor.

Start for free