Watch composition factors and the conditions that defer a handover (STCW Code A-VIII/2)

Say the watch bill is being redrawn in the evening. The third officer has a fever and cannot stand the next watch. The ship enters a traffic separation scheme two hours from now. Who to put on, whether to post a separate lookout, when to hand over: the question is whether any of that can be settled there and then.

Regulation VIII/2 of the STCW Convention directs Administrations to draw the attention of companies, masters, chief engineer officers and all watchkeeping personnel to the requirements and principles in the STCW Code. Section A-VIII/2 is that body of requirements. Read it and the items fall into two groups: those settled by looking at the day’s conditions, and those that have to be fixed before the ship sails. This article follows that line.

The provision writes out thirteen factors for deciding the navigational watch

17 In determining that the composition of the navigational watch is adequate to ensure that a proper lookout can continuously be maintained, the master shall take into account all relevant factors, including those described in this section of the Code, as well as the following factors:

Some of the thirteen are the day’s conditions: visibility, state of weather and sea, traffic density, the attention needed in or near a traffic separation scheme, and the activities running on board at the time. The rest cannot be changed on the day.

• the fitness for duty of any crew members on call who are assigned as members of the watch
• knowledge of, and confidence in, the professional competence of the ship’s officers and crew
• the experience of each officer of the navigational watch, and how familiar that officer is with the ship’s equipment, procedures and manoeuvring capability
• the operational status of bridge instrumentation and controls, rudder and propeller control, and the field of vision available from the conning position

This list sits on the people and on the ship. It is settled by the crewing plan and by the equipment specification. Part 3 of the Code says the same thing once more as a principle.

.2 any limitation in qualifications or fitness of individuals shall be taken into account when deploying watchkeeping personnel;

A limitation in qualifications is written on the certificate, and the certificate is issued before the person joins. Taking it into account when deploying people means knowing about it before they are deployed.

Whether an engineering watch needs an officer in charge turns on propulsion power

An engineering watch may be a group of people or a period of responsibility. Paragraph 52 defines it that way. Whether the officer has to be physically in the machinery space during that period varies.

.3 officers in charge of an engineering watch, as defined in the STCW Code, under the direction of the chief engineer officer, shall be immediately available and on call to attend the machinery spaces and, when required, shall be physically present in the machinery space during their periods of responsibility;

Immediately available and on call is the baseline. Physical presence follows when it is required. In port the line is drawn by power.

.1 on all ships of 3,000 kW propulsion power and over there shall always be an officer in charge of the engineering watch;

Below 3,000 kW of propulsion power the master, in consultation with the chief engineer officer, may have no officer in charge of the engineering watch. That figure is a specification of the ship and does not move on the day. At sea the composition of the engineering watch follows the seven criteria in paragraph 55, and one of them, the qualifications and experience of the engineering watch, comes from the crewing plan.

What stops a handover differs from one station to another

A watch does not end at a clock time. The provisions write out, station by station, what defers a relief or bars it outright.

20 The relieving officer shall ensure that the members of the relieving watch are fully capable of performing their duties, particularly as regards their adjustment to night vision. Relieving officers shall not take over the watch until their vision is fully adjusted to the light conditions.

23 If, at any time, the officer in charge of the navigational watch is to be relieved when a manoeuvre or other action to avoid any hazard is taking place, the relief of that officer shall be deferred until such action has been completed.

Station	What bars the handover	Paragraph
Navigational	Reason to believe the relieving officer cannot carry out the duties	paragraph 19
Navigational	The relieving officer’s vision is not yet adjusted to the light conditions	paragraph 20
Navigational	A manoeuvre or action to avoid a hazard is taking place	paragraph 23
Engineering	Reason to believe the relieving officer is obviously not capable	paragraph 56
Watch in port	An important operation is under way. The officer relieved concludes it	paragraph 97

The first two carry a report with them. Paragraph 19 goes to the master, paragraph 56 to the chief engineer officer. And the thresholds differ. Paragraph 19 says not capable, while paragraph 56 and paragraph 96 say obviously not capable. On the navigational watch a reason to doubt is enough to stop the handover.

Paragraph 97, for the watch in port, names someone who can overturn the judgement. If the master or the chief engineer officer orders otherwise, the officer being relieved need not conclude the operation. Paragraph 23, for the navigational watch, carries no such rider.

The door to standing the watch as sole lookout opens only in daylight

15 The lookout must be able to give full attention to the keeping of a proper lookout and no other duties shall be undertaken or assigned which could interfere with that task.

Lookout is a post that cannot be doubled up. A helmsperson who is steering does not count as the lookout either. The exception is small ships where the steering position gives an unobstructed all-round view and nothing impairs night vision or the keeping of a proper lookout. Above that sits one door.

The officer in charge of the navigational watch may be the sole lookout in daylight provided that, on each such occasion:

Three conditions open it.

• the situation has been carefully assessed and it is established without doubt that it is safe
• full account has been taken of the state of weather, visibility, traffic density, proximity of dangers to navigation and the attention needed near a traffic separation scheme
• assistance is immediately available to be summoned to the bridge when the situation changes

on each such occasion fixes the character of these conditions. The judgement is not made once for the voyage; it is made each time. The third condition, though, cannot be built on the day. The person who can be summoned immediately must not be on rest at that hour. Whether a sole lookout is available at all is already decided by the crewing and rest plan.

The bridge itself carries a plainer rule. Paragraph 18 lists eight factors for deciding the composition of the bridge watch, and puts at no time shall the bridge be left unattended on the first line.

Worth confirming

The passages above come from section A-VIII/2 of the STCW Code (STCW/CONF.2/34) and from regulation VIII/2 of the annex to the STCW Convention (STCW/CONF.2/33). Part B of the same document is recommended guidance and is not mandatory.

What the provisions fix is the list of factors and who makes the call. What values go into those factors is for the company and the master. What the flag State has laid on top of this list, and how the company’s safety management system treats a sole lookout, is where the actual judgement starts.