I was told at SIU union hall that along with RFPNW and VPDSD the a class in Bridge Resource Management would also be needed to be hired to ship out. Any truth to this?
I have never seen anyone but officers have BRM. I know for a fact none of our unlicensed SIU crew members have BRM. Iâm calling BS on you needing that to ship with SIU.
Thanks, I suspect BS on this too since BRM is more design for officers. The information came from a patrol man in the hall.
This does not reflect very well on SIU, patrolmen giving out info they know is false. What BS?
There any chance that one company is requiring this and not the Union? Iâve heard of some companies in the past that have had some B.S. rules so they could pick and choose who they hired.
As I understand it, BRM is officer related and my rank is OS I am curious why the patrol man recommended me to take this class. From what I hear you have to receive a 90% passing rate. Thank you, gentlemen for your thoughts.
The patrolman was intentionally and completely pumping you full of bullshit to discourage you from shipping. The question is why?
If you are an actual dues paying member of the SIU, that patrolman should be fired.
No union, and no company anywhere, requires unlicensed crew to take BRM.
I doubt that any reputable school would allow an OS to attend a BRM class. An OS in a class of officers and experienced sailor about to become officers would just ruin the class for everyone else.
In 2009 I did BRM in St. Petersburg , FLA. Yes, I had delusions at the time of hawse piping, so I did it under my own steam. There were two of us in the class.
The other student was John Svendsen. If the name sounds familiar, he was Ch. Mate on HMS Bounty when she went down off Cape Hatteras three years later.
Just call me Forrest.
It takes at least two people to do the BRM exercises. Most schools will not run the course for less than four people. I signed up for a couple of BRM courses that were cancelled for lack of adequate enrollment. I finally went to one the large schools down south that had about 20 people in the class.
Although it was fun to play with the simulators, like most STCW courses, I did not think that it had much value, certainly it wasnât worth what I paid for it.
Did the course use a simulator? And if so, did any of the staff act as bridge team members for the simulator exercises? Most simulator exercises in BRM use 4 students, Iâm not sure an exercise with only two students is of much value and/or is consistent with the Coast Guard approved curriculum for the course.
Tugsailor,
There is NO WAY I am taking a class at my rank (OS âCâ Book) that I really not qualified for just to get on my 1st ship. Though I will not mention the hall I will talk with the patrol man. I know OS jobs are hard to come by but I if he canât help me find a job I need to make an appearance at several other union halls.
Again thanks for everyone input.
All the BRM type classes I took were next to worthless. I learned about human factors from reading non-fiction best sellers I picked up at the airport bookstore.
The issue is that the instructors donât have a clue. For some reason it was decided that retired box boat captains and washed up pilots would make good instructors.
For example why was the subject of mitigated speech never discussed? The instructors strongly gave off the impression they thought the whole thing was new age kumbaya nonsense. Itâs head up the ass, pompous guys like them that are exactly the problem.
EDIT: Ok, next to worthless is too strong, I recall the âdrunk bosân in the wheelhouse while navigating in a tight spotâ scenario, that had some value later.
Back when my Old Company started sending Deck Officers to BRM in the early 90âs, it was well known that the office was doing it as a CYA. They way they saw it, if anything happened they could say âWell, we did all that we could and went above and beyond what was required by the USCG and Company Vettersâ.
Some of the guys that took it learned from it but others not so much. If I remember correctly, they sent them every couple of years.
If that was a tanker company, it wasnât going beyond what was required. OPA90 made BRM a requirement for tanker companies, but it didnât have to be a course, a company program would meet the requirement.
It was a Tug and Barge Outfit. They did have some pretty big ATBâs though. They sent every deck officer, it did not matter if you were on a 1000 hp Boat or a 12,000 hp boat.
To encourage him to go threw their apprentice program. They did something similar to me almost two decades ago. At that time it was âSpecially Trained Ordinary Seamanâ which is an OS with Rating Forming Part of a Navigational Watch - Lookout Only. Itâs a catch-22: itâs tough to get a RFPNW-LO without an OS job and itâs tough to get an OS job without a RFPNW-LO. However, if you go threw their apprentice program you get both. I did finally get that RFPNW-LO but it took time and guile. It would have been better to just go threw their program.
Youâre probably right about CYA as far as the ATB. I donât recall if the OPA90 BRM provision applied to ATBs, but even if it didnât, if there were an incident theyâd likely be compared to tank ships of similar size when establishing the standard for negligence.
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