Record of Onboard Training?

Maritime Topics Maritime Training & Licensing
#1

I have a application (for STCW) in and currently its being held up due to lack of a written record of 12 survival craft drills(covered in policy letter 08-01). According to the kind folks in W VA, all I need is a written record of this training, and it has to be signed by a designated examiner.

My relief is one of the companies 2 DE’s, so the signature is the easy part. The letter its self is where I was unable to get a clear answer from the NMC. Can I write a letter, something to the tune of " So and So has been activley participating in monthly survival craft drills since his employment began in 2008". Do I have to provide scans/copies of the actual deck log or dates of the actual training? Policy letter 08-01 did not specify this detail.

And reguarding the letter, if I write it, on plain paper and have it signed by the DE is it legal, or does it have to be on company letter head? If I write/print it, I can have it in the mail the same day, if it has to be on company letterhead, who knows how long it will take(sea service letter took 4 months- and that was with me checking on it everyday).

The other thing that confused the young lady was the fact we were not “life boat” equiped, but we do carry a survival craft. I tried to explain that its a towing vessel in NC service not a 1000’ container ship.

Thanks in advance.

#2

[QUOTE=Clear Solution;88939]I have a application (for STCW) in and currently its being held up due to lack of a written record of 12 survival craft drills(covered in policy letter 08-01). According to the kind folks in W VA, all I need is a written record of this training, and it has to be signed by a designated examiner.

My relief is one of the companies 2 DE’s, so the signature is the easy part. The letter its self is where I was unable to get a clear answer from the NMC. Can I write a letter, something to the tune of " So and So has been activley participating in monthly survival craft drills since his employment began in 2008". Do I have to provide scans/copies of the actual deck log or dates of the actual training? Policy letter 08-01 did not specify this detail.

And reguarding the letter, if I write it, on plain paper and have it signed by the DE is it legal, or does it have to be on company letter head? If I write/print it, I can have it in the mail the same day, if it has to be on company letterhead, who knows how long it will take(sea service letter took 4 months- and that was with me checking on it everyday).

The other thing that confused the young lady was the fact we were not “life boat” equiped, but we do carry a survival craft. I tried to explain that its a towing vessel in NC service not a 1000’ container ship.

Thanks in advance.[/QUOTE]

NMC should have explained “designated examiner” more thoroughly. That term is generally associated with towing vessels, and for STCW there are no designated designated examiners. From NMC policy letter 8-01, a designated examiner for the purposes of lifeboatman/proficiency in survival craft is " a licensed deck officer who is serving as such on the vessel upon which the assessments occur."

Fo0r the record of the drills, etc., use the forms in the policy letter. That you have not been keeping a running record of the drills and appear to intend to fill it all out at once recordeing dfrills and trainig that happened weeks or monthsa agop would make me a little skeptical, but I’m not an NMC evaluator.

If your time, assessments, and drills are on a vessel without lifeboats, you will get “Lifeboatman-Limited” and a restricted proficiency in survival craft that is not valid on vessels with lifeboats.

#3

My appliation is for the lifeboatman-Lifted/PSC. (towing vessels without lifeboats) I had a bunch of stuff sent off all at once, radar renewal, A/B, STCW, and Im going on 5 months in getting this application processed- its pretty much all ran together at this point.

I do have record of the drills, in the decklog, its standard procedure at our company to log all drills and training.

Looking at the letter, it appears that page 2, sections 8 and 9 are what specificaly apply to my situation.

So for the “DE”, I need someone with Lifeboatman-Limited/PSC stamped on their license, and they must have observed the training, correct? Or any licnsed deck officer with atleast 1 year in service?

Looking at the form at the bottom of 08-01, Everything on the checklist revolves around a lifeboat stored on davits. We are not equiped with this equipment, we have a infatable raft that is stored in a fiberglass break-away canister, that is released either manually or hydrostaticly. How do I satisfy the checklists without having the equipment onboard?

Thank you for taking the time to help me.

#4

This is a common problem for small vessel mariners that do not sail on vessels with lifeboats. Your “lifeboatman” will be restricted to vessels without lifeboats — because you have no lifeboat training. That’s probably all that you’ll ever need.

On the other hand, if you hope to sail deep sea or on a drill rig, you’ll need the full unrestricted lifeboatman.

As I understand it, there are now only two official ways to get that restriction removed: take a class at an approved school; or sail on a vessel that has lifeboats and do the required training there.

I have heard of a variety of other schemes to work around this, but for most people the simplest solution (and probably the fastest and cheapest) is to just go take the class at an approved school. The approved schools with lifeboat courses are on the NMC website.

#5

[QUOTE=Clear Solution;88991]… So for the “DE”, I need someone with Lifeboatman-Limited/PSC stamped on their license, and they must have observed the training, correct? Or any licnsed deck officer with atleast 1 year in service? [/QUOTE]

The person serving as the DE has to witness the demonstrations. The person certifying the service and drills does not. The person serbving as the DE and witnessing the assessments should hold lifeboatman, for vessels without lifeboats, lifeboatman-limited or lifeboatman is OK. Amnyone with a 500 GRT or more license will bne OK as they were requiored to hoget AB and Lifeboatman for their license. Anyone with a 200 GRT or less license should hold the lifeboatman endorsement.

[QUOTE=Clear Solution;88991]… Looking at the form at the bottom of 08-01, Everything on the checklist revolves around a lifeboat stored on davits. We are not equiped with this equipment, we have a infatable raft that is stored in a fiberglass break-away canister, that is released either manually or hydrostaticly. How do I satisfy the checklists without having the equipment onboard?[/QUOTE]

Use the form on the last page of the policy letter and only complete Part II for other thanlifeboats. Demonstrations with liferafts are not enough, they need to be with a rescue boat.

#6

I checked my application to see exactly what I had applied for ( its been almost 6 months since the application was mailed), and I did not apply for lifeboatman, what I applied for was Radar Unlimited, A/B, and STCW. Does any of
That automatically trigger a lifeboatman eating? Is there a A/B.STCW rating that does not require a lifeboat rating?

My last renewal was issue #4 and I have no aspirations to work on ships or really big equipment, I’m a tug guy. I’ve looked for a lifeboatman class, but my local schools (cmti and mama) say they don’t do just that portion, and I’ll have to take the whole a/b with lifeboat class again… Effectively making me pay for the same class twice.

This whole process has been a pain, in all my other dealings with the REC and NMC it was pretty easy. For something that should be an easy

#7

There are lots of places to get the lifeboatman class done. Fletcher in houma is where I went.