Be Prepared!

Everyone onboard must be prepared and know their duties before an emergency occurs. When an emergency happens, it happens fast. This course will assist you in techniques for personal survival if an emergency occurs onboard.

After completing this course, you will have an understanding of different types of emergencies. You will learn about life-saving equipment, generally carried on all types of ships, equipment in survival crafts and locations of personal life-saving devices. We will also cover basic principles of survival at sea.

The Value of Training and Drills 

Knowledge and training give you the best chances to cope with an emergency. When joining a new vessel for the first time, all employees must attend an onboard familiarisation training, where all safety- and life-saving equipment is shown, including emergency exits and escape routes. It is the International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) requirements and the ship's flag-state that decides the minimum amount of theoretical training sessions and the minimum number of safety drills that are needed. 

Many emergencies can be avoided with precautions and by knowledge of the potential dangers. Therefore it is essential not to expose yourself or others to risks because of sloppiness, so you should always:

• Know your duties beforehand – What's your responsibility during an emergency?
• Be prepared – An emergency can arise at any time!
• Take training seriously – It can give you the best chances to cope with an emergency.

Onboard all vessels, there should be a ship specific safety manual, known as the SOLAS Training Manual. This Training Manual includes information and instructions for ship specific safety equipment.

In this course, we will also cover several definitions and survival appliances that are important to be aware of and understand:

• Anti-Exposure Suit – A protective suit designed for use by rescue boat crews and marine evacuation system parties.
• Float-Free Launching – The method of launching a survival craft whereby the craft is automatically released from a sinking vessel and is ready for use.
• Free-Fall Launching – The method of launching a survival craft whereby the craft with its complement of persons and equipment onboard is released and allowed to fall into the sea without any restraining equipment.
• Immersion Suit – A protective suit that reduces the body heat loss of a person wearing it in cold water.
• Inflatable Appliance – An appliance that depends upon non-rigid, gas-filled chambers for buoyancy and which usually is kept uninflated until ready for use.
• Launching Appliance – An appliance or arrangement used as a means of transferring a survival craft or rescue boat from its stowed position safely to the water.
• Marine Evacuation System (MES) – MES is an appliance for the rapid transfer of persons from the embarkation deck of a vessel to a floating survival craft.
• Rescue Boat – A rescue boat is a boat designed to rescue persons in distress and to marshal survival crafts.
• Survival Craft – A craft capable of sustaining the lives of persons in distress from the time of abandoning the ship.
• Thermal Protective Aid (TPA) – TPA is a bag or suit made of waterproof material with low thermal conductance.

Emergency Situations

When working at sea, the yacht and the seafarer can encounter many different kinds of emergencies, for instance:

• Fire or Explosion – A Fire or explosion can occur due to failure or faulty operation of equipment, self-ignition caused by carelessness with open fire or smoking in a bunk.
• Collision – A collision can be caused by a failure of machinery or rudder, inadequate watch-keeping or navigational errors.
• Grounding – Grounding or stranding, like collision, can be caused by navigational errors, failure of machinery or rudder, bad weather or by the yacht dragging its anchor.
• Leakage – Leakage occurs if the vessel's hull, deck or hatches are damaged. Leaks can be of various kinds, such as oil or grey/black water.
• Icing – Icing can be dangerous, especially to smaller vessels. It reduces the stability of the vessel, which may result in capsizing.
• Man-Overboard (MOB) – Man-Overboard could occur for several reasons, i.e., working over the side without proper PPE or other slips, trips and falls. To be able to rescue a person who has fallen overboard, fast and effective action by the crew is required.

All these mentioned emergencies present danger to human lives. Most of them eventually can lead to personal injuries or damages to the vessel and in the worst cases, loss of the yacht or a life.