Engine Room Watchkeeping, Procedures and Record Keeping
This domain tests the STCW watchkeeping framework and the paperwork that proves it was followed: standing orders, handover, rounds, alarm response, and the log book and Oil Record Book entries a port state inspector reads first.
Watchkeeping rules
- STCW VIII/2 requires watches arranged so that fitness for duty is maintained; in a periodically unattended machinery space the officer must be immediately available.
- Handover: never accept an unresolved alarm, a running critical job or an unclear plant status. Walk the plant, read the log, check the defect list.
- Rounds: record parameters, not ticks. The deviation from the previous round is the point of the round.
Worked example
After a manual transfer, 2.5 m3 of machinery-space bilge water is discharged through the oily water separator while en route, 30 nm from land. In Oil Record Book Part I, record Section (D): non-automatic discharge of bilge water, quantity 2.5 m3, date and time, start and end position, signed by the chief engineer. Section (E) is for automatic discharge only. Recording a position you were not at is a MARPOL offence, not a clerical slip.
Traps
Signing an ORB entry you did not witness; writing 'in transit' with no position; treating the bell book as optional; logging planned values instead of actual readings; closing a defect as 'monitored' with no defined monitoring interval.