Emergency Procedures, Safety of Life at Sea, SAR and Pollution Prevention
Domain 7 tests immediate action and the regulatory framework: distress and urgency communications, abandon-ship and fire response, search and rescue, and pollution prevention.
Emergency response
Muster lists and drills cover fire, abandon ship, man overboard, collision, grounding and oil spill. On discovering fire: raise the alarm, inform the bridge, isolate fuel and ventilation, and fight it only if trained and safe. For man overboard: shout, throw a lifebuoy, mark the position, manoeuvre using a Williamson or Anderson turn, and maintain a lookout. Abandon ship only on the master's order.
GMDSS
Distress: MAYDAY, for grave and imminent danger. Urgency: PAN PAN. Safety: SECURITE. A DSC distress alert includes vessel identity, position and nature of distress. EPIRB and SART are primary locating devices; a SART appears on radar as a line of dots. Sea areas A1–A4 define required equipment.
SOLAS and MARPOL
SOLAS covers construction, life-saving appliances, fire safety, radio and the ISM Code. MARPOL Annex I covers oil, II noxious liquid substances, III harmful packaged substances, IV sewage, V garbage and VI air pollution. Garbage records and oil record book entries are mandatory. SOPEP and SMS procedures guide spill response.
Worked example
You see a red flare at night. Inform the master, plot the bearing, and proceed to assist. Transmit a MAYDAY RELAY if you are not the distressed vessel and are coordinating or relaying; record times and actions.
Traps
Using MAYDAY for a non-distress; failing to cancel a false alert; not knowing garbage discharge categories; assuming an EPIRB and SART are interchangeable; forgetting to update the position in a DSC alert.