Chapter VI - Emergency, Safety, Security, Medical Care and Survival
The core of basic safety training
Regulation VI/1 and Tables A-VI/1-1 to 1-4 define four elements every seafarer must complete before being assigned shipboard duties:
- Personal survival techniques – abandon-ship drills, lifejackets, liferafts, immersion, hypothermia, survival at sea.
- Fire prevention and fire fighting – fire triangle/tetrahedron, classes of fire (A solid, B liquid, C gas, D metal), extinguisher selection, fixed systems, SCBA, fire party organisation.
- Elementary first aid – ABC, CPR, bleeding, burns, fractures, shock, hypothermia.
- Personal safety and social responsibility (PSSR) – shipboard organisation, orders and communication, fatigue, teamwork, hazard identification, pollution prevention.
Higher tiers
VI/2 proficiency in survival craft and rescue boats (PSCRB, for those designated to operate them); VI/3 advanced fire fighting; VI/4 medical first aid and medical care; VI/5 ship security officer; VI/6 security awareness and designated security duties.
The five-year trap
A basic training certificate carries no printed expiry date, but since the 2010 amendments seafarers must provide evidence of maintained competence within the previous five years - normally refresher training. Questions often present the certificate as "valid for life" or as "expiring after five years"; both are wrong in different ways.
Worked example
A rating's fire-fighting certificate is undated on the card and the last training was six years ago. The certificate was validly issued, but the seafarer cannot be accepted for service until competence has been re-established.
Rule of thumb: VI/1 is an entry gate, VI/2 and VI/3 are role-specific, and all of them are kept alive on a five-year refresh cycle.