Other news from STCW Training News Update 10:

• Training course of the month
• Mandatory registration of your name in the Dutch Seaman’s book
• How to submit sailing time to Kiwa for renewal of captain’s CoC
• Confusion about the term ‘rating’

Is the Basic Safety certificate mandatory or not for every seafarer?

The Seafarers Act specifies who must have a basic safety training certificate:

‘Captains, officers, engineers, maritime officers, electrical engineering officers and other seafarers who have been assigned a task on the muster list or seafarers who have a task regarding prevention of pollution of the sea, must be in possession of the basic safety certificate.’

In practice, this means that every seafarer who fulfills a position for which a certificate of competency is required, must have a valid basic safety certificate.

Ratings, or apprentices or trainees, do not (yet) have a certificate of competency. Legally, they do not need to be trained in basic safety to board a ship. After all, they are not yet allowed to perform independent tasks, and therefore cannot be assigned a position on the muster list.

However, this group is often also required to have a basic safety certificate. Such a requirement does not arise from the law, but from agreements made between educational authorities and training companies (ship managers).

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