insb.

gr
Building trust. Shaping Safety

SUBJECT:

Emergency
NO 29/2020 Training and Drills
Dated: 11.11.2020

It is a legal requirement that every crew member who is assigned to emergency duties is
familiar with those duties before the ship sails. This requirement may also be found in the
STCW Convention and in the requirements of the ISM code.

In passenger ships, whenever passengers are to be on board for 24 hours or longer, there
must be a muster of passengers within 24 hours of their joining at which time they are to be
instructed in the use of lifejackets and the actions to be taken in any emergency. In general
this muster should take place, whenever possible, before the ship sails.
Whenever a new passenger or passengers join there shall be a passenger briefing before the
ship sails made through the public address system or a similar effective system and
supplemented if appropriate by video display facilities and similar. The briefing should cover
the items required in the emergency instructions for passengers and be in English and also in
any other language likely to be used by a majority of the passengers.

In all ships, emergency drills shall be conducted, so far as is practicable as if there was an actual
emergency situation and those responsible for planning drills should endeavour to ensure that
the types of problems likely to occur in any real emergency are simulated as far as possible to
maintain an atmosphere of realism. Missing crew members including key personnel, injured
crew members and inaccessible routes can all, for example, be easily simulated and pre-planned
into the drill so that emergency teams become familiar with dealing effectively with unexpected
problems.

Every crew member must take part in at least:

▪ One abandon ship drill every month. And
▪ one fire drill every month.

In passenger ships there must be an abandon ship drill and a fire drill every week but it is
permissible for these drills not to include all the crew as long as the requirement for
participation by each crew member at least once per month is met. However, it is
recommended that so far as is possible the whole crew are involved on each occasion as a
unified team.

Whenever 25% or more of the crew have not taken part in a drill in that ship in the preceding
month, as a consequence of just joining the ship or for some other reason, there must be an
emergency drill within 24 hours of sailing.

Page 1 of 1 TD 29/2020
 In the case of Ro-Ro passenger ships on short voyages the requirement for drills within 24 hours
of 25% or more of the crew changing could permit the ship to make several voyages with
passengers before all the crew have taken part in a drill.

Therefore, in these ships it is required that all members of the crew are made familiar with the
emergency procedures and arrangements before the ship sails.

CONDUCT OF FIRE AND EMERGENCY DRILLS

Fire drills and other emergency drills should be planned in such a way that the ship’s
teams obtain regular practice in dealing with all types of foreseeable emergencies in
different areas of the ship. The drills should be as complete as possible and reflect the
likely progress of a real emergency. Whenever practicable the types of unexpected
difficulties that a real emergency might bring should be simulated – lack of visibility,
restricted access, missing crew members, failed equipment, failed communications etc.

A fire drill is required to include at least;

▪ reporting to stations and preparing for emergency response in accordance
with the muster list and emergency instructions;
▪ the operation of fire pumps and the demonstration of at least two jets of
water through fire hoses;
▪ the actual use and checking of fireman’s outfits and other personal rescue
equipment;
▪ tests and checks on on-board communications equipment;
▪ testing and examination of watertight doors, fire doors and other
arrangements for closing openings including fire dampers in the drill area;
▪ tests of the arrangements for abandoning ship in the event that the fire
development necessitates this.

On completion of a drill the equipment should be returned to full operational condition

and any faults rectified.

Crew members assigned to fire parties or other emergency parties need not wear their
lifejackets, and indeed should not do so in many cases as these can seriously hamper
their effectiveness. However, there needs to be procedures in place to ensure that, if it
subsequently becomes necessary, these crew members can retrieve their lifejackets and
use them should it become necessary to prepare to abandon the ship.

It is recommended that, following any fire drill or other emergency drill, the ship’s staff
hold a de-briefing meeting to critically evaluate the results of the drill and develop
improved procedures and arrangements so that the effectiveness of the ship’s
emergency teams and their preparedness for dealing with the full range of possible
scenarios is continually improved.

In ships with sprinkler systems a weekly test, which can be incorporated with a fire drill
should establish that the sprinkler pump cuts in automatically in response to a pressure
drop in the tank (ensuring that the tank is refilled if any fresh water is lost during the
test), and that automatic alarms function correctly by operating the test valve at each
section control station and any local switches.

Page 2 of 5 TD 29/2020
 ABANDON SHIP DRILLS

An abandon ship drill should normally be the logical follow up to any fire drill. Certain
elements must be included in any abandon ship drill including;
▪ summoning of crew and passengers to their muster positions and assembly
stations and use of the general Alarm signal and preparation for the assigned
duties in the muster list;
▪ checks that personnel are correctly dressed;
▪ lowering of at least one lifeboat with different boats being used at successive
drills. Boats need not be launched if this is impracticable but they must be prepared
for final launching. In the case of free fall boats crews should be exercised in
boarding and taking their places ready for an actual launch
▪ starting boat engines;
▪ operating liferaft davits if fitted;
▪ a test of emergency lighting at launching and embarkation areas;
▪ in passenger ships a simulated search for missing passengers;
▪ instructions in the use of radio lifesaving appliances - SARTs, EPIRBs, and hand
held radios.

Lifeboats should be actually launched with their assigned crews and manoeuvred in
the water during an abandon ship drill at intervals of no longer than 3 months although
free fall boats may be lowered to the water using the recovery system when free fall
launching is hazardous as long as a free fall launch is undertaken at least every 6
months.

In ships on dedicated short trades where dedicated berthing arrangements do not allow
the launching of the boats on one side, those boats may be part lowered at 3 month
intervals and actually launched at 12 month intervals.

Rescue boats should be launched with their assigned crews and manoeuvred so far as
possible every month but in any case at intervals not longer than 3 months.

Rescue boat launchings should incorporate a simulated recovery operation with a

suitable floating object or dummy used as a simulated man overboard.

Davit launched Liferafts

Ships fitted with these rafts are required to include crew training in their use at intervals of not
more than 4 months and the training has to include, whenever practicable, the actual inflation
and lowering of a raft. To fulfil this requirement a special “training raft” (conspicuously marked
- “Training Only”) may be carried additional to the ship’s normal raft complement or
alternatively the training exercises can be done with a suitable weight as a simulated raft which
can be attached and swung overside to the point where a real raft would be inflated.
Demonstration of the use of the release hook can be achieved by swinging the weight back
inboard over the deck and operating the hook at that position. If the latter approach is adopted,
it will still be necessary to substitute a real raft from time to time and conduct training including
a full lowering. Where it is impracticable to do this at the specified 4 month intervals it should
be done at least once per year.

Page 3 of 5 TD 29/2020
 TRAINING AND INSTRUCTIONS

It is a requirement that all ships have arrangements in place for training on board in
the use of life-saving appliances, survival craft equipment and the use of fire
extinguishing appliances. Such training must be provided for each new crew member
as soon as possible after joining and not later than 2 weeks after joining.

Each drill is also required to include an element of instruction and training and ships
should arrange a program of training so that every crew member covers all the ship’s
life-saving equipment and fire extinguishing equipment as appropriate over each
2 month period. The training instruction is required to cover at least;
▪ operation of inflatable rafts
▪ hypothermia, its risks and first aid treatment;
▪ special requirements if necessary for the use of life-saving appliances in severe
weather and sea conditions;
▪ operation of fire extinguishing appliances
Much of the material to be covered in training will be found contained in the ship’s
Training Manual which may be referred to as a source of reference. Regular reference
to this document will, in any case, allow the manual to be kept up to date and revised
as necessary in the light of experience.

RECORD KEEPING

In addition to the SMS requirements for drills and training records, recording of every
drill in the Official Log Book should be carried out.

INSB Class Auditors, during the performance of various ISM audits to

consult the circular in order to ensure that all applicable drill and training
requirements are taking into account and implemented by the company’s
and vessel SMS.

Page 4 of 5 TD 29/2020
ON-BOARD TRAINING, DRILLS AND INSPECTIONS OF FIRE APPLIANCES & LIFE-SAVING APPLIANCES

Service company
Intervals

Ship’ s log

3-Monthly

4-Monthly

6-Monthly
Requirement SOLAS Regulations

Annually
Monthly

2-Yearly

5-Yearly
Weekly
Crew
Watertight door drills II-1/21 (II-1/23) X X X2
Damage control drill – passenger II-1/19-1
ships (applicable from January 2020) X X X X8
Abandon ship drill and fire drill - cargo III/19.3
X X X
ships
Abandon ship drill and fire drill - III/19.3, III/30
X X X
passenger ships
Abandon ship drill - lowering lifeboats III/19.3.4.1, MSC/Circ.1578 X X X2 X3
Abandon ship drill - launching lifeboats & III/19.3.4.3 & 19.3.4.6,
X X X1 X
rescue boats MSC.1/Circ.1578
Abandon ship drill - free-fall lifeboat drill III/19.3.4.4, MSC/Circ.1578 X X X
Abandon ship drill - launch (or III/19.3.4.4, MSC/Circ.1578
X X X
simulated launch) free-fall lifeboats
Abandon ship drill - MES drill III/19.3.4.8 X X X2 X3
Abandon ship drill - MES training III/19.3.4.8 X X X
Abandon ship drill - testing of III/19.3.4.9
emergency lighting X X X2 X3
Enclosed Space Entry and Rescue Drills III/19.3.3 & 19.3.6 X X X7
LSA & fire on-board training III/19.4.1 & .2 X X X2 X3
Davit-launched liferaft training III/19.4.3 X X X
Launching appliances - inspect wire ropes III/20.4 & MSC.402(96) X X X
Launching appliances - wire ropes III/20. 4 & MSC.402(96)
X X X4
renewed
Survival craft, rescue boats and launching III/20.6.1 & MSC.402(96)
appliances (visual inspection) X X X
Test run of lifeboat and rescue boat III/20.6.2 & MSC.402(96)
X X X5
engines
Davit launched lifeboats - Moved III/20.6.3
from stowed position X X X3
Testing of public address and general III/20.6.4
X X X
alarm system
Davit launched lifeboats - Turned out III/20.7.1
from stowed position X X
Inspection of LSA including lifeboat III/20.7.2 & III/36.1
X X
equipment
Steering gear tests V/26.1 & .2 X X X6
Emergency steering drill V/26.4 X X X

1 Dedicated rescue boats launched monthly, if possible. 5 In special cases the Flag may waive this requirement for ships constructed before 1 July 1986.
Within 12 hours before departure or weekly for ships which regularly engage on voyages of
2 Passenger ships. 6
short duration.
3 Cargo ships 7 Every two months.
When necessary due to deterioration of the falls or at intervals of Passenger ships: activation of the shore-based support, if provided, toconduct stability
4 8
not more than 5 years. assessments for the simulated damage conditions

Page 5 of 5 TD 29/2020