FireWare had the opportunity to support training days for the crew of the ferry to Terschelling and Vlieland. Intensive training sessions, as you can’t just call 911 at sea.
Incident Response at Sea
Rood boven Groen is a training and consulting firm specialized in training ship crews. When it comes to incident response, there’s a lot to consider. At sea, you need to be much more self-reliant than on land, as the fire department or ambulance can’t just come aboard. During the training sessions on the Ms Willem Barentsz of Rederij Doeksen, FireWare had the opportunity to manage the scenarios for four days.
Safety Training
An STCW safety training (Standards of Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping for Seafarers) is much more comprehensive than a basic first aid training. Essentially, the same actions are expected from the staff: handling fires, medical emergencies, evacuations, and raising alarms. But since you’re at sea, you also need to consider people falling overboard, using specific rescue equipment, evacuating at sea, and managing emergency situations for an extended period until rescue services are available. Additionally, continuing to navigate is a crucial aspect, as it might be necessary to reach the rescue services on the shore rather than waiting for them to come to you. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to learn how to act and keep a cool head.
Training Days with the Crew
Stephan Kramer from Rood boven Groen was responsible for the exercises. During the training days, a lot was demanded from both the sailing and hospitality crew. The captain is responsible for the ship, the crew, and the passengers. In an emergency, he remains on the bridge and coordinates the situation from there. It’s not an easy job. The bridge was often stressful during the exercises. But the stress experienced by the hospitality crew was certainly not less intense. They were among passengers who, in various scenarios, lost their way, panicked, fought each other, or were seriously injured. And meanwhile, they had to extinguish a fire or initiate an evacuation. That’s no small feat!
Realistic Scenarios
Realistic scenario enactments help. By making incidents truly realistic, the stress and emotion that can arise during a real incident also emerge. And it’s not always easy to control that. Respect to the entire crew for how they managed the simulated incidents and for the openness with which feedback was given. These were educational days for everyone involved, including FireWare!
