Mauritius maritime training Academy

Crowd Management

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Aims: This course aims to meet the mandatory minimum requirements for the training of
masters, officers, ratings and other personnel on passenger ships other than ro-ro passenger
ships in the STCW Code Sections A-V/2 and A-V/3, pa.1, 2, and 3.

Objective: A trainee successfully completing this training will be able to:

1. Control a crowd in an emergency situation on board

2. Locate essential safety and emergency equipment on board
3. Communicate effectively with passengers during an emergency
4. Demonstrate the use of personal life-saving appliances
5. Comply with the ship's safety and emergency procedures

Chapter Topic Page no

1 Crowd Management 2
2 Familiarization training 9
3 Communication 11
4 Life-saving appliances 12
5 Ships procedures 15
6 Emergency 18
7 Case study 20
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Chapter 1: Crowd Management

A. Life-saving appliances and control plans: Ships caries many lifesaving appliances for use
on passenger vessel. All appliances must be regularly tested and maintained in proper
condition and in a state of readiness. Crew must know their duty and carry out:

1. The general emergency alarm consists of seven short blasts followed by one long blast is
sounded. Remember this is not the abandon ship alarm
2. All crew must know the general layout of the ship with special emphasis on the assigned
assembly station.
3. All crew must know their duty for abandon ship as per muster list.
4. Normally each passenger cabin has one adult life jacket for each person. Some lifejackets
are kept near muster point and life boats.
5. Life jackets for child and oversized person is given to passenger on demand. When
passengers are boarding see if they need it.
6. Extra abandon ship supplies like blankets, water, ration is normally kept in a store near
embarkation deck. You must know their location.
7. During emergency some crew or passengers may get injured. You must know how to give
first aid and carry the casualty to lifeboat.
8. You must know the location of emergency locker which contains the equipment for
emergency escape from dangerous area. The locker contains hand lamp/torch, two adult
lifting strops, blanket, first aid kit water proof jacket and pant and a hand-powered lifting
arrangement with associated rope.
9. Use of different types of lifebuoys (with line, light and smoke signal)
10. Content of safety or SOLAS training manual
11. He must know his duty during man overboard
12. He should ensure that passengers, especially children, are warmly dressed.
13. He should be aware of all emergency exits and know how to use alternative exit if some
exits are closed due to smoke, fire or water ingress.

Restrictions on the use of elevators: elevators should not be used during emergency due to
following reasons. Many vessels on alarm, elevator will come to lower deck, door will open
and it will shut automatically. Otherwise it should be done manually.

 Power failure with people trapped

 Smoke may travel rapidly up elevator shafts
 The elevator may be requested for a deck which is dangerous because of smoke or fire,
whereas stairway guides will direct passengers to the assembly stations by a safe route
 Elevators may become overloaded caused by the rush to escape
 Too many people attempting to enter the elevator may mean that doors cannot be
closed leading to further distress
 Elevator may stop working due to wiring getting burned or excessive list. And it will be
very difficult to open the door and rescue while emergency require other jobs to be done.
 All escalator should be switched off as it may not work properly in emergency.
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B. Assist passengers to assembly and embarkation stations:

Giving orders: During emergency your duty has changed from taking orders from passenger
to giving those orders /instructions. Some passenger may not like it while some of you may
feel awkward doing it. But their life depends on it. Be polite but firm and give orders as:

- You must give clear and reassuring orders to passenger.

- Speak with confidence and authority
- Be assertive, then passengers will have confidence in you
- Speak slowly and concisely, and ensure that everyone can hear
- Passengers will always request more information
- Only tell the passengers what you know, do not guess
- Listen carefully to public address announcements and pass on information that may not
have been heard or understood by the passengers

Take control of passengers in corridors, staircases and passageways: During emergency

passengers will behave lost. They may start wandering everywhere not sure of how to
proceed. Hence they require guidance. Some crew are posted as stairway, alleyway guide.
Their main job to control the passenger as follow:

- Give clear and calm directions on the route to take

- Keep the flow of passengers moving
- If asked questions reply if the answer is simple, however say that information will be
given at the assembly station. This should ensure that there are no delays
- Close any doors that may allow passengers to deviate from the prescribed route
- Be aware of the emergency lighting that is installed
- If family groups become separated, keep them calm and get information on the location
of the other members. Reassure them that every effort is being made to reunite the
group.
- Contact the personnel having direct control of children's activities and ask the location
of the child.
- maintains escape routes clear of obstructions
- Ensure that cleaning trolleys, temporary maintenance equipment e.g. ladders, are not
blocking entrances, exits and accesses

Evacuation for disabled persons and persons needing special assistance: It is quite difficult
to evacuate disabled persons. Some healthy person may faint or get injured adding the list
of disabled persons. Following should be done.

- You must be aware of location of wheel chair, stretcher etc.

- You must know the location of person requiring assistance as they will not come out of
their cabin on their own.
- Assist disable person using wheel chair, stretcher if required.
- Ask for extra help if you find some passengers are injured or not able to walk.
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- Captain to direct extra persons on PA system to proceed for help.

- If person can walk with help, don’t use chair.
- Other disabilities may involve drunks, worried/anxious or very noisy people
- Assign personnel to look after them, suitable passengers may be of help
- Keep them as calm as possible

Search of accommodation spaces: Some passenger may be sleeping or may not hear the
alarm or announcement on PA system. Hence after the head count at muster station persons
should be sent to search for missing persons. For this:

- Look in muster list for your assigned search station.

- A thorough check of all public and private areas, lounges, cabins, toilets etc. are done
simultaneously.
- Each ship has its specific search plan and you follow this plan.
- After completion of search of each area inform command station.
- Once missing person is found, inform others or command station
- Make arrangement to bring the person to muster station
- Do not enter alone in an area considered unsafe due to fire or other hazards. For this
more qualified crew will go for rescue.

C. Mustering procedures
Keeping order: Passengers are normally pampered a lot on ship. They will not pay attention
to instructions during emergency or joke /do small talks. To grab their attention, the in
charge of muster station should be visible and loud enough for all to pay attention. He can
stand on raised level or on chair and use loud voice or loudhailers.

Use of passenger lists for evacuation counts: You cannot leave some one behind while
evacuating, but you cannot risk others life for missing persons. This job is quite difficult. All
passenger ship has made plan for dealing with it as follows:

- All passengers are counted using the list which is made as per muster station and boat
lifeboat/life raft number wise.
- Once all have come and waiting for some time count the number and inform command
station.
- Command station will arrange for search for missing passengers.
- If ship is in imminent danger, direct the passengers to lifeboat in a single line as it is safer
there.
- Inform the number of passengers evacuated to command station
- Carry out a thorough a search to ensure that all passengers are accounted for.

Clothing: Sea is harsh. The lifeboats do not have heating facility. In cold climate they can get
hypothermia hence it is very important that all persons are suitably clothes. It can be done
by following means:
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- Make announcement on PA system for all passengers to put on warm clothes in layers in
cold climate while light clothes in tropics.
- Ask them not to lock their cabin but simply close the door.
- At muster station, prior boarding all must wear life jackets
- If someone coming without lifejacket give him lifejacket if available at muster station.
Else ask some crew to get it from his cabin.
- Crew should assist them if required.
- Check that all have donned Life jackets correctly

D. Job of stairway coordinator / door checkers: His duty is to guide the passenger and have
evacuation in orderly manner. Door checkers are assigned to exit doors. A stairway
Guide would lead out passengers to the lifeboat they are told by the Door Checker. Door
Checker counts out designated number of passengers behind Stairway Guide. The
Stairway Guide are responsible for ensuring all guides are in position and rectifying any
shortfall. In addition, if it is necessary to vary evacuation routes, they are responsible for
re-positioning guides as necessary. He reports the status of his stairways to his boss who
then reports to the Bridge

- At Crew Alert you should wear your lifejacket and hat correctly. You must be positive and
clear with your guidance to passengers.
- Each passenger cabin is allocated to one of the Assembly Stations and the lifejackets kept
within are marked appropriately; therefore, if you look at each passenger's lifejacket you
will know which Assembly Station to direct the passenger to.
- You must know how to close a fire door to stop smoke entering a stair tower. After
passengers are clear of the accommodation and stairways you will be called to your
Assembly Station. You must report promptly as you will be required to mix with
passengers to offer them comfort and guidance.

E. Muster personnel: When you hear the alarm, you should go to your muster station and
prepare the area for passengers. Normally some big hall or restaurants are used for
muster point. It is vital that when passengers arrive, someone is available to take charge
and guide them. Each muster point have in charge and second in charge. If you are the
first to arrive and some delay in arrival of in charge, you should take charge and guide
the passengers.

All the crew in the room must work like a team. Since time may be short before
passenger’s start arriving, you should keep the entrance and exit doors open for them. If
possible put up a placard outside of room with muster station number. If room is getting
smoke due to fire, it should be closed and opened only for entry.

Passengers should be moved in the room quickly without rushing in. Preferably start
sitting the passengers from the back row. This way all passengers can come inside easily.
If anyone is looking for his family or friends, make arrangement for them to sit together.
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All passengers should be asked to maintain silence. Periodical announcement will be

made on PA system. Brief the passengers about the current situation. Check that all
passengers have brought their life jackets. If someone has come without it, get life
jackets from store and give it to him. Don’t send back any one to get his life jackets.

Passengers shouldn’t be allowed to go out of muster station. Some may have genuine
reason, talk to in charge and allow him to go with escort only in exceptional situation.
Remember ship can start sinking, lose power and lighting very quickly. You may need to
repeat some of the information from the officer to reassure the passengers. Give them
exact information you received don’t add anything. All of you must know the route from
muster station to embarkation points.

F. Muster control party: On joining each ship, you should find out where the muster control
party is located. Usually it is close to muster station. The muster control party will be in
radio contact with Purser. Purser is overall in-charge of passengers mustering. They will
get direct order from bridge (Command station)

G. Re uniting passengers: You may be approached by passengers who have separated from
their family / friends. You should assist where possible in helping them to find is same
muster area. If they are not present, ask the in charge to enquire other muster area for
them. If they are not in other muster area, send someone to look for them in probable
areas. But never allow any passenger to leave muster area to look for them.

H. Going to wrong muster area: Some passenger may come to wrong muster area. Don’t
send them back. Check the total number of person’s permitted in that area and if it is
within it, ask him to stay in this muster area. However inform it to bridge. In case the
capacity is full, escort that passenger to his allotted muster area.

Emotions: Human being goes through multiple emotions in a crowd. Sometimes it’s called
mob mentality. The emotions faced onboard in a crowd is caused by:

Stress: Stress is a physical, mental, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension.
Stresses can be external or internal. Person in stress will behave in improper way. He can
panic or become aggressive. He will not be able to understand the instructions. His survival
may become paramount for him leading to stampede. use of alcohol aggrieves the stress.

Depression: Person in stress will become heavily depressed and will not act properly for
emergency. He may influence others in a crowd to become depressed. People will start
taking lie’ ship will sink and they will die’ some may start crying while others may give up.
For dealing with depression, crew should do following:
- Assure the crowd about the effort.
- Give them positive picture, show belief in God.
- Set easy goals for them to complete, so that they get back their confidence.
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Panic: It is common with all emergencies that some passenger may panic. In panic they can
do something wrong like jumping in water or start crying /shouting. Following can be done
to reduce panic:
- The person arriving first may try to hurry you up, tell him to have patience until everyone
has arrived. Do not pay too much attention to him
- Keep passengers towards the Centre or extremities so that entry points do not become
blocked
- Be firm and talk with confidence to ensure all have confidence in you.
- Leadership is essential, in its absence rumors will spread and ill-informed passengers may
attempt to influence events. For a good leader, talk firmly, do not listen to loose talks.
Tell everyone to pay attention.
- Do not leave your position, call others crew or responsible passengers for assistance in
supportive roles
- Be aware that separated family groups will need information on missing members and
may get in panic. Use all available means to trace his family and inform him the
procedures. He will calm down.
- Look for changes in behavior/ panic sign, send someone to calm them down
- Never be aggressive

Aggression: On board passenger ship a large crowd may gather in a small area for some
reacceleration or in emergency. In this crowd large-scale aggressive outbursts are not
uncommon. Since these outbursts are usually triggered by relatively small stimuli, and the
amount of people involved may grow very quickly, their emergence is often highly
unpredictable and difficult to control. Crew should on a lookout for such behaviour in a
crowd on board. For dealing with aggressive behaviour most important things are
- Identify the person with aggressive behaviour.
- Don’t argue with him, just take him to other side away from the crowd and try to calm
him down. Calming down in a crowd may have adverse effect on crowd.
- If someone is trying to be leader by inciting others, deal with him firmly.
- If he has some concern like separated family, make visible arrangement for his concern .

Anxiety and agitation: Anxiety is a complete disorder, and one that causes a whole host of
emotions and symptoms that often seem completely unrelated. Anxiety has a tendency to
cause the mind to notice and focus on the things that are negative. During periods of high
anxiety especially during or right before an anxiety attack anything that may bother you
becomes amplified. It can be controlled by:
- Look sign of anxiety in passengers. Ask him calm down
- Give him something cold to drink.
- Tell him that everything will become alright as it’s not very bad situation.
- If he is agitated for some reason, ask him and address the cause of it.
- Tell other to assist him to become alright. Never lose your temper.
Claustrophobia: Fear of confined space. People feel claustrophobic when they are left in
their cabin without lights in emergency. Some feel it in lifts and survival crafts. It can be
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controlled by reassuring the passengers. Disorientation: The condition of having lost one's
sense of direction. In a crowd many passengers lose the sense of direction and may move
away from muster station.

Curiosity: It is a human nature. Sometimes people will go to dangerous situation just to see.
During emergency like fire, many passengers will like to come there and hamper the
operation. It’s a good practice to regularly announce the actual condition whenever possible.
Crew should prevent passengers going towards scene of emergency.

Anger: Some people react to stressful situation by becoming angrily. It’s better not to reply
back angrily. Try to convince him politely. Otherwise separate such persons from the group.
Angry people don’t think rationally.

Confidence: By remaining calm and using a confident voice and body language. You will
reassure everyone that the situation is under control. You should approach nervous
passengers to reassure them or ask other crew to do it.

Fear: We all love our life. Fear is an emotions associated with actual or perceived danger to
our life or near ones. In emergency many person gets in grip of fear and they will do some
stupid things like not boarding the survival craft, not leaving their place. Etc.
To control the fear in passengers as well as some crew, Person in in charge should try to
reassure them. Lead by example for boarding of survival crafts. You can ask those persons to
close their eye. Give him confidence that it’s a simple problem. If required crack some jokes
to allow his mind to deviate.

Courage: Courage is a good quality opposite to panic. In case of crisis some courage shown
by the crew will motivate some passengers to become courageous. These passengers can be
used to lead the groups. However over courageousness will result in taking extra risk .

Selfishness: Human being becomes very selfish in adverse situation. Panic combined with
selfishness results in major accidents. You will find that everybody will fight to get in life boat
without thinking about others.

Safety and heroics: Emergency situation can bring out the best in people. This means they
show consideration towards their fellow passengers. However, you should refrain from
becoming hero. A hero will totally disregard his own safety and take unwanted risk. The end
result will be worse than what it was meant for.
In an emergency like armed robbery or pirate attack, heroism must be avoided at all costs.
As it will prompt the pirates to attack or kill you. Always remember the safety training
lessons.
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Chapter 2: Familiarization training

New crew members joining a ship must be familiarized with their duties and important
information about the ship. This is to ensure that the new people on board ship understand
their responsibilities thoroughly before commencing their duties.

The main aim of the familiarization training is to make the new crew aware of important
safety procedures that are to be carried out on ships while working or during an emergency
situation. It is the duty of the officer in charge of the training to train the new crew regarding:

- Important features of muster list

- Guidelines on how to tackle all kinds of emergency situations on ships
- Important documents and publications of ships
- Ship’s Fire Control Plan
- Different types of firefighting appliances and procedures to use them
- Location of life jackets and immersion suits, along with the procedure to wear the life
jacket
- Location of escape routes
- Actions for man overboard situation
- Different types of alarms on board ship
- Location of his or her cabin, along with the location of the nearest escape route and fire
extinguisher
- Procedure for abandon ship alarm
- His or her duties in the muster list and during emergency situations
- Operation of fire and water-tight doors fitted on ships
- Important instructions on various drills on ships
- Procedure to operate fire extinguishers
- Procedure to raise an alarm in case of an accident or emergency
- His duty station and the company policy regarding his job
- His special duty in emergency for providing assistance to passengers.

Operational limitations: Passenger ships are designed for moving at fast speed in excess of
20 knots. To reduce the effect of sea, they have stabilizers. However, sea is unpredictable
and if care is not taken in advance it can be very difficult to prevent disaster. Passenger ships
have following limitation:

o To reduce the effect of high waves, speed may be reduced, the course may be adjusted
for the safety of life, ship and cargo,
o The food and equipment carried on ship is decided by the duration of the voyage and
geographical area of the voyage
o Normally passenger ships do not go to sea in expected bad weather. However sometimes
they get caught in storm. Then her behavior will depend on sea conditions, wave height
wind direction etc. In the heavy rolling pitching, many passengers will become sick.
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Normal movement will not be possible. Some may get injured by moving furniture,
crockery breaking.
o In cold climate, ship may get caught in ice for long period. Passengers may get frost bite.
Icing on ship will reduce her stability.

All the above require different method of dealing. All crew must know his job during this
circumstance. Regular training will be given on-board for it.

Procedures for opening, closing and securing hull openings: Normally roro passenger ships
have ramps fitted in forward part or aft part of ship for loading of cars. Many cruise vessels
have similar arrangement for receiving supply truck. The procedures established on the ship
regarding the opening, closing and the securing of bow, stern, side doors and ramps, and to
correctly operate the related systems:

o A competent nominated operator shall unlock, open, close and lock all doors.
o All communications relating to doors and ramps must be clear and a positive
acknowledgement received by the Master
o An officer will report, prior to departure, that doors are closed and secured.
o Check that door indicator lights show door(s) is closed and locked (locally and on the
bridge)
o Look at closed circuit television monitor as a further check
o Make an entry in the log book of the time all doors were closed, locked and secured
o All doors to be kept closed and locked until secure alongside at next port
o Keys for the control boxes to be always kept in a secure position

Control of passengers during bad weather:

o Give sea sickness tablets to all passenger
o Tell them not to move unless required
o Make fast all furniture and things likely to move
o Place non-skid mat under plates while serving
o Avoid using utensils made of glass or china. Use metal utensils.

Stability: For anything to float on water in upright position, weight below water line should
be more than weight above waterline. In another word, centre of gravity of underwater area
should be below the metacentric height.

Free surface effect: if water is allowed to move one side to another side, she will destabilize
the ship and ship may capsize. For this reason, watertight doors are used.

Shore assistance: During breach in hull, ships stability changes. Due to shortage of time it is
sent ashore, there they calculate and advice master weather to abandon or not. However
final decision to abandon rests with master.
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Chapter 3: Communication

Case histories, certainly with the 'Estonia' and 'Scandinavian Star', show that the crews
aboard may not have the ability to communicate effectively in English or the native language
of the passengers. The personnel who are in contact with passengers are often, but not
restricted to, shop, restaurant, bar and catering staff. Following should be done for effective
communication. The finding of the 'Estonia' enquiry revealed that announcements in
Estonian could not be understood by the Scandinavians.

Identification of passenger’s language skill: A small question about language spoken can
give us idea of various languages known on board. Tick the most common language spoken
by passengers. Identify some crew and passenger who can volunteer to communicate in that
language. These persons can be trained to assist in emergency.

English language skill: We must realize that many passengers may not know enough English
for communication during emergency. Very simple and basic English should be used during
emergency. Most of the person can understand it.

Use of pictures: during the first muster station, the pictures, video should be used for easy
understanding of passengers. Passengers not knowing English should be given important
instruction like muster station, his duty, and the principal escape routes in his language. This
is possible using some translator software.

Emergency communication:

1. The bridge must broadcast in bi or multi-lingual announcements taking into account the
main nationalities carried. Take assistance from some passengers or crew who have a
good knowledge of several languages.
2. These people may be ideally positioned to direct passengers to the assembly stations.
3. Whilst it is recognized that a fluency in English is not essential, basic safety phrases for
directions, deck identification and general realization of what the emergency entails,
should be attained.
4. For evacuation place those trained persons in multi-language skill in strategic locations.
5. However, evacuating passengers to the assembly stations must be effected quickly yet
safely. Urgency can be instilled by motivating passengers with basic commands whilst
using directional hand signals on the route to take in general.
6. As most of the passengers can understand basic simple English, use only simple English
reinforced with sign or body language for all to understand.
7. In certain circumstances public address announcements can be made to locate people
with this expertise
8. Communicate during an emergency by some other means such as demonstration or hand
signals, or calling attention to the location of instructions, assembly stations, and life
saving devices or evacuation routes, when oral communication is impractical.
9. Always confirm passenger understanding by his action. If required correct him by hand.
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Chapter 4: Life-saving appliances

All crew must be familiar with lifesaving appliances on passenger ships. The familiarization is
done on joining and during drills. Following LSA is required to be carried on ships.

Life jackets – One life jackets for each person on-board must be provided. In addition, 10%
extra life jackets are provided for child and enough number for overweight persons. Crew
must ensure that passenger is shown the location of life jackets. All passenger must try out
the life jackets and get it replaced if found defective.

All passengers are required to bring their life jackets. Wearing of life jackets is not required
in muster area as it will make them uncomfortable. Some crew should check that all have
life jackets and condition of life jackets is good. One crew should demonstrate wearing it. If
someone has not brought life jacket, tell him that he will be issued one at embarkation deck.
Before proceeding to embarkation deck, all passengers must don the life jackets. Crew
should assist as required. Ensure that children are wearing child life jackets.
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Lifeboat or survival craft: Each side of ship have lifeboats for 50% of persons onboard.
Lifeboats can be partially or totally enclosed. The role of launching crew of each life boat is
posted in the muster list. All crew must know his assigned boat number and his duty during
launching of boat. He must have knowledge of all the procedure for lifeboat boarding and
launching.

Life raft: Passengers ships are provided for life rafts for 25% of persons onboard. These life
rafts are fitted with grab line to facilitate other persons to hang on it. Duty for launching is
pasted on muster list. All crew must know the procedure for launching and boarding of life
rafts. Frequent drills are done for it.

Buoys – Life buoys are deployed throughout the length of ship. On either side of bridge
wings, life buoys with light and smoke signal is fitted. Other life buys are fitted with floating
line and self-igniting lights.
Life buoys are required to be thrown if someone falls in water. A training in its throwing
should be done during drill. All crew must know his duty for man overboard.

Immersion Suits- it is required for all the members of the crew of the rescue boat, or those
who operate the evacuation systems. Crew must have practiced wearing it during the drill.

Pyrotechnics: Pyrotechnics are used for attracting the attention of other ship’s passing nearby.
Ships has following types of pyrotechnics:

Hand Flare: 6 number of hand flares are required to be carried in each lifeboat and life raft.
They are made as per SOLAS chapter III regulation 25. They should comply with following.
- Must be contained in a water tight casing.
- Must have self-ignition system.
- It should not cause discomfort to the person using it.
- It must not harm the survival craft if used while boarding the same.
- It must illuminate with a bright red color.
- A simple & brief operating instruction diagram must be provided on its casing

Rocket parachute flare – The Parachute Rocket is a day or night long-range distress signal
that conforms to SOLAS 74/88 chapter III regulation 26.
- Twelve should be carried on the ship's bridge and four are required in a ship's lifeboats
and life rafts.
- The minimum vertical height of rocket, when fired, must be 300 m.
- A parachute must be activated when it reaches top or near to the top of its trajectory
level
- It must burn for a period not less than 40 sec with minimum luminous intensity of 30000
candelas.
- The rate of decent after opening of the parachute must be minimum 5 m/sec.
- Arrangement must be such that it must not damage or burn the parachute when the
flare is activated.
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Buoyant smoke signals– They are carried in lifeboats and life rafts. 2 numbers of smoke
signal are carried in each life boat. They are used during day time. they must comply with
following.
- Contained in water resistance buoyant container with clear diagram for operating
instruction.
- It should not ignite or explode if used as per the described operating instruction.
- Smoke emitted must be of high visible color with a uniform rate and minimum period of
3 min.
- It must emit only smoke and not flame when floating in calm water.
- If immersed in water, it must emit smoke for a period of minimum 10 sec.

Line Throwing Apparatus – 4 number of LTA is carried on board ship’s bridge. They are used
to make contact with other ships or boat. The minimum requirements for this appliance as
per SOLAS regulation 49 are;

- Must have good accuracy.

- A brief instruction with diagram must be present in the container.
- Must have minimum 4 projectiles, each carrying line to at least 230 m in calm water.
- Must have 4 lines with breaking strength not less than 2 kilo Newton.

Seasickness tablets: Life boat /raft are subject to excessive motion. Even a hardened seaman
will fall seasick. Seasickness induces vomiting and loosing body fluid. To avoid the effect of
seasickness, these tablets are given. Crew is required to collect the tablets and distribute to
passengers. Don’t forget to take one for yourself. These tablets should be taken at least 30
minutes before boarding the survival craft.

Search and rescue transponder (SART): They are kept on bridge. When boarding the life
boat, they are taken in one of boat which is normally boarded by Captain. When you see
some ship passing by, switch on this equipment. It will send a signal which will be picked by
ship’s RADAR. The signal will point towards the life boat and the rescue vessel will turn
towards it for rescue.

Emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB): They are fitted on bridge. Before
evacuation the ship, it should be taken to one of the boat. They should be switched on after
casting off the boat. They will transmit ship’s name and position to Maritime rescue
coordination centre through satellite. The MRCC will contact local RCC and all ships in vicinity
for search and rescue.

Portable radio set (Walkie talkie): A passenger have one set for each lifeboat. The sets are
kept on bridge and taken to boat before launching of lifeboat. One extra set of battery is also
kept with the set. They have number of VHF channels. Ch 16 is must. They are used for
communicating with other boats as well as rescue ship or helicopter. Remember battery life
of SART, EPIRB and walkie talkie are limited. Hence they should be used with caution
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Chapter 5: Ship’s procedures

Types of emergency:
Cruise ship emergencies and crimes are frequently in the news, and if you are preparing to
go on a cruise, you may wonder what types of situations could occur. Below, we’ve listed
some emergency situations that could potentially take place on a ship.

Breakdown: While the breakdown of a cruise ship may not sound like an emergency
situation, it most definitely can turn into one if the ship is out of commission for long enough.
When a cruise ship breaks down, many of its systems can be negatively impacted. If the
source of the breakdown impacts the electrical system of the ship, things such as the HVAC,
plumbing, and emergency alarm systems may not work. Additionally, a breakdown could
render the ship inoperable, stranding passengers at sea for days without electricity and fresh
food and water. As you can imagine, this can create quite the environmental and safety
hazard for passengers on board the ship.

Fire: Cruise ships are like floating cities or floating hotels, and as such, they are subject to
some of the same types of emergency situations that can occur in a regular building. A fire
is one of the most common and dangerous emergency situations that may occur while you
are on-board a ship. In addition to the dangerous flames, fires also bring with them smoke
and noxious chemicals from burning substances and materials. Common causes of fires on
cruise ships may include fuel or oil leaks, equipment malfunction, and passenger or crew
carelessness.

Collision: Thanks to modern technology and the captain’s skill, cruise ships do not often
collide with other objects, but it does happen from time to time. There are also situations
where the tender (the small ship used to ferry passengers from the cruise ship to the port)
collides with other objects, including the cruise ship. In these types of emergencies, there
are many safety hazards for passengers. Depending on what the ship collides with, the forces
could be significant enough to cause injury to those on-board the ship. Additionally, collisions
bring with them the risk of the ship’s exterior being compromised. This means that the vessel
could take on water, causing a breakdown or the potential sinking of the ship.

Grounding: Grounding is hitting the sea bed with ship’s hull. Grounding is caused due to
sudden breakdown of engine or steering gear while vessel is in close proximity of sallow
water. Grounding can cause the hull to break and allow water to come in the ship like Costa
Concordia. Grounding may result in ships capsizing and making it difficult to launch life boats.

Sinking /foundering: It can be caused due to collision, grounding or hull failure. Ship can sink
in minutes or may take hours depending on the damage. First thing after collision or
grounding is to see if ship will remain afloat or sink. If she is liable to sink, then only
evacuation of person should be done. Otherwise ship is best lifeboat.
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Other emergency on cruise ships: These events are often unexpected and uncontrollable,
and may be serious crimes. Consider the following events that can certainly occur on a cruise
ship. It’s very important to have mechanism to deal with them.

 Instances where more than routine medical care is necessary.

 An act that jeopardizes the safety of guests, employees and/or the ship
 A major theft or burglary
 rape/sexual molestation
 suicide/homicide
 Arson
 Molestation of a minor
 Piracy
 Acts of terrorism

Embarkation of passengers: Passengers aboard the ship by gangway. Their languages are
deposited in arrival hall, where their documents are checked. They are issued key of their
room and identification card. At security and ID-check point carry-on baggage is scanned.
As most of passengers are coming on ship first time in their life, they will tend to move
around. The number of passenger boarding may be large while time is short, it becomes
like dealing with crowd. Crew is expected to assist them as follow:

o Ensure a queue is made for boarding.

o Some persons should answer the query of passengers if required.
o All baggage is screened properly and tagged.
o Transport the baggage to their respective room
o Some person should stand strategically to guide the passengers to their rooms.
o All places which are out of bound for passengers should be closed or locked.
o In the cabin, show the location of life jackets and muster card. Explained the
procedures to be followed in emergency.

Safety briefing: Every cruise ship passenger will be given a mandatory safety briefing,
including on-ship evacuation procedure, within 24 hours of leaving port. However, giving
safety briefing before leaving port is more appropriate for safety of passengers.

The safety drills involve the entire crew and simulate the evacuation procedure, with guests
requested to take their respective life jackets from their cabins and go to the assigned
Muster Station where they receive additional safety instructions. In secondary ports, before
the ship's departure, a detailed safety briefing is also held for all newly embarked guests.

The safety briefing is normally held in a dedicated area (usually the theatre or a Muster
Station) and does not involve all the crew, being conducted by a group of social hostesses
and animators that helps guests to familiarise themselves with the safety equipment and
procedures.
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Rules & Regulations: Safety is of the utmost importance, as your life, your fellow
crewmembers’ lives, and guest’s lives will depend on the training of the crew in emergency
situation. Safety must be one of your main concerns during your stay on board. You will be
required to participate in the regular scheduled ship’s safety drills and emergency training.
Upon your arrival on board, you will receive your emergency instructions and safety training.
In order to maintain a minimum safety manning when the ship is in port or at anchor, you
will be periodically asked to remain on board, and be part of the “In Port Safety Manning".

Guidance for dealing with passengers: All crew are here to provide the best possible service
to our guests. This means that even if you do not deal directly with guests, you are still
providing an important service behind the scenes to those crewmembers who do. Act
professionally at all times and treat everybody, colleagues and senior staff. The ship cannot
function without a team and every single job on board is equally important.

If a guest or crewmember asks you a question that you don’t know the answer to, endeavour
to find out or direct the person to someone who knows the answer. Never disregard the
question by saying that you do not know, and likewise, never answer a question if you are
not sure of the answer. Be sincere. If you made a mistake, admit it and let people know. The
sooner you do it the easier it will be to correct that mistake. People appreciate sincerity.
Always ensure you are wearing an immaculately clean uniform and that you are showered,
shaved and clean at all times.

Whilst on board, guests are enjoying a lifetime vacation. They do not want to listen to your
personal problems. Do not ever discuss company or personal matters with guests.
The relationship between crewmembers and guests should be a cordial and professional
one. Intimate and/or sexual relationships with guests travelling on board are strictly
prohibited. Inappropriate, suggestive, provocative and promiscuous language and behaviour
will not be tolerated.

When addressing a guest, politely say “Excuse me Sir/Madam”. Do not tap them on the
shoulder or inappropriately interrupt them. The Captain of the Ship has the highest authority
on board and all shipboard personnel are under his command and direction. All
crewmembers are required to follow instructions as given by the Captain and the Staff
Captain, Department Heads, Supervisors and Officers on Duty.

The Staff Captain is responsible for order and discipline on board. If a crewmember breaks
any of the Rules and Regulations, necessary action will be taken. If the offence is of a serious
nature, it may be cause for dismissal.

Role in emergency: Remember you were acting as server to guest and following their order.
In emergency the role has changed. Now you will give order and guest must follow it. Your
duty and job is already explained to you during safety briefing. Now you have to take charge
and do those jobs. Sometimes you may have to be pushy to control the passengers. Do not
hesitate as their and your life depends on it.
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Chapter 6: Emergency

Evacuation to boats: Only master has authority to give order for evacuation. Most probably
it will be told to all in charge on their walkie talkie. Making open announcement should be
avoided as it may lead to panic in passengers.

The role of officer in charge: If you find yourself in command positions as the designated
person has not come at muster station, follow below

1. Make your presence known to everyone in the room

2. Stand on the stage or table and use loudhailer or microphone otherwise talk loudly to be
heard.
3. Talk in confident and clear voice
4. Keep your instructions short and to the point
5. Remind the passengers that drill and training are carried out regularly and system is tried
and tested.
6. Ask people to be patient until everybody is accounted for
7. Don’t leave your position, let others come to you.
8. Identify passengers who may be difficult and cause trouble including those who are
drunk, injured, hysterical and loud.
9. If you have difficulty with any of these groups, assign some to look after them or move
them away from main group.
10. Keeping people informed
11. Keep people informed to avoid speculation /rumour
12. Explain to passengers where the problem is and what’s being done
13. Only tell the passengers what you know or have instruction to tell to passengers
14. Don’t say negative reports else passengers will start panicking

Evacuation: Tell passengers they have to be ready for proceeding to embarkation deck as a
precaution otherwise they may panic.

1. Remind them how to don the life jackets. If time permitting demonstrate them and
assist some if possible.
2. If you are to guide the passengers, pick up the numbered baton as well as extra supply
of seasickness tablets.
3. Ask passengers to put on the life jackets. Then lead your group when called to
proceed.
4. Organise the passengers in a crocodile (In a line each passenger holding other
passenger in front of him.)
5. The door checker will count the number of passengers as they are leaving the muster
station.
6. Each group should have a guide at front holding the baton and one guiding at the
rear to keep the group together.
7. Keep a steady pace and check behind to ensure all are following you.
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If you are part of passenger assistance party, reassure the people in wheel chair that they
will take in boat after all others have boarded to avoid them being overrun by others.

On ordered to board, assist the passenger to board lifeboat. They should sit from rear on
both side of boat for stability of boat.

Boarding of lifeboats:
The IMO Life Saving Appliances (LSA) Code 4.4.3.1 states: “Every passenger ship lifeboat shall
be so arranged that it can be boarded by its full complement of persons in not more than 10
minutes from the time the instruction to board is given.” The larger cruise ships will generally
be fitted with 150 person capacity lifeboats, the largest allowed by the LSA code.

During any emergency requiring abondonship, its duty of lifeboat crew to keep the boat
ready for launching. Boat can be boarded at it’s stow position or lowered and held alongside
by browsing tackle. Since space near boarding area is constrained, passengers should arrive
in small groups. Boarding should be done as follow:

o One or two person should be in the boat to assist and guide the passengers.
o Keep all entrance open for faster boarding. Ensure no loose gear or ropes are lying about.
o As soon passenger cone inside direct them to start seating from rear end.
o Ask to fasten his seat belt
o Use words like hurry up to speed up boarding
o Ensure that small children are handed over to their mother /father immediately
o Normally ladies and child start boarding first.
o As soon all seats are full or all assigned passengers have boarded, report to command.
o The operating crew should take their place in the boat.
o On order from master boats should be lowered to water.
o As soon as boat has touched waterline, remove the hook and steer clear of ship.
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Chapter 7: Case study

The 'Scandinavian Star disaster of 7th April 1990

On 30th March 1990 the 'Scandinavian Star' was put into service on voyages from
Frederikshavn (Denmark) to Oslo (Norway). On Friday 6th April the ship left Oslo with 383
passengers and between 0145 and 0200 hours on the following morning a fire started in a
pile of bedclothes on deck 4. After the fire was extinguished a new fire started on deck 3
which rapidly spread to deck 4, 5 and further upwards. 158 people died, mostly from smoke
inhalation, probably by 02h45.

Preparation for service: Many of the crew were not familiar with the emergency plan or
their functions in it. The evacuation group had too few members to be able to function
efficiently, and there were several areas where the resources of the crew had not been
properly deployed.

The first fire was discovered and extinguished quickly but no search was made of the
accommodation. The second fire, however, spread rapidly to the decks above leaving many
passengers trapped in their cabins. Many people aboard did not hear the fire alarm. Some
bells were fairly quiet and were sounded relatively few times over short periods. During this
fire some of the crew, mostly on their own initiative, played significant roles in sounding the
alarm and evacuating passengers; however, through lack of organization, they never
responded as a unit. No real attempts were made to put out the fire because the fire party
was never assembled or established.

The Captain ordered the lifeboats to be prepared but the evacuation was undertaken by
crew who lacked experience in working together and in handling the ship's equipment. The
most serious consequence, due to the lack of organization, remained with the ship's
command who had no idea of how many people had left the ship in lifeboats, nor did they
seem to be aware that they ought to have known this.

Recommendations
o Sprinkler system and smoke detectors should be fitted to all accommodation spaces on
passenger ships.
o Fire patrols making rounds every half an hour.
o An alarm should continue to function until it is manually turned off or is temporarily
interrupted by messages on the public address system.
o All decks and stairways on a passenger ship should have the same design and layout.
o The escape route from cabin door to exit to a sheltered escape stairway or open deck
should not involve more than one change of direction.
o There should be escape routes on both sides of the ship so that passengers do not have
to cross over.
o Ventilators should keep stairwells free of smoke.
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Capsizing of the Passenger Vessel M.V.'Estonia ' 28th Sept 1994

The ship sank in the northern Baltic Sea during the early hours of 28th September 1994. Of
the 989 people aboard 137 survived. The wind was south westerly force 8 with a wave height
of 4 metres on the port bow. The locking devices and the hinges of the bow visor failed under
one or two wave impacts shortly after 01h00, allowing water to enter the car deck, and led
to the eventual capsize.

The time available for evacuation was very short, between 10 and 20 minutes, and was not
organised. Evacuation was hampered by the rapid increase of the list, narrow passageways,
transverse staircases, objects coming loose and by crowding. The lifesaving equipment, in
many cases, did not function as intended and lifeboats could not be lowered.

Reports from the survivors vary considerably on the behaviour and conduct of crew and
passengers. It is difficult to comprehend the feelings of people suddenly awakened and
possibly trapped in unfamiliar surroundings. Statements included:

- 'Many were in panic, shouting and screaming ...they ran back and forth searching for
staircases and colliding with one another'
- 'Some of them were standing still, apparently in shock'
- 'Haire, haire, laeval on haire' meaning 'Alarm, alarm there is alarm on the ship', in
Estonian, which could not be understood by the Swedes.
- 'There were many panic stricken crew members in the corridor'

- 'On the deck there were plenty of lifejackets and by the open doors a crew member was
trying to lead people out. People formed a human chain, helping each other out to the
port side of the deck. Chain was mostly made up of crew members.
- Some were not able to distinguish what messages they heard, and others stated that
they could not possibly hear the alarms due to the screaming.

- 'Under the bridge was a small crowd who were quite calm'
- 'There were 20 people as well as drunken youngsters'
- Some passengers said that there was panic, others said not.
- 'On deck a crew member talked calmly to the others and together with other crew
members tried unsuccessfully to release a lifeboat'
- The boatswain was seen doing a heroic job helping many passengers and releasing rafts.

A few of those who survived behaved in an irrational way, but most did not. A number of
people reacted incredulously to the very early signs. They slowly realised that the sounds
they heard were abnormal, or rather they failed to persuade themselves that the situation
was still normal. When they became clear about the situation they acted promptly and with
a clear goal to get out to the deck and were the first to evacuate.