Revision: Proficiency in Survival Craft & Rescue Boats (PSCRB) — STCW Table A-VI/2-1

Revision card — STCW Code Table A-VI/2-1, Proficiency in Survival Craft and Rescue Boats (other than fast rescue boats). Required for anyone who may be assigned to launch, operate or take charge of a lifeboat or rescue boat — in practice, most deck officers and a significant share of ratings, well beyond the four universal Basic Safety Training modules. Genuinely mandatory for a large slice of the workforce, not a niche add-on.

Core Competence Areas

• Take charge of a survival craft or rescue boat during and after launching — the practical command skill this certificate exists to prove
• Operate a survival craft engine — starting, running and basic troubleshooting under emergency conditions, not a calm-day drill
• Manage survivors and the survival craft after abandoning ship — organisation, morale, resource management (food, water, warmth) once the immediate emergency is over and the real ordeal of waiting begins
• Use locating devices correctly — including communication and signalling apparatus and pyrotechnics — knowing what you have, how it works, and when to use it rather than waste it
• Apply first aid to survivors — distinct from, and building on, the Elementary First Aid module
• Take the actions necessary to preserve the lives of those in your charge — the catch-all competence examiners use to probe judgement, not just procedure

Practical Detail Worth Knowing

• Launching arrangements — davit types, painters, on-load/off-load release gear, and the specific hazards of each (davit-launched lifeboats have a well-documented history of fatal incidents during launch and recovery drills, not just real emergencies)
• Sea anchors — what they're for (reducing drift, keeping the craft's bow to the sea, reducing capsize risk) and when to stream one
• Rescue boat handling — approach and recovery of a person in the water, distinct from lifeboat-specific skills
• EPIRBs, SARTs and pyrotechnics — correct use, and the discipline of not using flares speculatively when a controlled, targeted use later may matter more

A Sobering Reality Check

A meaningful share of real lifeboat/davit incidents happen during drills, not actual emergencies — falls, entrapment and equipment failure during routine launch and recovery testing. PSCRB training exists precisely because the theory (release gear, painter management, davit operation) has to be second nature before anyone is under it in a genuine emergency, not learned for the first time under pressure.

Quick Self-Check

• What's the difference between on-load and off-load release gear, and why does it matter which one you're using?
• What's a sea anchor for, and when would you stream one after abandoning ship?
• Beyond the immediate launch, what does "managing survivors" actually involve once the craft is away from the ship?

Related Reading

• RRS Sir David Attenborough — Lifeboat Fall, Loch Buie 2021 — a real davit/launch incident behind why this competence is tested so rigorously
• Piedras — Stern Trawler Flooding, Foundering & Liferaft Failure — what happens when survival craft equipment doesn't perform as trained for
• OOW Revision: Ancillary & Safety Course Certificates — where PSCRB sits in the full STCW certificate stack