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