Revision: Security Awareness Training — STCW Table A-VI/6-1 (Mandatory for Every Seafarer)

Revision card — STCW Code Section A-VI/6, Table A-VI/6-1, Security Awareness. Often overlooked in favour of the four Basic Safety Training modules, but it is equally mandatory — every seafarer employed or engaged in any capacity on a ship required to comply with the ISPS Code must hold this before being assigned any shipboard duties. It's short, it's cheap relative to the other STCW courses, and it's very commonly checked at Port State Control alongside the standard BST four.

Why This Is Near-Universal, Not Niche

Unlike Advanced Fire Fighting or PSCRB, which depend on your specific role and responsibilities, Security Awareness applies to essentially everyone on an ISPS-regulated vessel — deck, engine, catering, hotel/interior crew alike. It sits below Designated Security Duties (Table A-VI/6-2), which is a separate, more senior certificate only required for crew with specific security responsibilities under the Ship Security Plan (SSP) — don't conflate the two in an oral or assessment; Security Awareness is the baseline everyone needs, DSD is additional and role-specific.

Core Competence Areas

• Maintain security awareness — recognising security threats, unauthorised weapons, and dangerous devices/substances
• Recognise security-related characteristics and behavioural patterns of persons who may pose a threat to security
• Understand techniques used to circumvent security measures — enough to spot when something doesn't add up, not to become a security specialist
• Contribute to enhancing security awareness onboard — everyday vigilance, not a formal watchkeeping duty
• Report a security incident, including a piracy or armed robbery threat or attack
• Know the procedures to follow when you recognise a security threat
• Take part in security-related emergency and contingency procedures — musters, drills, and your own role in them

The Framework Behind It

• Courses are built to IMO Model Course 3.27 and Sections A/13 and B/13 of the ISPS Code
• Know the three ISPS security levels (1 normal, 2 heightened, 3 exceptional/imminent threat) exist and roughly what changes as the level rises — you don't need SSO-level detail, but you should know the concept
• Know that the ship has a Ship Security Plan (SSP) and a Ship Security Officer (SSO), and that your role is to know and follow the plan, not to write it

Quick Self-Check

• What's the difference between Security Awareness (A-VI/6-1) and Designated Security Duties (A-VI/6-2), and who needs which?
• What are the three ISPS security levels, in outline?
• If you spot something that doesn't add up — an unfamiliar person, an unattended item — what's your first action under this competence?

Related Reading

• Strait of Hormuz & Red Sea — Seafarer Security Risks 2026 — the live threat picture this training exists to prepare you for
• BIMCO BMP — Maritime Security & Activist Boardings — practical guidance one level up from the awareness-level basics
• OOW Revision: Ancillary & Safety Course Certificates — where security training sits in the full STCW certificate stack