Making Safety Routine: The New Guidance on Getting New Crew Started Right

A Tripartite Answer to a Well-Known Gap

The UK Chamber of Shipping, Nautilus International, and the RMT have jointly published new guidance to help shipping companies deliver effective safety familiarisation for seafarers before they begin work on board. That three-way authorship — employer body, officers' union, ratings' union — signals something: this isn't a compliance checklist written by one side of the industry for the other. It's a shared acknowledgement that familiarisation, done badly, is a genuine safety gap, not a paperwork formality.

Why This Matters More Than It Looks Like It Should

Gard's own 2026 Crew Claims Report, published the same year, found the first month aboard carries the highest injury risk of any period in a seafarer's contract. A new joiner who's handed a form to sign rather than walked through a genuine, structured familiarisation has effectively been sent into that highest-risk window with the least preparation to manage it. The tripartite guidance exists because everyone involved — company, officers, ratings — has an interest in getting this specific handover right.

What Good Familiarisation Actually Looks Like

• Structured, not just signed — a real walk-through of muster points, emergency equipment, and escape routes, not a form initialled in the office
• Delivered before the new joiner is assigned unsupervised tasks, not squeezed in around a first watch
• Specific to the vessel and voyage — familiarisation on one ship doesn't transfer cleanly to another, even within the same company
• Two-way — a genuine opportunity for the new joiner to ask questions, not a one-directional briefing

What This Means for Every Rank

• If you're receiving a new joiner, treat their familiarisation as a real safety task with your full attention, not an administrative interruption to your day
• If you're the new joiner, ask the questions you need answered before your first unsupervised task — this is exactly the moment that guidance is designed to protect
• Masters and DPAs should treat familiarisation quality as a measurable part of the SMS, not an assumed constant

Related Reading

• The Danger Is in the Ordinary — why the first month aboard carries the highest injury risk
• Enclosed Space Entry — where a genuine familiarisation, not a signed form, saves lives