Question 1

Your company's SMS requires the bridge team to take avoiding action once CPA falls below a fixed threshold (e.g. 1.5nm), tighter than COLREGs itself specifies. Your examiner asks: "Does a company procedure like this override COLREGs, and how should you brief your OOWs on the relationship between the two?"

Accepted Answer

A company SMS threshold sits on top of COLREGs, not instead of it — it cannot override or contradict COLREGs' actual rules (a Rule 17 stand-on obligation still exists, for example), but it can and often should impose a more conservative internal trigger point to prompt earlier action, precisely because COLREGs describes a minimum legal standard, not a target for how close a professional bridge team should be willing to let a situation develop before acting This is a genuinely common real-world tension a Chief Officer needs to be able to explain clearly — company SMS procedures regularly set tighter, more conservative operational triggers than the legal minimum in COLREGs, and understanding that relationship (SMS as an additional safety margin, not a replacement for or override of the Rules) is exactly the kind of ISM/COLREGs integration examiners probe at management level.

Question 2

Rule 5 (Look-out) requires every vessel at all times to maintain a proper look-out by sight and hearing, as well as by all available means appropriate in the prevailing circumstances and conditions — and this duty applies even when the vessel is at anchor in a busy anchorage.

Accepted Answer

True True. Rule 5 applies 'at all times' and to 'every vessel'. A vessel at anchor in a busy anchorage still needs an effective look-out to detect drifting vessels, dragging anchors, or approaching traffic that may pose a risk of collision or contact.

Question 3

Under Rule 6 (Safe Speed), a vessel fitted with a fully operational radar and ARPA never needs to reduce speed in restricted visibility, because the equipment guarantees early detection of other vessels.

Accepted Answer

False False. Rule 6 explicitly lists radar capability as one factor to consider, but also requires accounting for the state of visibility, traffic density, manoeuvrability, and the limitations of radar (range scale, sea/rain clutter, blind sectors). Even a vessel with excellent radar must proceed at a speed that allows proper and effective action to avoid collision and to be stopped within a distance appropriate to the prevailing circumstances.