Why is it important for every crew member, not just officers, to know how to activate the EPIRB and use basic signalling equipment?

A. In a genuine emergency, officers may be injured, occupied with other critical tasks, or not present in the same liferaft as other crew — every person aboard needs to be able to independently activate distress equipment and signal for help without relying on someone else to do it for them

B. Signalling equipment is fully automatic and requires no manual operation by anyone

C. Ratings are deliberately excluded from PST training on this equipment for safety reasons

D. Only officers are ever expected or trained to operate distress signalling equipment

A. A handheld torch used only for close-range signalling to nearby vessels

B. A backup liferaft repair kit component unrelated to communication

C. A type of personal flotation device with no signalling capability at all

D. Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon — once activated (manually or automatically by water immersion), it transmits a distress signal with the vessel's identity and position via satellite to search and rescue authorities, continuing to transmit for an extended period to aid location

A. A PLB is only used for testing equipment ashore, never carried during an actual emergency

B. An EPIRB is typically registered to the vessel and often mounted/stowed for the whole crew, while a PLB is a smaller, individually registered device that a single person can carry on their body — useful if separated from the main group or liferaft

C. EPIRBs and PLBs are functionally and legally identical, with the only difference being colour

D. A PLB has no satellite connectivity and only works at very short range