Workboat Code — Personnel Transfer & Man Overboard Safety

Personnel transfer and man overboard (MOB) recovery are two of the most heavily tested practical themes in Workboat Master orals — not because they're complicated in principle, but because small-vessel conditions make them genuinely harder to execute well than the theory suggests.

Personnel Transfer

Whether it's a pilot transfer, a technician boarding a turbine, or crew moving between vessels, personnel transfer on a small commercial vessel is a routine operation that carries real risk precisely because it becomes routine. Key factors a Master has to actively assess each time, not just once:

• Sea state and swell relative to the transfer point — conditions that were fine an hour ago may not be now
• The vessel's approach and station-keeping during the transfer window
• Clear, unambiguous communication with the person transferring and any receiving party
• The authority to abort — a transfer that looks marginal should be delayed or cancelled, not attempted because the schedule says otherwise

Why Small-Vessel MOB Response Is Different

MOB recovery on a small workboat differs from a large merchant vessel in two compounding ways: low freeboard is both an advantage for direct recovery and a striking/injury hazard in a swell, and small crew numbers mean there are no spare hands to improvise roles. On a larger vessel a MOB response can absorb some improvisation; on a small vessel with two or three crew, pre-briefed roles matter far more because there's no slack to cover a gap in the response.

Approach Direction — Upwind or Downwind?

A recurring oral question: what determines whether you approach a casualty from upwind or downwind. The honest answer depends on the vessel's manoeuvring characteristics, sea state, and the casualty's condition — there's no single universally correct answer, which is exactly why examiners ask it. The strong answer explains the trade-offs (windage affecting close-quarters control vs. minimising the vessel drifting onto the casualty) rather than reciting a rule.