Cruise Industry Adopts Crew Lifeboat Training Policy
During the mandatory training, a lifeboat is filled to capacity with crew members and maneuvered in the water to familiarize them with lifeboat operations.
The Cruise Lines International Association and the European Cruise Council announced an additional safety policy Sept. 20 that they said has been adopted by the industry and exceeds current international regulatory requirements. It concerns lifeboat loading by crewmembers for training purposes and great out of the Cruise Industry Operational Safety Review launched in January 2012.
The Life Boat Loading for Training Purposes policy requires oceangoing members of CLIA and ECC to launch and fully load lifeboats at least once every six months for crew training purposes, effective immediately. During the training, the lifeboat is filled to capacity with crew members and maneuvered in the water to familiarize them with lifeboat operations -- and all crewmembers involved in operating or loading lifeboats must attend the drill. Smaller ships with fewer tha than 300 crew members will conduct similar training as appropriate.
"The cruise industry continues to work on a global level to improve the safety of passengers and crew, which is our number one priority," said Christine Duffy, president and CEO of CLIA. "Since January of this year and in keeping with our efforts to continuously improve operational excellence, the global cruise industry has voluntarily adopted seven wide-ranging safety policies. We remain fully committed to exploring further enhancements in a number of areas that will add to the industry's excellent safety record."
"The cruise industry's Operational Safety Review demonstrates our ongoing determination to ensure that cruise ships remain the safest vacation option and the safest part of the shipping industry. This policy, like all the policies that have already been developed by the Operational Safety Review, exceeds current international regulatory requirements and has been externally verified by world renowned independent experts," said ECC Chairman Manfredi Lefebvre. "Our industry is committed to improving our safety performance in the short, the medium, and the long term. I believe our approach supports the goal of European Commission of re-launching their 'Quality Shipping Campaign' as set out in its Maritime Policy 2009-2018."