All crewmembers working aboard commercial vessels (which means all charter yachts) are required to have what is called an STCW Basic Safety Training International Certificate of Competency, referred to generally as basic safety training. When crew recruiters and captains ask entry-level crew, “Have you got your STCW?” or “Do you have your basic safety training?”—this is what they are talking about.

1. STCW
Basic Safety
Training
(BST) for
Yacht Crew

2. All crewmembers working aboard commercial vessels (which means all charter yachts) are required to
have what is called an STCW Basic Safety Training International Certificate of Competency, referred
to generally as basic safety training. When crew recruiters and captains ask entry-level crew, “Have
you got your STCW?” or “Do you have your basic safety training?”—this is what they are talking about.
The five-day STCW Basic Safety Training (BST) Course is aimed mostly at those going to sea for the
first time. It teaches essential safety information that every seafarer should know, such as how to deal
with onboard emergencies (which hopefully won’t ever happen, but at least if you have training, you
stand a much better chance of coming out okay). Specifically, the four important skills it covers are sea
survival, first aid, personal safety, and firefighting.
Note: You will occasionally see this course written with reference to “STCW ’95” or “STCW ’95, as
amended” or possibly even “STCW ’78, as amended.” Due to the confusion with dates, the coast guard
offices are now simply referring to it as STCW, as amended. I will address why that is in the next
section. Please know that I am referring to the same thing.
What is STCW Basic Safety Training (BST)?

3. STCW Basic Safety Training Standards
Essentially, the STCW code requires every level of crewmember to have some
sort of minimum training. The level of certification that crew must receive is
based on the capacity in which they serve onboard (their crew position), and on
what type of vessel.
As one goes up the career ladder, the training requirements increase. The idea
here is that if someone is a first mate on a boat in France, and another is a first
mate on a similar-sized vessel in Australia, these two individuals should both have
had the same sort of training. The schooling and the institutions where it was
received may be different, but it will be based on, and in compliance with, the
same broad outline of the STCW code.

4. STCW Basic Safety Training Standards
For entry-level crew, the IMO set down regulations for the most basic level of
safety training. For example, what to do in the event someone injures himself
(first aid), and what happens if you have to abandon ship and get into a life raft
(sea survival).
Then, there’s firefighting. If you don’t treat a fire quickly and correctly, you’re
going to have to get off the boat, so seafarers need to know how to deal with a
fire. With regard to personal safety and social responsibility: how to conduct
yourself onboard, how not to injure yourself, and how to look after yourself and
the rest of your crew (what you do and don’t do).

5. STCW Basic Safety Training Standards
These are the things the IMO wants
all mariners to know when they
come into the industry.
As complicated as I know it all
sounds, here’s the bottom line:
Starting out as an entry-level
crewmember, you just need the
basics. That means taking an STCW-
approved Basic Safety Training
course. And moving forward, it must
be compliant with the Manila
Amendments of 2010 that went into
effect January 2012.

6. See more at
Work On
A Yacht
Images from
Super Yacht
Crew Training