STCW95 and Basic Safety Training (BST)

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What is it?
Not so long ago anyone could jump on a yacht and learn to become a member of crew. You didn't need any pieces of paper apart from your passport and a visa or two.

Now it's different. It started to change when the MCA changed their legislation for vessels that flew their flag. They decided, correctly, that things were fairly sloppy when it came to crew and that this posed a real safety concern.

After 2002 all crew involved in muster working on charter vessels or on any vessel over 50m needed to have the STCW95 BST. Initially this was a real pain but gradually skippers and crew agents realised that this piece of paper weeded out a lot of the chancers and the people who just wanted to work on a boat for a few weeks just to say they did it.

So nowadays, although you are not always legally obliged to have the STCW95 a lot of captains and agents look for it as a gauge to how serious you are about working on a yacht.

The STCW95 consists of four modules:

• RYA / MCA Personal Survival Techniques
• MCA Personal Safety and Social Responsibility
• MCA Fire Prevention and Fire Fighting
• MCA Elementary First Aid.

All four modules are designed to keep you and your fellow crew and guests safer on board.

STCW95 training can be done all over the world but some establishments are better than others.

If you are in the UK and wish to undertake this training contact: