Maritime STCW Training & Certification Online Courses

OSHA requires maritime training for maritime employees–on that, there is no question. Where confusion exists is how often employees need maritime refresher training or recertification. Outside of the initial safety training class, it is common to see employers set recertification every three years. We are one of them. And here’s why:

As far as this 3-year maritime training certification goes, OSHA regulations are very specific when it comes to forklifts and a couple of other pieces of equipment. However, on everything else they are not so clear. They just state the employer must regularly provide safety training for their employees to maintain proficiency. Following industry best practices, we’ve adopted this 3-year term in order to help employers comply with the general standard of regularly providing maritime training.

Ultimately, it is up to the employer to determine how frequently their maritime employees need to be trained. Many of our customers require it more often, annually even. Others may stretch it out a bit. In working with OSHA, though, it is our experience that they like to see employers adopt the strictest standard when the regulations are not clear. For instance, we know of companies that didn’t train every three years and were reprimanded by OSHA for not offering additional training more often.

It is not uncommon for OSHA to refer to the forklift standard as the pattern by which training should be carried out for other pieces of equipment. On a side note, OSHA is slowly but surely making training requirements specific for other pieces of equipment so there are no gray areas. Maritime for instance is undergoing potential changes to the regulations that will reference training specifically.

So, with that in mind, we say maritime employees must be re-evaluated every three years to determine if they are still competent enough to do their job safely. We also state that this every-three-year maritime evaluation is the maximum time that should be allowed to pass before an employee receives maritime recertification. There are several instances that should require additional maritime training and observation before the three-year period is up:

Yes, you need to take a maritime operator safety training course. No matter how long you’ve been on the job, OSHA requires maritime safety training, a written exam, and a practical evaluation. There is no way around it. The extent of the classroom training can be adapted by the instructor according to student needs. The written exam proves mental competency and understanding of the safety principles taught. And the practical evaluation proves the maritime employee not only understands but is capable of operating safely. Many of our customers believe the practical evaluation has the greatest overall value.

This is a common question, especially among laborers-for-hire who may sub out from job to job. Technically, it is your current employer who is responsible for saying whether or not you have been trained specifically for the type of maritime work you will be doing. For example, if you bring a maritime fire safety certificate or maritime fire safety license (wallet card) to your new employer, they do not have to accept it. It is their right to require you to take their own training class. This is because if there is an accident, they will likely be responsible and need to prove to OSHA that they trained you on maritime operations.

This, above all, causes a lot of confusion. Bottom line, OSHA states that employers are responsible to train their employees. Generally speaking, there are three ways they can do this:

In terms of using a 3^rd party’s safety training materials (like our maritime training kits on CD or our maritime online training classes), OSHA does not recognize one company over another. They simply state that training needs to occur and outline the things a maritime operator should be trained on.

When we do live training or offer maritime safety training online, people often assume we are the ones certifying the trainees. This is not true for any training company. We are simply assisting the employer by providing live maritime safety training or the training materials needed to help them certify their employees.

The online maritime course covers OSHA’s requirements for the classroom portion. Many employers prefer online training because they know exactly what maritime safety training the operator will receive. In live classes, the training sometimes varies. A written exam is included at the end of our online training courses. After the maritime class and exam are finished, you and your safety managers will have immediate access to a practical evaluation checklist. This can be printed off and used by your supervisor to help him or her evaluate you on the maritime. When done, they can sign it and file it with your exam. This will satisfy OSHA’s requirements for maritime certification.

Contrary to popular belief, OSHA does not dictate what a passing score entails. That is ultimately up to the employer, who is also responsible for certifying (or authorizing) their employee to work in the maritime industry. If an employer chooses to pass their employee at 80% on a maritime safety exam, that’s fine. But what if a question or two among the 20% missed could lead to an accident or death? Is it worth it? Our recommendation is that you always go over any missed questions with your trainees—even if they just missed one. Once they understand the principle missed, have them write their initials by the correct answer. That way, you are protecting them and those around them from potential accidents in the future.