[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 86 (Wednesday, May 3, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25788-25789]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-10946]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Coast Guard

[USCG 2000-7288]


Guidelines for Assessing Merchant Mariners' Proficiency Through 
Demonstrations of Survival-Craft Skills

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of Availability and Request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard announces the availability of, and seeks 
public comments on, the national performance measures proposed here for 
use as guidelines when mariners demonstrate their proficiency in 
survival-craft skills. A working group of the Merchant Marine Personnel 
Advisory Committee (MERPAC) developed and recommended national 
performance measures for this proficiency. The Coast Guard has adapted 
the measures recommended by MERPAC.

DATES: Comments and related material must reach the Docket Management 
Facility on or before July 3, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Please identify your comments and related material by the 
docket number of this rulemaking [USCG 2000-7288]. Then, to make sure 
they enter the docket just once, submit them by just one of the 
following means:
    (1) By mail to the Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, room PL-401, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington DC 
20590-0001.
    (2) By delivery to room PL-401 on the Plaza level of the Nassif 
Building, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 
p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The telephone 
number is 202-366-9329.
    (3) By fax to the Docket Management Facility at 202-493-2251.
    (4) Electronically through the Web Site for the Docket Management 
System at http://dms.dot.gov.
    The Docket Management Facility maintains the public docket for this 
Notice. Comments and related material received from the public, as well 
as documents mentioned in this Notice, will become part of this docket 
and will be available for inspection or copying at room PL-401 on the 
Plaza level of the Nassif Building, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, 
DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal 
holidays. You may also find this docket on the Internet at
http://dms.dot.gov.
    The measures proposed here are also available from Mr. Mark Gould, 
Maritime Personnel Qualifications Division, Office of Operating and 
Environmental Standards, Commandant (G-MSO-1), U.S. Coast Guard 
Headquarters, telephone 202-267-0229.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For questions on this Notice or on the 
national performance measures proposed here, write or call Mr. Mark 
Gould where indicated under ADDRESSES. For questions on viewing or 
submitting material to the docket, call Dorothy Walker, Chief, Dockets, 
Department of Transportation, telephone 202-366-9329.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

What Action Is the Coast Guard Taking?

    Table A-VI/2-1 of the Code accompanying the treaty on Standards of 
Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW), 1978, as 
amended in 1995, articulates qualifications for merchant mariners' 
attaining the minimum standard of competence in survival craft and in 
rescue boats other than fast rescue boats. The Coast Guard tasked 
MERPAC with referring to the Table, modifying and specifying it as it 
deemed necessary, and recommending national performance measures. The 
Coast Guard has adapted the measures recommended by MERPAC and is 
proposing them here for use as guidelines when assessing mariners' 
proficiency in survival-craft skills. Next we set forth the eight 
skills that a mariner must demonstrate respecting survival craft, and 
give an example of a Performance Condition, a Performance Behavior, and 
three Performance Standards for one of the skills.
    Eight Skills: Give correct commands for launching and boarding a 
survival craft; Prepare and safely launch a survival craft; Safely 
recover a survival craft; Start and operate a survival-craft engine; 
Steer (command) a survival craft under oars; Row a survival craft; Use 
survival-craft equipment; and Rig devices to aid location.
    The Performance Condition for the skill entitled, ``Give correct 
commands for launching and boarding a survival craft'' is: Using a 
lifeboat properly stowed on gravity davits.
    The Performance Behavior for the same skill is: When hearing an 
abandon-ship signal or the order in English to lower the lifeboat, the 
mariner will command launching the boat.
    The Performance Standards for the same skill are: Commands are 
issued in proper sequence; All tasks to launch the lifeboat are 
verified; and The boat is launched in ten minutes.
    If the mariner properly meets all of the Performance Standards, he 
or she passes the practical demonstration. If he or she fails to 
properly carry out any of the Performance Standards, he or she fails 
it.

Why Is the Coast Guard Taking This Action?

    The Coast Guard is taking this action to comply with STCW, as 
amended in 1995 and incorporated into domestic law at 46 CFR Parts 10, 
12, and 15 in 1997. Guidance from the International Maritime 
Organization on shipboard assessments of proficiency suggests that 
Parties develop standards and measures of performance for practical 
tests as part of their programs for training and assessing seafarers.

How May I Participate in This Action?

    You may participate in this action by submitting comments and 
related material on the national performance measures proposed here. 
(Although the Coast Guard does not seek public comment on the measures 
recommended by MERPAC, as distinct from the measures proposed here, 
those measures are available on the Internet at the Homepage of MERPAC, 
http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-m/advisory/merpac/merpac.htm.) These measures 
are available on the Internet at http://dms.dot.gov. They are also 
available from Mr. Mark Gould where indicated under ADDRESSES. If you 
submit written comments please include--
     Your name and address;
     The docket number for this Notice [USCG 2000-7288];
     The specific section of the performance measures to which 
each comment applies; and

[[Page 25789]]

     The reason for each comment.
    You may mail, deliver, fax, or electronically submit your comments 
and related material to the Docket Management Facility, using an 
address or fax number listed in ADDRESSES. Please do not submit the 
same comment or material more than once. If you mail or deliver your 
comments and material, they must be on 8\1/2\-by-11-inch paper, and the 
quality of the copy should be clear enough for copying and scanning. If 
you mail your comments and material and would like to know whether the 
Docket Management Facility received them, please enclose a stamped, 
self-addressed postcard or envelope. The Coast Guard will consider all 
comments and material received during the 60-day comment period.
    Once we have considered all comments and related material, we will 
publish a final version of the national performance measures for use as 
guidelines by the general public. Individuals and institutions 
assessing the competence of mariners may refine the final version of 
these measures and develop innovative alternatives. If you vary from 
the final version of these measures, however, you must submit your 
alternative to the National Maritime Center for approval by the Coast 
Guard under 46 CFR 10.303(e) before you use it as part of an approved 
course or training program.

    Dated: April 26, 2000.
J.P. High,
Acting Assistant Commandant for Marine Safety and Environmental 
Protection.
[FR Doc. 00-10946 Filed 5-2-00; 8:45 am]
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