[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 155 (Tuesday, August 12, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47925-47927]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-20466]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Coast Guard

[USCG 2001-9269]


Guidance for Assessing Merchant Mariners Through Demonstrations 
of Proficiency as Officers in Charge of Engineering Watches in Manned 
Engine-Rooms or as Designated Duty Engineers in Periodically Unmanned 
Engine-Rooms

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.

ACTION: Notice of availability and request for public comments.

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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard announces the availability of the national 
performance measures proposed here for use as guidelines when mariners 
demonstrate their proficiency as officers in charge of engineering 
watches in manned engine-rooms or as designated duty engineers in 
periodically unmanned engine-rooms. Because of the comments submitted 
to the original docket published on April 5, 2001, the Coast Guard is 
re-publishing these

[[Page 47926]]

measures. They were developed from recommendations and input provided 
by the Merchant Marine Personnel Advisory Committee (MERPAC). We again 
request your comments on them.

DATES: Comments and related material must reach the Docket Management 
Facility on or before October 14, 2003.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Coast Guard docket 
number USCG-2001-9269 to the Docket Management Facility at the U.S. 
Department of Transportation. To avoid duplication, please use only one 
of the following methods:
    (1) Web Site: http://dms.dot.gov.
    (2) Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590-0001.
    (3) Fax: 202-493-2251.
    (4) Delivery: 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.
    (5) Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
    The Docket Management Facility maintains the public docket for this 
notice. Comments and material received from the public 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have questions on this notice, 
write or call Mr. Gould where indicated under ADDRESSES. If you have 
questions on viewing or submitting materials to the docket, call Ms. 
Dorothy Beard, Chief, Dockets, Department of Transportation, telephone 
202-366-5149.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Public Participation and Request for Comments

    We encourage you to submit comments. All comments received will be 
posted, without change, to http://dms.dot.gov and will include any 
personal information you have provided. We have an agreement with the 
Department of Transportation (DOT) to use the Docket Management 
Facility. Please see DOT's ``Privacy Act'' paragraph below.
    Submitting comments: If you submit a comment, please include your 
name and address, identify the docket number for this rulemaking (USCG-
2001-9269), indicate the specific section of this document to which 
each comment applies, and give the reason for each comment. You may 
submit your comments and material by electronic means, mail, fax, or 
delivery to the Docket Management Facility at the address under 
ADDRESSES; but please submit your comments and material by only one 
means. If you submit them by mail or delivery, submit them in an 
unbound format, no larger than 8\1/2\ by 11 inches, suitable for 
copying and electronic filing. If you submit them by mail and would 
like to know that they reached the Facility, please enclose a stamped, 
self-addressed postcard or envelope. We will consider all comments 
received during the comment period. We may change these national 
performance measures in view of them.
    Viewing comments and documents: To view comments, as well as 
documents mentioned in this preamble as being available in the docket, 
go to http://dms.dot.gov at any time and conduct a simple search using 
the docket number. You may also visit the Docket Management Facility in 
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.
    Privacy Act: Anyone can search the electronic form of all comments 
received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual 
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf 
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review the 
Department of Transportation's Privacy Act Statement in the Federal 
Register published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477), or you may visit 
http://dms.dot.gov.

What Action Is the Coast Guard Taking?

    Section A-III/1 of the Code accompanying the International 
Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for 
Seafarers (STCW), 1978, as amended in 1995, articulates qualifications 
for ensuring merchant mariners' attaining the minimum standard of 
competence through demonstrations of their proficiency as officers in 
charge of engineering watches in manned engine-rooms or as designated 
duty engineers in periodically unmanned engine-rooms. The Coast Guard 
tasked MERPAC with referring to the Section, modifying and specifying 
it as it deemed necessary, and recommending national performance 
measures. The Coast Guard reviewed the measures recommended by MERPAC 
and developed a set of guidelines for assessing proficiency. Those 
guidelines were published in the original docket on April 5, 2001. A 
number of comments were made on that proposal and we have now modified 
those guidelines to incorporate many of the comments. We are now 
proposing these modified guidelines here for use as the final 
guidelines for assessing proficiency.
    The guidelines are set up as follows: First, we set forth the 
Competency within the STCW a mariner should demonstrate to meet the 
STCW section. Next we give a series of examples of Performance 
Conditions, a set of Performance Behaviors for each Performance 
Condition, and a set of Performance Standards for each Performance 
Behavior.
    For example, if the Competency to demonstrate is: ``Use appropriate 
tools for fabrication and repair * * * typically performed on ships''--
    A Performance Condition for that competency demonstrating 
knowledge, understanding, and proficiency is: In a workshop [or] 
laboratory or other safe working environment, given proper tools, 
lighting, [and] ventilation, and a thin steel plate of no less than \1/
4\ inch thickness, * * *
    A Performance Behavior for that Condition is: * * * the candidate 
will plan, prepare, and safely cut out a circular blank flange with 
four 7/16'' bolt-holes 90 degrees apart and corresponding to the 
dimensions of a two-inch pipe flange, or similar multi-tasked project 
using oxyacetylene process, and describe actions as they are being 
performed.
    A Performance Standard for that Behavior is--or, in this example, 
the Standards are--``The applicant (1) correctly plans for and lays out 
the job, in proper sequence, and incorporates all safety 
considerations; (2) sets up all required equipment; (3) cuts the hole 
uniformly according to plan within tolerance of +/-\1/8\ inch; and (4) 
ensures that no safety violations occur.''
    If the mariner properly meets all of the Performance Standards, he 
or she passes the practical demonstration. If he or she fails to carry 
out any of the 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 1997 and incorporated into domestic regulations at 
46 CFR parts 10, 12, and 15 in 1997 and since. Guidance from the 
International Maritime Organization on shipboard assessments of 
proficiency suggests that Parties develop standards and measures of

[[Page 47927]]

performance for practical tests as part of their programs for training 
and assessing seafarers.

How May I Participate In This Action?

    We are requesting your comments on these proposed national 
performance measures. 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 home 
page 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, 
under this docket number [USCG 2001-9269]. They are also available from 
Mr. Gould where indicated under ADDRESSES. If you submit written 
comments please include--
    [sbull] Your name and address;
    [sbull] The docket number for this notice [USCG 2001-9269];
    [sbull] The specific section of the measures to which each comment 
applies; and
    [sbull] 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. (But 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 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.
    Your comments will be considered in preparing the final version of 
the national performance measures which will be used 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 should 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: July 25, 2003.
Joseph J. Angelo,
Director of Standards, Marine Safety, Security & Environmental 
Protection.
[FR Doc. 03-20466 Filed 8-11-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-15-U