Tacloban City – To upskill the competencies of our Filipino seafarers and upgrade their readiness in handling emergency situations, a pilot testing for the newly developed courses namely: the Safety Training for Personnel Providing Direct Service to Passengers in Passenger Spaces (STPPDSPPS) and Passenger Ship Crisis Management and Human Behaviour Training (PSCMHBT) was conducted by the National Maritime Polytechnic (NMP) on 04 June 2022 in its main training complex in Cabalawan, this city.

The pilot testing was participated by seventeen (17) trainees under the instruction of Chief Engineer Ercelito Enterina, Training Specialist III of NMP.

The STPPDSPPS and PSCMHBT courses were developed in response to the need for such training by Filipino seafarers as they carry out their duties on board merchant ships, where they are exposed to a large number of passengers of various nationalities and cultures, hence, essential skills are needed in order to properly manage such crowd and ensure their safety during crisis.

The aforementioned courses cover the mandatory competences and the required knowledge, understanding and proficiencies prescribed in Section A-V/2 paragraphs 2 and 4 of the Standards of Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping (STCW) Code.

The STPPDSPPS covers topics on Communication, Life-saving appliances, and Embarkation and disembarkation procedures. This course specifically aims to teach the trainees on how to communicate with crew and passengers during an emergency, demonstrate to passengers the use of personal life-saving appliances; and explain the procedures in embarking and disembarking passengers with special attention to persons with disabilities and persons needing special assistance.

While the PSCMHBT course tackles the different areas of competences, i.e. Organize shipboard emergency procedures, Optimize the use of resources, Control response to emergencies, Control passengers and other personnel during emergency situations, and Establish and maintain effective communications. This training intends to equip trainees to organize shipboard emergency procedures; optimize the use of resources; control response to emergencies; control passengers and other personnel during emergency situations; and establish and maintain effective communications.

The results and recommendations gathered from the pilot testing will be used as inputs for the finalization of the course package. Once completed, this will be endorsed to the Polytechnic Council members for approval and endorsement to the NMP Management.

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