Emergency Response Drills On Passenger Ships Explained

On board ships, more often than not, emergencies come unannounced. Many emergency situations, such as fire, flooding, collision, grounding, medical emergencies, man overboard, etc., can occur at any time during the day or even night.

With thousands of passengers and crew on board, an emergency situation on a passenger ship can quickly escalate into panic, which can worsen the existing situation very quickly. Therefore, the importance of drills, training and emergency preparedness cannot be over-emphasized.

Regarding crew drills on cargo & passenger ships, SOLAS, according to its regulation III/19, mentions that every crew member shall participate in at least one abandon ship drill and one fire drill every month.

The drills of the crew shall take place within 24 hours of the ship leaving a port if more than 25% of the crew have not participated in abandon ship and fire drills on board that particular ship in the previous month.

For passenger ships, SOLAS, as per regulation III/30, says that such abandon ship & fire drills shall be held weekly. However, the entire crew need not be involved in every drill.