Leading the response
Command of a major emergency
- Raise the alarm, muster and account for every person on board; take command of the response.
- Assess the situation and the threat to the yacht, and direct the emergency teams to their tasks.
- Contain and fight the casualty — fire, flooding or other — using the yacht's systems and organisation.
- Communicate — make the appropriate distress or urgency call, and liaise with the company and the authorities.
- Decide — if the yacht cannot be saved, order a controlled abandonment with everyone accounted for.
- Manage crisis and human behaviour — passengers and crew — under stress, keeping people informed and directed.
- Know the muster list, the emergency organisation and the drills, and keep them effective through training.
- Coordinate search and rescue, medical care and communications with the shore.
- Record the event and the actions taken for the subsequent report and investigation.
WARNING — The first minutes and the muster decide it Raising the alarm, mustering, and accounting for everyone come before investigation. A drilled crew and a calm, directing Master in the first minutes are worth more than any later effort.
TIP — Manage people as well as the casualty In a crisis, human behaviour becomes the deciding factor. Visible, calm command steadies passengers and crew; keep people informed, give them tasks, and the panic that spreads fear is replaced by an organised response.