Entry & progression
Certificate: STCW Crowd Management and Crisis Management & Human Behaviour (A-V/2) — required for crew with assigned duties assisting passengers in an emergency on passenger ships, including passenger-carrying yachts. Entry: relevant seagoing role. Two elements: crowd management, and crisis management and human behaviour.
Controlling and guiding people
- Know the muster and evacuation arrangements, the escape routes and the signage.
- Guide, control and reassure passengers, including those who need assistance to move.
- Manage a muster: counting people, communicating clearly, and keeping order.
- Communicate across language and mobility barriers, using clear signals and simple instructions.
In an emergency the crew's job is to turn a frightened, uninformed crowd into an orderly evacuation. That means knowing the escape routes and muster arrangements cold, guiding and reassuring the passengers, giving clear and simple instructions that work across language barriers, and helping those who cannot move easily. Passengers take their cue from the crew: calm, confident, clear direction is what keeps them calm and moving the right way, while a hesitant or panicked crew member makes the crowd worse.
NOTE — Passengers are not crew Passengers do not know the ship, the routes or the drills. Clear, calm direction from the crew is what turns a frightened crowd into an orderly evacuation; they can only do what they are told and shown.
TIP — Simple, clear, repeated instructions Across a mix of languages and under stress, simple and clear instructions, repeated and reinforced with gestures and signage, are what get a crowd to move the right way. Complex explanations are lost in an emergency.