Entry & progression
Governing: 46 CFR 11.201(i). Two certificates, two different rules.
The rule
46 CFR 11.201(i) requires an original officer endorsement applicant to provide:
| Certificate | The rule | The trap |
|---|---|---|
| First aid | Completed not more than 1 year before the date of application | It expires against your application date, not against some rolling window. A course taken 13 months ago is worthless |
| CPR | Currently valid — that is all | No one-year rule. People re-sit it needlessly |
They are not both 'within one year'. First aid is; CPR merely has to be in date. Half the confusion in this area comes from people applying the stricter rule to both, and the other half from applying the looser rule to both.
Acceptable courses
- First aid — the American Red Cross Standard First Aid course, the Red Cross Community First Aid & Safety course, or a Coast Guard-approved first aid course.
- CPR — the American Red Cross, the American Heart Association, or a Coast Guard-approved CPR course.
TIP — Valid STCW Basic Training satisfies both 46 CFR 11.201(i)(1) accepts evidence of continued competency in STCW Basic Training in place of the first aid certificate — and BST covers the CPR element too. If you already hold BST from the MCA side of the house, you do not need to go and sit two more courses. This is the single most useful thing on the page for anyone crossing over from the UK system.
The exceptions
11.201(i) opens "except as provided in §§ 11.429, 11.456 and 11.467" — the limited Master under 100 GRT, the limited OUPV, and the OUPV section generally. For the limited credentials, first aid and CPR are required only where, in the opinion of the Coast Guard, the geographic area precludes obtaining medical services within a reasonable time.
For the standard, all-waters OUPV, the NMC checklist does require both. The exception is narrower than the cross-reference makes it look — read it as applying to the limited and restricted variants, not to the ordinary six-pack.
Firefighting
Not required for OUPV or Master under 100 GRT. 46 CFR 11.201(h)(3)(i) requires basic firefighting for Master on vessels of less than 500 GT in ocean service — and neither of these credentials is ever issued for oceans. It appears on no checklist for either ticket.
Sequencing the two certificates
Because first aid expires against your application date, the order you do things in matters more than it should:
- Do not sit first aid a year before you intend to apply. It will time out while you are still gathering sea service letters.
- Sit it once the rest of the package is close to complete — alongside, or shortly before, the drug test.
- CPR can be done whenever, since it only needs to be in date. If you already hold a current certificate, leave it alone.
- If you hold valid STCW Basic Training, do neither. Produce the BST evidence and move on.
WARNING — A first aid certificate is not a first aid competence The regulation asks for a certificate. The sea will ask for the skill. On a six-pack an hour offshore, you are the entire medical response for everybody aboard — there is no one else. Sit the course properly, and re-sit it because you want to remember it, not because the CFR made you.