Marine Safety Officer
Marine Safety Officer Course
The three-day course that turns the shipboard safety officer’s appointment into a job you can
actually do — built on MLC 2006 Standard A4.3, the ISM Code, SOLAS, and the IMO’s 2025 enclosed-space
recommendations.
- Duration
- 3 days12 modules
- Classroom
- $800per delegate
- Online
- $600self-paced, 12 months’ access
- Assessment
- 70% to pass30-question examination
- Prerequisites
- Nonesea-going experience assumed
The Marine Safety Officer course is a three-day training programme for the seafarer appointed to
promote and monitor occupational safety on board a ship. It covers the legal basis of the appointment
under MLC 2006 Standard A4.3, the ILO code of practice and flag State law; the safety officer’s duties under the
ISM Code; shipboard risk assessment and permits to work; enclosed space entry under IMO resolution
MSC.581(110); SOLAS drill and life-saving appliance requirements; accident investigation; and safety leadership.
It is delivered in a classroom over three days at $800, or online and self-paced at $600. Assessment is a
30-question examination with a 70% pass mark, plus a scored decision simulation. There is no prerequisite
certificate.
What is a Marine Safety Officer?
A marine safety officer — more precisely, a shipboard safety officer — is a competent
person appointed by the company to promote safe working practice on board, inspect the ship, investigate
accidents and near misses, advise the master, and stop work that is likely to cause a serious accident.
The role is an advisory one with one hard power. The master retains overriding authority and responsibility for
safety under section 5.2 of the ISM Code; the company holds the duty of care; the safety officer is the person
whose job it is to notice.
Six duties recur, in almost identical language, across the ILO Code of practice on accident prevention on
board ship at sea and in port (2nd edition, 1996), the ILO Guidelines for implementing the occupational
safety and health provisions of the MLC, 2006 (2015) and national legislation such as the UK Merchant
Shipping and Fishing Vessels (Health and Safety at Work) Regulations 1997:
Inspect
Occupational health and safety inspections of
every accessible part of the ship, on a defined cycle — and more often when conditions of work change
substantially.
Investigate
Every accident involving death or serious
injury, every dangerous occurrence, every potential hazard, and every reasonable safety complaint.
Advise
Make representations and recommendations to the
master on deficiencies against the law, the Code of Safe Working Practices and the ship’s own SMS.
Record
Maintain records of accidents and dangerous
occurrences, available to authorised persons — the evidence base for everything that follows.
Stop unsafe work
Stop any work reasonably believed
likely to cause a serious accident, and inform the master immediately. This is the role’s only hard
authority.
Train & promote
Raise safety awareness, monitor
on-board safety training, and make sure new joiners are properly instructed and mentored.
The Maritime Labour Convention never uses the term “safety officer”. Standard A4.3 requires a
ship’s safety committee on every ship with five or more seafarers (paragraph 2(d)) and requires
flag States to specify the duties of “the master or a person designated by the master” (paragraph 2(c)). The
named post comes from the ILO instruments and from national law. This course teaches you where each of your
duties actually comes from, so that you can answer an inspector precisely rather than approximately.
Which ships must appoint a safety officer?
There is no single international rule. The MLC sets the floor — a safety committee on
ships with five or more seafarers — and each flag State builds on it differently. That variation is one of
the most practical things a safety officer needs to understand, and it is why this course teaches the
instruments rather than one country’s checklist.
| Regime | Safety committee | Named safety officer? | Distinctive feature |
|---|---|---|---|
| MLC 2006 (international floor) | Required where five or more seafarers are on board | No — “the master or a person designated by the master” | Safety representatives have a right to participate in committee meetings |
| United Kingdom | Master as chairman, safety officer and elected safety representatives | Yes — a competent person, on ships with five or more seafarers | Inspection of each accessible part of the ship at least every three months |
| Liberia | Required at five or more seafarers, meeting monthly | No named post; a person takes specific responsibility for the OSH programme | Monthly meeting frequency written into the marine notice |
| Australia | Established when requested by a health and safety representative or union — not headcount-triggered | No — elected Health and Safety Representatives instead | HSRs can initiate emergency stop-work and issue a Provisional Improvement Notice |
The United States has not ratified the MLC; USCG NVIC 02-13 operates a voluntary compliance
programme that recommends, rather than requires, an on-board vessel safety committee.
What you will be able to do afterwards
The course is built backwards from the things a safety officer is actually asked to do in the first month
aboard. By the end of it you will be able to:
- State the legal basis for your appointment and for each of your duties, and cite the instrument —
MLC Standard A4.3, the ILO instruments, the ISM Code, or your flag State’s law. - Read your own safety management system critically and find the errors in it — including the
enclosed-space definition error that has already killed a chief engineer. - Plan and run an inspection programme that covers the whole ship, and write findings that name the
condition, the location, the standard breached and the action required. - Carry out and supervise a shipboard risk assessment, apply the hierarchy of controls correctly, and run a
toolbox talk that is not a signature exercise. - Operate a permit-to-work system and recognise the four ways permit systems fail.
- Apply IMO resolution MSC.581(110) in full: build a ship-specific Enclosed Space Register,
authorise entry, test the atmosphere against the current acceptance criteria, and stage rescue equipment. - Build the ship’s drill and life-saving appliance calendar from SOLAS III/19 and III/20, and design drills
that teach rather than tick. - Investigate an accident or near miss, analyse it beyond “human error”, and write corrective action that
prevents recurrence. - Run a safety committee that ratings actually speak in, and make a recommendation that gets funded.
Marine Safety Officer course syllabus — 12 modules
Ninety-seven interactive lessons across twelve modules, each with animated diagrams, narration, worked case
studies from published accident investigations, and knowledge checks.
01Why the Safety Officer exists▼
What the casualty data actually shows about how seafarers are hurt and killed; why
enclosed-space accidents kill rescuers; why “human error” is where an investigation starts rather than where
it stops; and the six recurring duties of the role.
02The legal architecture of the role▼
MLC 2006 Standard A4.3 clause by clause; the ILO code of practice (1996) and OSH
Guidelines (2015); the 2022 and 2025 MLC amendments; occupational safety as a fundamental right at work; a
full worked statutory model; and how the role differs between flag States.
03The Safety Officer inside the ISM Code▼
Elements 5 to 10 — the master’s authority, resources and personnel,
familiarisation and training, shipboard operations, emergency preparedness, reports and analysis, and
critical equipment. Your working relationship with the master, the DPA and the safety representatives.
04Drills, LSA and the readiness calendar▼
SOLAS III/19 drill frequencies and III/20 maintenance intervals built into one
calendar you can use; what a fire drill must actually contain; and the lifeboat-fall case that killed five
people under equipment that looked sound.
05How accidents happen: causation models▼
Heinrich taught honestly, including why his ratios are not reliable; Bird; Reason’s
Swiss cheese and the organizational accident; HFACS; Tripod Beta and Bow-Tie as working shipboard tools;
STAMP and Safety-II.
06Risk assessment that actually works▼
Hazard identification by energy source and line of fire; an interactive risk matrix and
an honest account of its limits; the hierarchy of controls attributed correctly; dynamic risk assessment and
toolbox talks.
07Permit to work▼
The anatomy of a permit field by field; the permit families and which job needs which;
the conflict between the general 24-hour cap and the 8-hour enclosed-space cap; and a scored exercise in
deciding which permits a real job requires.
08Enclosed spaces: IMO resolution MSC.581(110)▼
The 2025 revision in full — the new ship-specific Enclosed Space Register, the
competent person, responsible person and attendant, permit authorisation and validity, the revised
atmosphere acceptance criteria, testing with ventilation stopped, continuous monitoring, and a rescue plan
that does not require anyone to enter unprotected.
09The killing jobs▼
Working at height, mooring and stored energy, lifting and line of fire, hot work,
electrical isolation and lock-out–tag-out, means of access, and slips, trips and falls — each
taught through a published investigation and the control that would have caught it.
10Inspections and safety rounds▼
Designing an inspection programme; a zone-by-zone guide to what to look at; why
housekeeping is the statistically largest killer; writing a finding somebody can act on; records and what an
inspector asks to see; and a scored hazard hunt on a working deck at night.
11Reporting, investigation and learning▼
Why near misses go unreported and what fixes it; just culture and the substitution
test, worked as a decision tree; securing a scene and preserving evidence; analysis that stops at a cause
you can control; and corrective action that is verified rather than just closed.
12Leading safety on board▼
Influence without authority; running a safety committee ratings speak in; training,
familiarisation and the new joiner; fatigue and the rest-hour rules; safety promotion; the safety culture
ladder; and a sequenced plan for your first thirty days aboard.
The simulation: Safety Officer — 30 Days Aboard
Everything in the twelve modules, applied under time pressure by somebody who has to work with these people
tomorrow. You join MV Kestrel Trader, a Supramax bulk carrier with twenty-one crew, whose last safety
officer left four months ago. Twenty-one decisions over thirty days, from the appointment conversation with the
master to the one recommendation the superintendent will fund.
Four meters that remember
Safety culture, compliance, readiness and your personal
standing all move with every decision. Nothing resets, and some of what you decide in week one only shows up in
week four — a deferred gas-meter calibration becomes an entry decision nine days later.
Five endings, and a full debrief
Outcomes range from Generative to
The accident you did not prevent. Whatever happens, you get a decision-by-decision debrief explaining
what each choice meant and which published investigation it comes from.
Who should attend
On board
- Seafarers appointed or about to be appointed as ship’s safety officer
- Masters, chief officers, chief engineers and second engineers
- Elected safety representatives and safety committee members
- Junior officers and cadets preparing for management-level responsibility
Ashore
- Designated Persons Ashore, HSEQ and marine superintendents
- Ship owners, managers and operators, including liner and passenger operators
- Compliance, audit and training managers
- Marine lawyers, P&I correspondents, insurers and flag State specialists
No prior certificate is required. Delegates who have been to sea will get more from the case
studies, but the course is written to be followed by shore staff without sea time.
Standards and instruments the course is built on
Every requirement taught on this course is traced to its source, with the resolution or circular number and
its date. The content is current as at August 2026.
Occupational safety and health
- MLC 2006 Regulation 4.3 and Standard A4.3, including the 2022 amendments (in force 23 December 2024) and
the 2025 amendments adopted 11 April 2025 - ILO Accident prevention on board ship at sea and in port, 2nd edition, 1996
- ILO Guidelines for implementing the occupational safety and health provisions of the MLC, 2006, 2015
- ILO Conventions C155 and C187 as fundamental Conventions since June 2022
- UK Code of Safe Working Practices for Merchant Seafarers, 2026 edition
IMO instruments
- ISM Code as amended by
MSC.353(92), withA.1188(33)andMSC-MEPC.7/Circ.8 MSC.581(110)— Revised Recommendations for entering enclosed spaces aboard ships,
adopted 27 June 2025, revoking A.1050(27)- SOLAS III/19 and III/20; SOLAS XI-1/7 with
MSC.1/Circ.1477; SOLAS II-2/15 MSC.1/Circ.1331/Rev.1(means of embarkation and disembarkation) and SOLAS II-1/3-13 lifting appliancesMSC-MEPC.7/Circ.7near-miss reporting;MSC.1/Circ.1598fatigue guidelines;
Casualty Investigation CodeMSC.255(84)- STCW Code Tables A-II/2 and A-III/2 and section A-VIII/1
There is no STCW certificate, endorsement or mandatory minimum training standard for a shipboard
safety officer, and no IMO model course for the role. Any course claiming otherwise is misdescribing
itself. The duty to train comes from ISM Code section 6.5, from MLC Standard A4.3 and from your flag State’s law.
What USQC issues is a certificate of completion recording the syllabus covered, the assessment passed and the
instruments the content is aligned to — which is what a company, an auditor or a vetting inspector will
actually want to see.
ISM MSC.353(92)MSC.581(110)SOLAS III/19SOLAS III/20
SOLAS XI-1/7MSC-MEPC.7/Circ.7MSC.1/Circ.1598COSWP 2026
Assessment, certificate and delivery
Knowledge checks
Fifty-nine questions embedded through the twelve modules, each
with written feedback explaining why the right answer is right. Formative and unscored.
Scored simulation
Twenty-one decisions, four performance meters and five endings,
with a full decision-by-decision debrief.
Final examination
Thirty questions drawn from all twelve modules. 70% to
pass. A printable certificate of completion is issued on passing.
In-house delivery aboard or at a company’s own premises is available for groups. Contact USQC
for a quotation.
Frequently asked questions
Is a marine safety officer certificate mandatory under STCW?
No. There is no STCW certificate, endorsement or mandatory minimum training standard for
a shipboard safety officer, and no IMO model course for the role. The obligation to appoint a competent
person, and to train them, comes from MLC 2006 Standard A4.3, from the ILO instruments, from ISM Code section
6.5 and from flag State law. A completion certificate from a recognised training provider is the normal way a
company demonstrates that the appointed person is competent.
How long is the Marine Safety Officer course?
Three days in the classroom. The online edition is self-paced and covers the same twelve
modules; most delegates complete it in twelve to sixteen hours spread over two to four weeks.
How much does the Marine Safety Officer course cost?
$800 per delegate for the three-day classroom course, and $600 for the self-paced online
course. Group and in-house rates are available on request.
Which ships have to have a safety officer?
It depends on the flag. MLC 2006 Standard A4.3 paragraph 2(d) requires a safety
committee on any ship with five or more seafarers, but does not itself require a post called “safety
officer”. The United Kingdom requires the company to appoint a competent person as safety officer on
sea-going ships with five or more seafarers. Liberia requires the committee and monthly meetings but no named
officer. Australia uses elected health and safety representatives instead. Check your own flag State’s marine
notices — the course teaches you how to read them.
What are the duties of a ship’s safety officer?
To improve safety awareness among the crew and ensure compliance with the Code of Safe
Working Practices and safety instructions; to investigate accidents involving death or serious injury,
dangerous occurrences, hazards and safety complaints; to carry out occupational health and safety inspections
of every accessible part of the ship; to make representations and recommendations to the master; to maintain
records of accidents and dangerous occurrences; and to stop any work reasonably believed likely to cause a
serious accident, informing the master immediately.
Is the safety officer the same as the Designated Person Ashore?
No. The DPA is a shore-based appointment under ISM Code section 4, with direct access to
the highest level of management. The safety officer is a shipboard appointment. They should be in constant
contact, and they are different jobs with different authorities.
Does the course cover the new enclosed space rules?
Yes. Module 8 covers IMO resolution MSC.581(110), adopted on 27 June 2025 and revoking
A.1050(27), in full: the new ship-specific Enclosed Space Register, the definitions of competent person,
responsible person and attendant, the eight-hour cap on entry permit validity, the revised atmosphere
acceptance criteria including the change to 20.9% oxygen and the new carbon dioxide criterion, the
requirement to test with ventilation stopped, and rescue planning under SOLAS III/19.3.6.
Is the course accepted by flag States and vetting inspectors?
USQC issues a certificate of completion recording the syllabus covered, the assessment
passed and the instruments the content aligns to. Because no international certification scheme exists for
this role, acceptance is a matter for your company’s safety management system and your flag State. Delegates
commonly use the certificate as the training record supporting an appointment under ISM Code section
6.5.
Can several crew from one ship take the course together?
Yes, and it works well. Safety committee members and safety representatives get more out
of the course taken alongside the appointed safety officer, because the committee exercises and the
simulation debrief become a real conversation about your own ship.
What do I need before I start the Marine Safety Officer course?
Nothing formal. The course assumes familiarity with a working ship but requires no
certificate of competency and no prior safety qualification. Delegates who bring a copy of their own safety
management system get more out of modules 3, 7 and 8, because several exercises involve reading your own SMS
critically.
Most of what kills seafarers is preventable and predictable
Falls, enclosed spaces, mooring lines, hot work, isolation failures. Every one of them has a control, and
somebody on board has to be the person who checks it is there. This course makes that person effective.
Curriculum
- 2 Sections
- 14 Lessons
- 12 Weeks
Instructor
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