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newSchoolWorks.com › VoTechWorks › Transportation › Maritime Crew (deck/engine) › STCW Basic Safety for Maritime Crew › Lesson 2
TRN-MARI24-02 · Lesson 2 · 12 clock hours · lab

Personal Survival Techniques — Lifesaving Appliances and Water Survival

Objective. Students will don a lifejacket and immersion suit correctly within regulation time limits, demonstrate safe water entry, and perform survival swimming and group-huddle techniques in a controlled aquatic environment.

⚠ Pending professional review

This lesson, its worked examples and its practice questions has not yet been verified by a certified examiner or master technician in the trade or by a certification or approval body. It is a study draft and may contain errors. Do not use it as instructions for work on a job site or on live equipment. Always follow your instructor, your supervising professional, and current official references and regulations.

VoTechWorks program approval and accreditation are still in progress. Credentials are issued only by the certifying bodies named in each program, after their own exams.

Why Personal Survival Techniques Matter

Every seafarer, regardless of rank or job, must be ready to survive if a vessel is abandoned. STCW Basic Training requires all crew members to demonstrate Personal Survival Techniques (PST) before standing a watch or sailing commercially. The skills in this lesson — donning lifesaving equipment, entering the water safely, and using body position to conserve heat — have saved lives in real casualties. Treat every drill as the real event.

Lifesaving Appliances: What You Must Know

Lifejackets carried on SOLAS vessels must meet international standards. The Type I offshore lifejacket (also called a SOLAS lifejacket) is designed to turn an unconscious person face-up in the water. It provides a minimum buoyancy specified by SOLAS and is brightly colored (typically orange) with retro-reflective tape and a whistle. Some models also carry a light. Before donning, check that the jacket is the right size, that all straps and buckles are undamaged, and that the inflation mechanism (if inflatable) is armed with a charged cylinder.

Immersion suits (also called survival suits or dry suits in some contexts) protect against hypothermia by insulating the body from cold water. SOLAS requires an immersion suit for every person on board vessels operating in cold waters. The suit must be donned — including closing all zippers and seals — within the time limit established by the STCW Code. Practicing this repeatedly until the action is automatic is the goal of the dry-run drills in this lesson.

Life rafts are inflatable or rigid platforms that deploy automatically or manually when a vessel sinks. They carry survival equipment including rations, flares, a bailer, and a first-aid kit. Know where the hydrostatic release is located and how a painter line activates inflation.

Lifeboats are enclosed or open craft launched from davits. Enclosed lifeboats protect occupants from fire and weather. The release mechanism, sea anchor, and engine starting procedure must be understood by all crew.

Rescue boats are smaller, maneuverable craft used to retrieve persons from the water. They are not the same as lifeboats.

EPIRBs (Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacons) transmit a distress signal on 406 MHz to the COSPAS-SARSAT satellite system. A float-free EPIRB activates automatically when submerged; a manual EPIRB must be activated by hand. Both types display a registration number tied to the vessel in a national database.

SARTs (Search and Rescue Transponders) are radar transponders that respond to a vessel or aircraft's X-band radar with a distinctive sweep pattern on the radar display, helping rescuers home in on survivors. Activate a SART by switching it on and holding it as high as possible above the water.

Line-throwing appliances project a line to a distressed vessel or person so a heavier rescue line can be pulled across. Training models use a blank or reduced charge. Always point away from personnel and treat even training models as live tools.

Donning a Lifejacket Correctly

1. Hold the jacket by the collar and slip it over your head.

2. Pass the waist strap around your back and buckle it snugly — you should be able to fit a fist between the strap and your body, but no more.

3. If a crotch strap is present, pass it between your legs and secure it. This prevents the jacket from riding up on impact.

4. Secure any chest strap.

5. Confirm the whistle and light are attached and accessible.

An improperly secured jacket can ride up and force your face underwater on water entry.

Donning an Immersion Suit

Practice in a calm, open area away from obstructions. Sit down to put on the legs first, then stand to pull up the torso and arms. Close the waterproof zipper all the way from bottom to top and seal the face flap. Fold the hood over your head. The STCW Code specifies a donning time limit; your instructor will time each attempt. You must meet this standard to pass the practical skills checklist.

Safe Water Entry

When abandoning ship from a height, a feet-first entry is required. Cross your arms over your chest, hold your nose if the jacket does not have a face guard, and step or jump outward from the platform — do not dive. Look straight ahead, not down. Keep your legs together and slightly bent to absorb impact. Entering feet-first prevents the lifejacket from striking your chin and protects your airway.

Once in the water, move clear of the vessel immediately to avoid suction, debris, or fire on the surface.

HELP and the Survival Huddle

HELP — Heat Escape Lessening Position: Draw your knees up toward your chest, cross your ankles, and press your arms tightly against your sides and groin area. This position reduces heat loss from the groin, armpits, and neck — the body's high heat-loss zones. A properly inflated lifejacket will keep your head above water while you hold this position. Practice holding HELP for the full two minutes required in this lab.

Survival huddle: When two or more survivors are together, huddle side-by-side with arms around each other's waists or shoulders, pressing the sides of your bodies together. This reduces individual heat loss and improves morale and visibility for rescuers. Children or incapacitated persons should be placed in the center of the huddle.

Safety Rules for the Pool Session

Key terms9

STCWStandards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers — the international IMO convention that sets minimum competency requirements, including Personal Survival Techniques, for merchant mariners worldwide.
Immersion suitA full-body insulated suit (also called a survival suit) that protects a person from hypothermia in cold water; must be donned within the time limit specified in the STCW Code.
HELP (Heat Escape Lessening Position)A solo water-survival posture in which the survivor draws the knees to the chest and presses the arms against the body to reduce heat loss from high-loss areas such as the groin, armpits, and neck.
Survival huddleA group water-survival technique in which two or more survivors press their sides together and hold each other to reduce collective heat loss and improve rescue visibility.
EPIRBEmergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon — a 406 MHz distress transmitter that alerts the COSPAS-SARSAT satellite system to a vessel's emergency; activates manually or automatically when submerged.
SARTSearch and Rescue Transponder — a radar transponder carried in a survival craft or by survivors that responds to X-band radar with a distinctive sweep pattern, helping rescuers locate them.
Hydrostatic releaseA pressure-activated mechanism that automatically releases a life raft or EPIRB from its mounting bracket when submerged to a shallow depth, allowing the appliance to float free.
Line-throwing applianceA device that projects a light line to a distressed vessel or person in the water so that a heavier rescue line can be hauled across; treated as a live projectile device during training.
Retro-reflective tapeTape applied to lifejackets, immersion suits, and life rafts that reflects light back toward its source, greatly improving the visibility of survivors at night when illuminated by a searchlight.
In class: Dry-run drill: each student dons a Type I offshore lifejacket and an immersion suit three times, with the instructor timing each attempt and providing corrective feedback until the student meets the STCW time standard · Pool session: students jump feet-first from a platform simulating a deck height, right an inverted lifejacket in the water, hold the HELP (Heat Escape Lessening Position) posture for two minutes, and form a survival huddle with two classmates · Equipment identification station: students rotate through six stations — lifeboat, rescue boat, life raft, EPIRB, SART, and line-throwing appliance — completing a function-and-operation card for each
Materials: SOLAS-approved offshore lifejackets (one per student), adult immersion suits (assorted sizes), pool or controlled open-water facility, line-throwing appliance (training model), EPIRB and SART display units, stopwatch, STCW personal survival techniques skills checklist
Check: Practical skills checklist: immersion-suit donning timed at or under the applicable STCW limit, correct HELP position held for two minutes, and successful right-side-up recovery of inverted lifejacket; all three items must be marked satisfactory (no unsatisfactory items permitted) to pass

Practice check8

Answer each question, then check it. Nothing is recorded; this is your own practice.

STCW Basic Training — Personal Survival Techniques
1. What is the primary design purpose of a SOLAS-approved offshore lifejacket?
STCW Basic Training — Personal Survival Techniques
2. During a feet-first water entry from a height, a crew member should:
STCW Basic Training — Personal Survival Techniques
3. Which body areas does the HELP position primarily protect from heat loss?
STCW Basic Training — Personal Survival Techniques
4. An EPIRB operating on 406 MHz transmits a distress signal to which system?
STCW Basic Training — Personal Survival Techniques
5. A SART (Search and Rescue Transponder) is most useful because it:
STCW Basic Training — Personal Survival Techniques
6. When two survivors form a survival huddle in the water, they should:
STCW Basic Training — Personal Survival Techniques
7. After a crew member enters the water following vessel abandonment, the immediate priority is to:
STCW Basic Training — Personal Survival Techniques
8. To pass the practical skills checklist for this lesson, a student must:
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