Members of the Paul Hall Center for Maritime Training and Education's deep sea and inland advisory board last month worked through a jam-packed agenda on the school's Piney Point, Md.-based campus.Board members met Sept. 9-10 to focus on issues that will affect training techniques and requirements, given the fairly constant changes in maritime regulations, laws and equipment.
SIU President Michael Sacco provided an overview of the board's purpose and the objectives of the meeting, along with a recap of some of the improvements that have taken place at the school over the years. He cited the Joseph Sacco Fire Fighting and Safety School and the new state-of-the-art building which houses simulators for ship handling, engine room operations, liquid cargo transfer and crane operations. The newest of the upgrades is the school's 94-room hotel annex, scheduled to open this month.
"Of all the things that have been accomplished over the years here at the school, the new building we've just put up (the hotel annex) is a particular source of pride," Sacco said.
Sacco also briefed the board on the school's small arms training center, which tentatively is schedule for completion within one year.
"What we are trying to develop here at the school is a one-stop shop," he said. "When one of our operators bids on a contract and the training requirements require everything from firefighting to small arms, we want to be able to train everyone here at this school."
Sacco concluded his remarks by telling board members— among them many ship owners and operators—that the SIU believes that charity begins at home.
"If you're healthy, we're healthy . . . if you're hurting, we're hurting," he said. "It does not make sense for us to not work with you. We're going to work with you any way we can to help you expand and grow your companies and provide additional jobs for our people."
SIU Vice President Contracts Augie Tellez gave a history of the advisory board and its purpose. "The advisory board is the formal body through which the school gets its direction to implement whatever training is required by regulations, the companies, by law and by the natural order of the industry," Tellez said.
"Many of the hardware pieces that you will see (while at the school), many of the buildings, many of the training programs and curriculums we have in place here are a direct result of previous advisory board meetings."
Tellez then pointed out that the focus of past meetings has been compliance with the amended STCW convention and the myriad of requirements that accompany it.
"I think the school has done an admirable job of putting together programs that help you meet and comply with all of the regulations," he told the board members. The key to the school's success in this arena so far has been timing, according to Tellez.
"We did not wait for regulations to come out . . . for laws to change, or for various requirements to be implemented," he said "We got a head start so that when the new regulations went into effect, we already had people trained to meet the new requirements," he said.
Tellez then outlined the board's goals and announced the formation of three subcommittees. Their respective purposes were: to monitor developments and formulate inputs for port security; discuss the benefits of bridge resource management training; and implement a new engineering upgrading program that the school's vocational staff has put together. The last two subcommittees were further divided into working groups and charged with reporting back to the main board prior to the conclusion of the meeting.
Paul Hall Center Education Director Bill Eglinton then provided a historical perspective highlighting the board's accomplishments in meeting the training and assessment requirements of the amended STCW convention. He noted:
- In 1997, the Paul Hall Center received U.S. Coast Guard acceptance for the first U.S. training record book and began the new, expanded unlicensed apprentice program that includes shipboard training.
- STCW Basic Safety Training was implemented in 1998, years ahead of the requirement.
- In 1999, Bridge Resource Management (BRM), Automatic Radar Plotting Aids (ARPA) and Specially Trained Ordinary Seaman came on line at the school.
- Basic and Advanced Fire Fighting, Crowd/Crisis Control Management and Human Behavior, Medical Care Provider and Ratings Forming Part of the Navigational Watch (AB) all were developed and implemented in 2000.
- The year 2001 saw Global Maritime Distress Safety System (GMDSS) and Celestial Navigation put into action.
- And in 2002, ratings Forming Part of the Engineering Watch (oiler), Officer in Charge of a Navigational Watch and Fast Rescue Boats got the go-ahead. Still to be developed is the Officer in Charge of an Engineering Watch Program, Electronic Chart Display Information System (ECDIS) and Tankerman Person-in-Charge PIC).
STCW was on the agenda again this year, but, as a result of the terrorist events of Sept. 11, 2001, the chief concentration of this year's exchange changed. Board members turned their attention to concerns associated with combatting terrorism and ensuring port security.
Other topics addressed during this the 35th annual meeting included the International Maritime Information Safety System, specialized STCW training including the Global Maritime Distress Safety System, vessel security training including chemical, biological and radiation defense. Anti-terrorism awareness and small arms training also were discussed.
In addition to SIU officials, advisory participants included representatives from SIU-contracted deep sea, Great Lakes and inland companies and the U.S. Coast Guard.
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